rspec test of my controller returns nil (+factory girl)

Question

I am learning tests with rspec and factory girl on Rails and I can't manage to make them work.

My User controller looks like this :

class UsersController < ApplicationController
  def index
    @users = User.all.order(:first_name)
  end
end

and the tests :

require 'spec_helper'

describe UsersController do

before(:each) do
    @user1 = FactoryGirl.create(:user, first_name: "B", last_name: "B", uid: "b")
    @user2 = FactoryGirl.create(:user, first_name: "A", last_name: "A", uid: "a")
end

describe "GET index" do     
    it "sets a list of users sorted by first name" do
        get :index
        assigns(:users).should == [@user2, @user1]
    end
end
end

But the tests returns the following :

UsersController GET index sets a list of users sorted by first name
Failure/Error: assigns(:users).should == [@user2, @user1]
expected: [#<User id: nil, email: nil, first_name: "A", last_name: "A", uid: "a", active: true, admin: false, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, reset_date: nil>, #<User id: nil, email: nil, first_name: "B", last_name: "B", uid: "b", active: true, admin: false, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, reset_date: nil>]
got: nil (using ==)
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:13:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'

Do you have any idea what I am doing wrong ?

Cheers!

Here is the 'rake routes' :

      Prefix Verb   URI Pattern                        Controller#Action
        root GET    /                                  meetings#index
    meetings GET    /meetings(.:format)                meetings#index
       login GET    /login(.:format)                   sessions#new
      logout GET    /logout(.:format)                  sessions#destroy
             POST   /auth/:provider/callback(.:format) sessions#create
auth_failure GET    /auth/failure(.:format)            sessions#failure
       users GET    /users(.:format)                   users#index
             POST   /users(.:format)                   users#create
    new_user GET    /users/new(.:format)               users#new
   edit_user GET    /users/:id/edit(.:format)          users#edit
        user GET    /users/:id(.:format)               users#show
             PATCH  /users/:id(.:format)               users#update
             PUT    /users/:id(.:format)               users#update
             DELETE /users/:id(.:format)               users#destroy

Have you checked your routes (e.g. output of rake routes)? — Peter Alfvin
make sure that calling FactoryGirl.create actually creates a record in the db. You should keep in mind that the factories should at least pass all validations. — jvnill
If you change your get :index to controller.index and it works, that will confirm that the problem is with your routing. — Peter Alfvin
Peter you're right! it's a routing problem. controller.index makes it work. Now I have to figure out my routing issue. thank you! — Max Armand

BWStearns BWStearns · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-28T04:52:38

As Jvnill said above, use create. The other option is to use @user1.save after declaring them.

Also as far as routes go, check your resources in the routes file.

rspec test of my controller returns nil (+factory girl)

1 Answers