rspec users - Jul 2009 - stubbing association methods in controller spec

I have two models:
  Student has_many=>:grad_surveys
    and
  GradSurvey belongs_to=>:student

I am testing the GradSurveysController#update method with

  it "should only allow update if the correct token is presented" do
    @params = {:id=>"1", :token=>"ab56e1b47",
:survey=>{}}
    @mock_grad_survey = mock_model(GradSurvey)
    GradSurvey.should_receive(:accepts_as_authorized).with(@params
[:id], at params[:token]).and_return(@mock_grad_survey)
    put :update, @params
    response.should render_template(:update)
  end

Inside the GradSurvey#accepts_as_authorized method is called the
GradSurvey#student method. The test above fails with the message:
         Mock ''GradSurvey_1034'' received unexpected message
:student
with (no args)

However I can make the test pass by adding the :student method to the
@mock_grad_survey object, so
      @mock_grad_survey = mock_model(GradSurvey, :student=>mock_model
(Student))

Why is it necessary for me to explicitly add the #student method to
the mock GradSurvey model, it seems to me that it should come for free
as part of the defined association, no? What am I not understanding
here?

thanks in advance for any light you are able to shed

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 6:13 PM, norm<codehacker at comcast.net>
wrote:
> I have two models:
> ?Student has_many=>:grad_surveys
> ? ?and
> ?GradSurvey belongs_to=>:student
>
> I am testing the GradSurveysController#update method with
>
> ?it "should only allow update if the correct token is presented"
do
> ? ?@params = {:id=>"1", :token=>"ab56e1b47",
:survey=>{}}
> ? ?@mock_grad_survey = mock_model(GradSurvey)
> ? ?GradSurvey.should_receive(:accepts_as_authorized).with(@params
> [:id], at params[:token]).and_return(@mock_grad_survey)
> ? ?put :update, @params
> ? ?response.should render_template(:update)
> ?end
>
> Inside the GradSurvey#accepts_as_authorized method is called the
> GradSurvey#student method. The test above fails with the message:
> ? ? ? ? Mock ''GradSurvey_1034'' received unexpected
message :student
> with (no args)
>
> However I can make the test pass by adding the :student method to the
> @mock_grad_survey object, so
> ? ? ?@mock_grad_survey = mock_model(GradSurvey, :student=>mock_model
> (Student))
>
> Why is it necessary for me to explicitly add the #student method to
> the mock GradSurvey model, it seems to me that it should come for free
> as part of the defined association, no? What am I not understanding
> here?
>
> thanks in advance for any light you are able to shed
mock_model creates a test double - it''s not a real GradSurvey.

Try using stub_model instead:

@grad_survey = stub_model(GradSurvey)

This uses a real model instance that is modified to not talk to the database.

HTH,
David

that worked! thanks David, your help is much appreciated