Ruby-on-rails – Rspec: setting cookies in a helper test

rspecrspec2ruby-on-rails

Helper Method

  # Determine if this is user's first time
  def first_time?
    cookies[:first_time].nil?
  end

Attempted Rspec test

it "returns true if the cookie is set" do
  cookies[:first_time] = "something"
  helper.first_time?().should be(true)
end

Error:

undefined method `cookies' for nil:NilClass

Everything I've read about Rspec and cookies has to do with the controller. Any way to get/set cookies in Rspec helper tests?

(Rspec/Rspec-rails 2.5, Rails 3.0.4)

Thanks!!

UPDATE:

Found an answer on how to SET cookies, so I'll leave it here for other's reference.

the piece I was looking for:

helper.request.cookies[:awesome] = "something"

Still don't know how to GET cookies…

Best Answer

The best explanation I've been able to find is here: https://www.relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-rails/docs/controller-specs/cookies

Quoted:

Recommended guidelines for rails-3.0.0 to 3.1.0

Access cookies through the request and response objects in the spec.

Use request.cookies before the action to set up state.

Use response.cookies after the action to specify outcomes.

Use the cookies object in the controller action.

Use String keys.

Example:

# spec
request.cookies['foo'] = 'bar'
get :some_action
response.cookies['foo'].should eq('modified bar')

# controller
def some_action
  cookies['foo'] = "modified #{cookies['foo']}"
end

Related Solutions

Ruby – When to use RSpec let()

I always prefer let to an instance variable for a couple of reasons:

Instance variables spring into existence when referenced. This means that if you fat finger the spelling of the instance variable, a new one will be created and initialized to nil, which can lead to subtle bugs and false positives. Since let creates a method, you'll get a NameError when you misspell it, which I find preferable. It makes it easier to refactor specs, too.
A before(:each) hook will run before each example, even if the example doesn't use any of the instance variables defined in the hook. This isn't usually a big deal, but if the setup of the instance variable takes a long time, then you're wasting cycles. For the method defined by let, the initialization code only runs if the example calls it.
You can refactor from a local variable in an example directly into a let without changing the referencing syntax in the example. If you refactor to an instance variable, you have to change how you reference the object in the example (e.g. add an @).
This is a bit subjective, but as Mike Lewis pointed out, I think it makes the spec easier to read. I like the organization of defining all my dependent objects with let and keeping my it block nice and short.

A related link can be found here: http://www.betterspecs.org/#let

Ruby-on-rails – How to run a single RSpec test

Usually I do:

rspec ./spec/controllers/groups_controller_spec.rb:42

Where 42 represents the line of the test I want to run.

EDIT1:

You could also use tags. See here.

EDIT 2:

Try:

bundle exec rspec ./spec/controllers/groups_controller_spec.rb:42

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ruby – When to use RSpec let()

Ruby-on-rails – How to run a single RSpec test

Related Topic