Hi,
I have a controller that uses the current_user attributes to determine
if a motion is showable. I can see the motion track through from a
fixture to the show action, but not the current_user. My rspec test is
describe MotionsController, “handling GET /motions/1” do
fixtures :people, :motions
before(:each) do @current_user = people(:someuser) @request.session[:user_id] = @current_user.id @motion = motions(:four)
controller.stub!(:logged_in?).and_return(true)
controller.stub!(:retrieve_user).and_return(@current_user)
end
it “should match motion and user” do
showable = controller.is_showable?(@current_user, @motion)
puts “…Motion is showable = #{showable}” # is_showable? shows as
true.
end
def do_get
get :show, :id => @motion.id
end
it “should be successful” do
do_get
response.should be_success
end
end
In the MotionsController show action the motion is collected with the
params[:id] but the @current_user doesn’t show.
The @current_user and @motion are supplied to is_showable? in the
controller for which they have attributes that are compared.
Any reason why @current_user isn’t showing up in the show action?
If I take out the controller stubs in before(:each) then the redirect
from session shows as a 302 but the process doesn’t proceed to the show
action.
A mock would require rebuilding the User model for all the checks done
in the controller and I am trying to avoid that by using a fixture
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Also, my protected qualifier on is_showable? works in the controller for
a browser initiated request by not with the rspec test. I removed
protected to get the test done, but how is that supposed to be handled?
A mock would require rebuilding the User model for all the checks done
in the controller and I am trying to avoid that by using a fixture
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Not necessarily. Have you looked into using a null_object mock?
A mock would require rebuilding the User model for all the checks done
in the controller and I am trying to avoid that by using a fixture
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Not necessarily. Have you looked into using a null_object mock?
Scott
Yes, I tried null object but it doesn’t get past is_showable? which says
it has a nil object passed in.
The idea is to use @current_user to determine if @motion is shown on the
view. So how come @current_user isn’t available in the controller?
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Not necessarily. Have you looked into using a null_object mock?
Scott
Yes, I tried null object but it doesn’t get past is_showable? which says
it has a nil object passed in.
The idea is to use @current_user to determine if @motion is shown on the
view. So how come @current_user isn’t available in the controller?
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Not necessarily. Have you looked into using a null_object mock?
Scott
Yes, I tried null object but it doesn’t get past is_showable? which says
it has a nil object passed in.
The idea is to use @current_user to determine if @motion is shown on the
view. So how come @current_user isn’t available in the controller?
Can you please post the controller code?
Hi,
The controller show action is:
def show @motion = Motion.find(params[:id])
if is_showable?(@current_user, @motion)
(@vote = @motion.votes.find_by_shortname(@current_user.shortname))
if is_votable?(@current_user, @motion)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => @motion }
end
else
flash[:error] = "You are not in that group."
redirect_to motions_path
end
called from the database to test the true interaction between user and
motion.
Not necessarily. Have you looked into using a null_object mock?
Scott
Yes, I tried null object but it doesn’t get past is_showable? which says
it has a nil object passed in.
The idea is to use @current_user to determine if @motion is shown on the
view. So how come @current_user isn’t available in the controller?
Can you please post the controller code?
Hi,
The controller show action is:
def show @motion = Motion.find(params[:id])
if is_showable?(@current_user, @motion)
(@vote = @motion.votes.find_by_shortname(@current_user.shortname))
if is_votable?(@current_user, @motion)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => @motion }
end
else
flash[:error] = "You are not in that group."
redirect_to motions_path
end
end
HR
and is_showable? here:
def is_showable?(user, motion)
user.group_member?( motion.group_name )
end
and the show action has a :login_required which calls :logged_in?
since MotionsController is a subclass of ApplicationController doesn’t
running the rspec test invoke the methods here:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
helper :all # include all helpers, all the time
before_filter :retrieve_user
protected
def retrieve_user
return unless session[:user_id] @current_user = Person.current_auth_record(session[:user_id])
end
def logged_in? @current_user.is_a?(Person)
end
helper_method :logged_in?
def login_required
return true if logged_in?
session[:return_to] = request.request_uri
redirect_to new_session_path and return false
end
I guess that is what’s happening, although I have this line in the
before_filter :retrieve_user
protected
def retrieve_user
return unless session[:user_id] @current_user = Person.current_auth_record(session[:user_id])
end
retrieve_user, the real method, sets an instance variable that other
methods expect to be set rather than returning a value. When this is
stubbed with a return value of the user, the instance variable never
gets set inside the controller.
I’d add a current_user method that returns @current_user, and then
stub that in the code examples:
in ApplicationController
def current_user @current_user
end
in MotionsController
def show
…
if is_showable?(current_user, @motion)
…
end
retrieve_user, the real method, sets an instance variable that other
methods expect to be set rather than returning a value. When this is
stubbed with a return value of the user, the instance variable never
gets set inside the controller.
I’d add a current_user method that returns @current_user, and then
stub that in the code examples:
Hi David,
I understand your response now that its pointed out what is happening
between controller and rspec, however, this means changing my code to
test it. This strikes me as backward. Isn’t there another way to get
the @current_user “set” for use in the controller?
I’d add a current_user method that returns @current_user, and then
stub that in the code examples:
Hi David,
I found that I can stub out is_showable?(@current_user, @motion) and the
test passes. I was trying to use the code logic to do this, but now see
that @current_user won’t be seen by the show action as it is set in the
actual code.
Thanks for your help.
HR
I understand your response now that its pointed out what is happening
between controller and rspec, however, this means changing my code to
test it. This strikes me as backward.
When things are hard to test they are hard to maintain, so
maintainability requires testability. When a simple change makes
something easier to test, that change brings a lot of value. That’s
the spirit of rspec, BDD and even TDD.
Isn’t there another way to get
the @current_user “set” for use in the controller?
When things are hard to test they are hard to maintain, so
maintainability requires testability. When a simple change makes
something easier to test, that change brings a lot of value. That’s
the spirit of rspec, BDD and even TDD.
Thanks David,
I am new to rspec and am enjoying the interchange between build a test
then build the code. In this case I’m late to the party. This
particular setup for @current_user makes sense to me but I understand
your point about maintainability.
In trying to understand what rspec is doing, my thinking was that since
MotionsController is a subclass of ApplicationController any instance
variable set in ApplicationController was available to
MotionsController. I think you are telling me that rspec doesn’t invoke
this. So I need to think about the implications here.
Yes, I want the advantages of rspec and having maintainable code.
particular setup for @current_user makes sense to me but I understand
your point about maintainability.
In trying to understand what rspec is doing, my thinking was that since
MotionsController is a subclass of ApplicationController any instance
variable set in ApplicationController was available to
MotionsController. I think you are telling me that rspec doesn’t invoke
this. So I need to think about the implications here.
The @current_user instance variable was being set by the
ApplicationController#retrieve_user method, but your spec was stubbing
out the #retrieve_user method. This means that the original
ApplicationController#retreieve_user method is not going to get called
because you have explicitly told RSpec to stub out that method and
return the current user from your spec. Since the original method is
not going to get called the @current_user instance variable in the
controller never gets set.
Hi Zack,
I put the stub in to advance the process to the MotionsController
because without it the process hangs in ApplicationController with a
redirect to show.
My test log shows the 302 but show doesn’t get called. Is there some
way around that?
So far David’s method of making retrieve_user return @current_user
That’s not what I recommended. I recommended adding a new method named
current_user that returns @current_user, so you can refer to just
current_user in method calls and stub that out if you want to control
its value from the code example.
and stubbing the protected method is_showable? works but doesn’t
recognize the inheritance that should be there for @current_user.
The @current_user instance variable was being set by the
ApplicationController#retrieve_user method, but your spec was stubbing
out the #retrieve_user method. This means that the original
ApplicationController#retreieve_user method is not going to get called
because you have explicitly told RSpec to stub out that method and
return the current user from your spec. Since the original method is
not going to get called the @current_user instance variable in the
controller never gets set.
Hi Zack,
I put the stub in to advance the process to the MotionsController
because without it the process hangs in ApplicationController with a
redirect to show.
My test log shows the 302 but show doesn’t get called. Is there some
way around that?
So far David’s method of making retrieve_user return @current_user
and stubbing the protected method is_showable? works but doesn’t
recognize the inheritance that should be there for @current_user.