Undefined local variable or method `assigns'

Testing RSpec
1

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 4:41 PM, [email protected] wrote:

end

The error is: undefined local variable or method `assigns’ for
#Spec::Rails::Example::ModelExampleGroup::Subclass_1:0x2fbac28

I feel like I’m overlooking something obvious but it’s invisible to
me. Any suggestions?

assigns is for controller and view specs, not model specs. What is it
you’re trying to specify here?

2

assigns(:message).should eq(@message)

assign(:message, stub(“Message”, :text => “Hello world!”))

Hmm, so ‘assign’ to assign a variable and ‘assigns’ to read an
assigned variable?
We need to update the RSpec 2 wiki or somewhere with all these API
changes so it is clear to everyone.

3

On Jun 13, 2010, at 6:49 AM, Kristian M. wrote:

assigns(:message).should eq(@message)

assign(:message, stub(“Message”, :text => “Hello world!”))

Hmm, so ‘assign’ to assign a variable and ‘assigns’ to read an
assigned variable?
We need to update the RSpec 2 wiki or somewhere with all these API
changes so it is clear to everyone.

There’s already info about assign(key, val) on the rspec-rails readme:
GitHub - rspec/rspec-rails: RSpec for Rails 5+. I’ll add something about
assigns(:key) as well.

Keep in mind that assign(k,v) is used in view specs to provide data to
the view, whereas assigns(key) is used in controller specs to express
expectations about what the controller does.

As for the wiki, let’s hold off on that for now. There is currently
insufficient documentation in too many places, and the wiki has, at
times, caused more confusion than benefit. I’ve got a few thoughts
rolling around about how to best address this, and I’ll follow up on
that in a separate thread in the next couple of days.

Cheers,
David

4

Hi David,

Sounds great! Looking forward to more documentation :slight_smile:
I have now gone through all the examples in the RSpec book and got
them working with the latest version of RSpec 2 and Rails 3 beta4.
I only have one loose end:

shared_examples_for “a template that renders the messages/form
partial” do
it “renders the messages/form partial” do
template.should_receive(:render).with(
:partial => “form”,
:locals => { :message => assigns[:message] }
)
render
end
end

undefined local variable or method `template’ for
#RSpec::Core::ExampleGroup::Nested_8:0x00000100e019a0

Changing template to _view as you instructed previously (I think)

_view.should_receive(:render).with(
  :partial => "form",
  :locals => { :message => assigns[:message] }
)

#ActionView::Base:0x00000100e98c88 received :render with unexpected
arguments
expected: ({:partial=>“form”, :locals=>{:message=>nil}})
got: ({:template=>“messages/edit.html.erb”}, {})

But this is my edit.html

<%= render “form”, :message => @message %>

So _view only contains info on the view. How do I get info on the
templates called as part of the rendering process?

5

Thanks! Just what I needed :slight_smile:

6

On Jun 13, 2010, at 4:35 PM, Kristian M. wrote:

template.should_receive(:render).with(
Changing template to _view as you instructed previously (I think)

But this is my edit.html

<%= render “form”, :message => @message %>

So _view only contains info on the view. How do I get info on the
templates called as part of the rendering process?

See the bit on View Specs on
http://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/blob/master/Upgrade.markdown

7

shared_examples_for “a template that renders the messages/form
partial” do
it “renders the messages/form partial” do
view.should_receive(:_render_partial).
with(hash_including(:partial => “form”))
render
end
end

new.html.erb

<%= render “sidebar”, :recent_messages => @recent_messages %>
<%= render “form”, :message => @message %>

  1. messages/new.html.erb renders the messages/form partial
    Failure/Error: Unable to find matching line from backtrace
    #ActionView::Base:0x000001014fbc88 received :_render_partial
    with unexpected arguments
    expected: (hash_including(:partial=>“form”))
    got:
    ({:partial=>“sidebar”, :locals=>{:recent_messages=>[]}})

So what to do if I call multiple partials from my view?

8

On Jun 13, 2010, at 5:32 PM, Kristian M. [email protected]
wrote:

So what to do if I call multiple partials from my view?

view.stub(:_render_partial) before view.should_receive(:_render_partial)

9

Thanks again David :slight_smile: Pure magic to me, I don’t really understand how/
why that makes it work. But it does!