Rspec not testing render, won't allow us to stub render action

Question

Rails 5.0.0.1 Rspec 3.5.4 Ruby 2.3.1

We have been trying to provide test coverage for our rails application. We have a rescue in a private method that Rspec is not reaching.

Rspec:

it 'returns 200 after 404 from GET #edit error' do
  allow(controller).to receive(:getpackages).and_return(URI::InvalidURIError)    
  expect(response.code).to eq(200) # => covers the 200
  expect(response).to render_template('errors/5xx') # => doesn't read 
end

Rails:

private

def set_package
  @package = PackageServices.getpackage params[:id]
rescue URI::InvalidURIError
  render 'errors/5xx'
end

Error message:

expecting <"errors/5xx"> but rendering with <[]>
  ./spec/controllers/packages_controller_spec.rb:139:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
  -e:1:in `load'
  -e:1:in `<main>'

We have tried to assert_template, tried to stub it using stub_template, installed a gem rails-controller-testing (not rspec), but we have run out of ideas and every google link is purple. Is this a bug in Rspec or are we going about it the wrong way?

Nikita Misharin Nikita Misharin · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-14T21:39:55

I believe the stabbing was incorrect. Try the following code, it should work.

context 'URI is invalid' do
  before do
    allow(PackageServices).toreceive(:getpackage).and_raise(URI::InvalidURIError)
  end

  it 'returns 200 after 404 from GET #edit error' do  
    expect(response.code).to eq(200) # => covers the 200
    expect(response).to render_template('errors/5xx') # => doesn't read 
  end
end

Rspec not testing render, won't allow us to stub render action

1 Answers