rspec users - Sep 2011 - rendering xml with haml through render_template is invalid

I have some controller tests for validity of restful XML responses.

I''m using haml to generate the xml.

When I test externally with curl the response is well-formed XML.

However when I test the controllers with rspec2 the response is invalid XML.

The following code is part of an rspec shared_example:

   it "renders the requested #{model_ivar_name_lambda.call} as otml without
error" do
     @model_class.stub!(:find).with("37").and_return(@model_ivar)
     get :show, :id => "37", :format => ''otml''
     response.should render_template(:show)

The response body includes both well formed and invalid XML:

For example running this test:

   bin/rspec spec/controllers/embeddable/open_responses_controller_spec.rb

I''ve extracted part of the response below to show the <OTCssText>
element is not closed and is invalid XML

   <cssBlocks>
     <OTCssText local_id=''otml_css''
src=''/stylesheets/otml.css''>
   </cssBlocks

Here''s the same extract showing valid XML when the request travels
through the entire app:

   curl http://localhost:3000/embeddable/open_responses/3.otml

   <cssBlocks>
     <OTCssText local_id=''otml_css''
src=''/stylesheets/otml.css'' />
   </cssBlocks>

Haml normally uses the Rails 3 default format of :html5 for rendering which will
render complete elements without a ''/>'' ending.

However it seems that when going through the whole stack the fact that
we''ve registered ''otml'' as a
''text/xml'' mime_type causes
Haml to use the :xhtml format.

   Mime::Type.register "text/xml", :otml

However if I specifically set the Haml format to :xhtml in the spec test like
this:

   it "renders the requested #{model_ivar_name_lambda.call} as otml without
error" do
     Haml::Template.options[:format] = :xhtml
     @model_class.stub!(:find).with("37").and_return(@model_ivar)
     get :show, :id => "37", :format => ''otml''
     assigns[@model_ivar_name].should equal(@model_ivar)
     response.should render_template(:show)

Now the response is well-formed XML.

But this is disturbing because I am not doing that in the application.

It may be a problem with rspec, rspec-rails, haml or the
ActionController::TestResponse rspec delegates to ... ???

On Sep 8, 2011, at 8:52 PM, Stephen Bannasch wrote:
> I have some controller tests for validity of restful XML responses.
> 
> I''m using haml to generate the xml.
> 
> When I test externally with curl the response is well-formed XML.
> 
> However when I test the controllers with rspec2 the response is invalid
XML.
> 
> The following code is part of an rspec shared_example:
> 
>  it "renders the requested #{model_ivar_name_lambda.call} as otml
without error" do
>    @model_class.stub!(:find).with("37").and_return(@model_ivar)
>    get :show, :id => "37", :format =>
''otml''
>    response.should render_template(:show)
> 
> The response body includes both well formed and invalid XML:
> 
> For example running this test:
> 
>  bin/rspec spec/controllers/embeddable/open_responses_controller_spec.rb
> 
> I''ve extracted part of the response below to show the
<OTCssText> element is not closed and is invalid XML
> 
>  <cssBlocks>
>    <OTCssText local_id=''otml_css''
src=''/stylesheets/otml.css''>
>  </cssBlocks
> 
> Here''s the same extract showing valid XML when the request travels
through the entire app:
> 
>  curl http://localhost:3000/embeddable/open_responses/3.otml
> 
>  <cssBlocks>
>    <OTCssText local_id=''otml_css''
src=''/stylesheets/otml.css'' />
>  </cssBlocks>
> 
> Haml normally uses the Rails 3 default format of :html5 for rendering which
will render complete elements without a ''/>'' ending.
> 
> However it seems that when going through the whole stack the fact that
we''ve registered ''otml'' as a
''text/xml'' mime_type causes Haml to use the :xhtml format.
> 
>  Mime::Type.register "text/xml", :otml
> 
> However if I specifically set the Haml format to :xhtml in the spec test
like this:
> 
>  it "renders the requested #{model_ivar_name_lambda.call} as otml
without error" do
>    Haml::Template.options[:format] = :xhtml
>    @model_class.stub!(:find).with("37").and_return(@model_ivar)
>    get :show, :id => "37", :format =>
''otml''
>    assigns[@model_ivar_name].should equal(@model_ivar)
>    response.should render_template(:show)
> 
> Now the response is well-formed XML.
> 
> But this is disturbing because I am not doing that in the application.
> 
> It may be a problem with rspec, rspec-rails, haml or the
ActionController::TestResponse rspec delegates to ... ???
Are you using a mock model or a real one? If mock, try a real one and see what
happens.

rspec-rails acts as a thin wrapper over the Rails testing framework, which does
a lot of things to simulate the runtime environment for you. It''s
doubtful that rspec is the culprit, but we can rule that out definitively by
writing a similar test in the Rails testing framework:

class ThingControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
  test "...." do
    # create a real model
    get :show, :id => "37", :format => ''otml''
    assert_template "show"
  end
end

Does that fail the same way?