Disabling before filters in rspec?

Testing RSpec
1

Hey guys,

i have this before-filter in my application-controller:

def login_required
if !current_user
redirect_to join_welcome_path and return
end
end

This before-filter is prepended before all other before-filters in my
application_controller.rb like this

prepend_before_filter :login_required,

Now i want to test a controller which should only be accessible if
the user is logged in like that:

describe “new action” do

describe "before-filter requirements are not met" do

  before(:each) do
    activate_authlogic
  end

  it "should redirect to join_welcome_path if not logged in" do
    controller.stub(:login_required).and_return(false)
    get :new
    response.should redirect_to(join_welcome_path)
   end

The thing is, I would have expected this spec to pass - a call to
“new” invokes the login-required before-filter which redirects to the
join_welcome_path.

Instead i get:

NoMethodError in ‘Shopping::PaymentsController new action before-
filter requirements are not met should redirect to join_welcome_path
if not logged in’
undefined method `current_cart_size’ for nil:NilClass

which is from a before-filter which is triggered after the login-
required before-filter.

How do I even get there?
As far as I understood the docs, this line:

controller.stub(:login_required).and_return(false)

should cause a redirect, so how do i even get to subsequent before-
filters?

In a nutshell:

Why do I even reach subsequent before-filters?
What am I doing wrong here?

2

On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 6:56 PM, jollyroger
[email protected]wrote:

This before-filter is prepended before all other before-filters in my

The thing is, I would have expected this spec to pass - a call to
which is from a before-filter which is triggered after the login-
required before-filter.

How do I even get there?
As far as I understood the docs, this line:

controller.stub(:login_required).and_return(false)

should cause a redirect,

That is not correct. That line completely replaces the login_required()
method with a stub that returns false. The code in the real
login_required()
method is not executed at all, and therefore the redirect does not
happen.

so how do i even get to subsequent before-
filters?

Filters only halt execution if they invoke a redirect or return. In this
case, because the filter is stubbed and the redirect is never called,
execution continues.

In a nutshell:

Why do I even reach subsequent before-filters?
What am I doing wrong here?

You have a couple of options here, but I think the simplest thing would
be
to stub current_user instead of login_required:

it “should redirect to join_welcome_path if not logged in” do
controller.stub(:current_user).and_return(nil)
get :new
response.should redirect_to(join_welcome_path)
end

HTH,
David

3

Hi David,

well, the way you put it it all sounds totally logical…:slight_smile:

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I guess I need to improve my
specs…