[rspec-users] I'm really bad at controllers, help please.

[Jonathan Linowes]

fyi, i'm finding the should_receive(:messages) to be too brittle  
because any time I add a call like @user.messages.find or whatever it  
breaks my spec (requiring I do .twice or .times(N) . IMO the spec  
shouldn't be so sensitive to implementation of the behavior, so i'm  
now stubbing the association

replaced
	@user.should_receive(:messages).and_return(@messages)
with
	@user.stub!(:messages).and_return(@messages)



On Jun 2, 2007, at 3:09 PM, Jonathan Linowes wrote:

> I'm nearly as new at this as you are I'm I'm just figuring things out
> myself too.
>
> I think your problem is method :messages is being called on an
> instance of User, not the class, so you need
>
> @user.stub!(:messages).and_return([@message])
>
> here's some clues to how I've gotten similar things working
> To diagnose problems with my examples, I
> - watch the test.log file. You could use 'tail' or on mac use the
> 'console' utility
> - use the -e option in spec to run one example at a time. I copy/
> paste the test name from the terminal window to avoid a lot of typing
> - sometimes I comment out code in my app methods to limit what its
> actually doing and then add one line at a time to "re-develop" the
> method
> - similarly I may create an extra test method in my controller or
> model to isolate things I dont understand between the spec and the  
> code.
>
> I also tend to use should_receive rather than stubs, it provides more
> details (although seems to make the tests more brittle)
>
> thus,
>
> # separate for reuse with multiple describe cases
> def setup_messages do
>    @user = mock_model(User)
>    @message = mock_model(Message)
>    @messages = [@message]
> end
>
> def before(:each) do
>    setup_messages
>    User.should_receive(:find).with("1").and_return(@user)
>    @user.should_receive(:messages).and_return(@messages)
> end
>
> def do_get
>    get :index, :user_id => 1
> end
>
> it "should find all messages" do
>    do_get
>    assigns[:messages].should == @messages
> end
>
> I think this is right. Please let me know
> :)
>
>
> On Jun 2, 2007, at 4:27 AM, Fischer, Daniel wrote:
>
>> Hey,
>>
>> Sorry for so many questions - I'm really bad at this right now.
>>
>> I'm trying to cover the following code w/ rspec
>>
>>   def index
>>     if params[:user_id]
>>       @user = User.find(params[:user_id])
>>       @messages = @user.messages
>>     end
>>   end
>>
>> So basically what I'm doing is listing all the messages for a user,
>> provided there is an id parameter.
>>
>> describe MessagesController, " handling GET /messages for a user" do
>>
>>   before do
>>     @message = mock_model(Message)
>>     @message.stub!(:user_id).and_return(1)
>>     @user = mock_model(User)
>>     @user.stub!(:id).and_return(1)
>>     User.stub!(:messages).and_return([@message])
>>     User.stub!(:find).and_return([@user])
>>   end
>>
>>   def do_get
>>     get :index, :user_id => 1
>>   end
>>
>>   it "should be successful" do
>>     do_get
>>     response.should be_success
>>   end
>>
>>   it "should render index template" do
>>     do_get
>>     response.should render_template('index')
>>   end
>>
>>   it "should find all messages" do
>>     User.should_receive(:messages).and_return([@message])
>>     do_get
>>   end
>>
>>   it "should assign the found messages for the view" do
>>     do_get
>>     assigns[:messages].should == [@message]
>>   end
>> end
>>
>>
>> I'm trying to use the basic scaffold spec, but I'm absolutely  
>> clueless
>> on what the proper way to handle this is, I'm not even sure the  
>> proper
>> way I should mock the messages method, so it'll return a "stub?" of a
>> collection, or whatever the proper term is.
>>
>> I'm sorry you have to deal with a newb, but if you could really help
>> me out I'd appreciate it a ton, thanks!
>> -- 
>> -Daniel Fischer
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