rspec controller test for json api : ActionController::RoutingError

Question

just a simple question for a render json call I'm trying to test. I'm still learning rspec, and have tried everything and can't seem to get this to work. I keep getting an ActionController::RoutingError, even though I defined the route and the call to the api itself works.

In my controller I have the method:

class PlacesController < ApplicationController
  def objects
    @objects = Place.find(params[:id]).objects.active
    render json: @objects.map(&:api)
  end
end

with the render json: @objects.map(&:api), I'm calling the api method in the Object model

class Object
  def api
    { id: id,
      something: something,
      something_else: something_else,
      etc: etc,
      ...
    }
  end
end

My routes file:

get     "places/:id/objects"              => "places#objects"

my rspec: spec/controllers/places_controller_spec.rb

describe "objects" do 
  it "GET properties" do
    m = FactoryGirl.create :object_name, _id: "1", shape: "square"
    get "/places/#{m._id}/objects", {}, { "Accept" => "application/json" }

    expect(response.status).to eq 200
    body = JSON.parse(response.body)
    expect(body["shape"]).to eq "square"
  end
end

I keep getting the error

Failure/Error: get "/places/1/objects", {}, { "Accept" => "application/json" }
 ActionController::RoutingError:
   No route matches {:controller=>"places", :action=>"/places/1/objects"}

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

Carl Markham Carl Markham · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-20T21:15:41

Because you have the spec in the controllers folder RSpec is assuming it is a controller spec.

With controller specs you don't specify the whole path to the route but the actual controller method.

get "/places/#{m._id}/objects", {}

Should be

get :objects, id: m._id

If you don't want this behaviour you can disable it by setting the config infer_spec_type_from_file_location to false. Or you could override the spec type for this file by declaring the type on the describe

describe "objects", type: :request do - change :request to what you want this spec to be.

Although I recommend using the directory structure to dictate what types of specs you are running.

rspec controller test for json api : ActionController::RoutingError

1 Answers