rspec users - Dec 2008 - NameError when passing a URL helper to a method

Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of my  
specs, and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a  
method results in a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its  
own short spec file to isolate it. Any thoughts on what''s going on?:
http://gist.github.com/32060

Thanks for your help,
Nick

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com>
wrote:
> Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of my
specs,
> and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a method results
in
> a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its own short spec file to
> isolate it. Any thoughts on what''s going on?:
> http://gist.github.com/32060
foo(properties_url) is being executed in the context of the describe
block and not in the instance of an example being run. For example:

describe FooController do
   it "has access to routing methods here" do
      properties_url
   end

   # it doesn''t have access out here though, this fails
   properties_url

   # your example will fail to
  foo(properties_url)
end


-- 
Zach Dennis
http://www.continuousthinking.com
http://www.mutuallyhuman.com

On 2008-12-04, at 17:06, Zach Dennis wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com>
> wrote:
>> Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of  
>> my specs,
>> and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a method  
>> results in
>> a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its own short spec  
>> file to
>> isolate it. Any thoughts on what''s going on?:
>> http://gist.github.com/32060
>
> foo(properties_url) is being executed in the context of the describe
> block and not in the instance of an example being run. For example:
>
> describe FooController do
>   it "has access to routing methods here" do
>      properties_url
>   end
>
>   # it doesn''t have access out here though, this fails
>   properties_url
>
>   # your example will fail to
>  foo(properties_url)
> end
> -- 
> Zach Dennis
Hi Zach. Thanks for that explanation; it makes a lot of sense. What  
I''m trying to do is write a spec helper method for DRYing up  
controller redirect examples. In other words, rather than having the  
following 4 lines repeated throughout my specs:
   it ''should redirect to the account page'' do
     do_action
     response.should redirect_to account_url
   end

I''d like to do this:
   it_should_redirect_to ''the account page'', account_url

I''ve written the method. The only problem is what you explained;  
#account_url being called from outside of an example.

The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
   before :each do
     @account_url = account_url
   end
   it_should_redirect_to ''the account page'', @account_url

Are there any alternative solutions? Cheers,
Nick

On 2008-12-04, at 17:43, Nick Hoffman wrote:
> The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
>  before :each do
>    @account_url = account_url
>  end
>  it_should_redirect_to ''the account page'', @account_url
Actually, that suggestion above of mine doesn''t work. It fails with:
   You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
   The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
   (eval):17:in `account_url''

I thought of it while writing that last email, but didn''t test it  
before hitting send.
-Nick

Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com> writes:
> Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of my
> specs, and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a
> method results in a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its
> own short spec file to isolate it. Any thoughts on what''s going
on?:
> http://gist.github.com/32060
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Nick
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
Check out my attempt: http://gist.github.com/32130  I don''t know which
one is correct.

Pat

Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com> writes:
> On 2008-12-04, at 17:43, Nick Hoffman wrote:
>> The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
>>  before :each do
>>    @account_url = account_url
>>  end
>>  it_should_redirect_to ''the account page'',
@account_url
>
> Actually, that suggestion above of mine doesn''t work. It fails
with:
>   You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
>   The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
>   (eval):17:in `account_url''
>
> I thought of it while writing that last email, but didn''t test it
> before hitting send.
> -Nick
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
It''s the same as

class Foo
  @class_instance_variable = "blah"

  def foo
    puts @class_instance_variable
  end
end

Foo.foo will print nothing, because @class_instance_variable is nil in
the object instance.

Anyway, I thought of an even cleaner way to do things than using a
block, assuming you only care about calling one method:

do_something(:blah_url_helper)

def do_something(helper_name)
  send(helper_name)
end

Pat

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Pat Maddox <pergesu at gmail.com> wrote:
> class Foo
>  @class_instance_variable = "blah"
>
>  def foo
>    puts @class_instance_variable
>  end
> end
>
> Foo.foo will print nothing, because @class_instance_variable is nil in
> the object instance.
>

I don''t know if it matters here, but you can define a class method to
return
a class instance variable.

///ark
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On 2008-12-04, at 19:56, Pat Maddox wrote:
> Nick Hoffman <nick at deadorange.com> writes:
>> On 2008-12-04, at 17:43, Nick Hoffman wrote:
>>> The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
>>> before :each do
>>>   @account_url = account_url
>>> end
>>> it_should_redirect_to ''the account page'',
@account_url
>>
>> Actually, that suggestion above of mine doesn''t work. It fails
with:
>>  You have a nil object when you didn''t expect it!
>>  The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
>>  (eval):17:in `account_url''
>>
>> I thought of it while writing that last email, but didn''t test
it
>> before hitting send.
>> -Nick
>> _______________________________________________
>> rspec-users mailing list
>> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
>> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
> It''s the same as
>
> class Foo
>  @class_instance_variable = "blah"
>
>  def foo
>    puts @class_instance_variable
>  end
> end
>
> Foo.foo will print nothing, because @class_instance_variable is nil in
> the object instance.
>
> Anyway, I thought of an even cleaner way to do things than using a
> block, assuming you only care about calling one method:
>
> do_something(:blah_url_helper)
>
> def do_something(helper_name)
>  send(helper_name)
> end
>
> Pat
Hi Pat. That''s a great suggestion. Here''s what I ended up
doing:
http://gist.github.com/32424

Thanks,
Nick