"Could not find a valid mapping for #<User ...>" only on second and successive tests

Question

I'm trying to write a request test that asserts that the proper links appear on the application layout depending in whether a user is logged in or out. FWIW, I'm using Devise for the authentication piece.

Here's my spec:

require 'spec_helper'
require 'devise/test_helpers'

describe "Layout Links" do
  context "the home page" do
    context "session controls" do
      context "for an authenticated user" do
        before do
          # I know these should all operate in isolation, but I
          # want to make sure the user is explicitly logged out
          visit destroy_user_session_path

          @user = Factory(:user, :password => "Asd123", :password_confirmation => "Asd123")
          @user.confirm!

          # I tried adding this per the Devise wiki, but no change
          @request.env["devise.mapping"] = Devise.mappings[:user]

          # Now log a new user in
          visit new_user_session_path
          fill_in "Email",    :with => @user.email
          fill_in "Password", :with => "Asd123"
          click_button "Sign in"
          get '/'
        end

        it "should not have a link to the sign in page" do
          response.should_not have_selector(
            '#session a',
            :href => new_user_session_path
          )
        end

        it "should not have a link to registration page" do
          response.should_not have_selector(
            '#session a',
            :href => new_user_registration_path
          )
        end

        it "should have a link to the edit profile page" do
          response.should have_selector(
            '#session a',
            :content => "My Profile",
            :href => edit_user_registration_path
          )
        end

        it "should have a link to sign out page" do
          response.should have_selector(
            '#session a',
            :content => "Logout",
            :href => destroy_user_session_path
          )
        end
      end # context "for an authenticated user"
    end # context "session controls"
  end
end

The first test passes, but the last three all fail with the error

Failure/Error: @user = Factory(:user, :password => "Asd123", :password_confirmation => "Asd123")
  RuntimeError:
    Could not find a valid mapping for #<User id: xxx, ...>

I've searched through the Devise wiki, Google group and search results for a cause, but all I find are unanswered questions or suggestions to set config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller but that only applies to controller tests, not request test.

Update

I've done some more troubleshooting and I can't make heads or tails of what is ultimately triggering the problem. Have a look at the following code.

First, for some context here is the User factory declaration. It works fine in unit tests.

# spec/factories.rb
Factory.define :user do |f|
  f.email { Faker::Internet.email }
  f.email_confirmation { |f| f.email }
  f.password "AbcD3fG"
  f.password_confirmation "AbcD3fG"
  f.remember_me { (Random.new.rand(0..1) == 1) ? true : false }
end

Now, consider the following integration test

# spec/requests/user_links_spec.rb
require "spec_helper"

describe "User Links" do
  before(:each) do
    # This doesn't trigger the problem
    # @user = nil

    # This doesn't trigger the problem
    # @user = User.new

    # This doesn't trigger the problem
    # @user = User.create(
    #   :email => "[email protected]", 
    #   :email_confirmation => "[email protected]", 
    #   :password => "asdf1234", 
    #   :password_confirmation => "asdf1234"
    # )

    # This doesn't trigger the problem
    # @user = User.new
    # @user.email = Faker::Internet.email
    # @user.email_confirmation = @user.email
    # @user.password = "AbcD3fG"
    # @user.password_confirmation = "AbcD3fG"
    # @user.remember_me = (Random.new.rand(0..1) == 1) ? true : false
    # @user.save!

    # This triggers the problem!
    @user = Factory(:user)

    # This doesn't trigger the same problem, but it raises a ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch error instead. Still no idea why. It was working fine before in other request tests.
    # @user = Factory(:brand)
  end

  context "when using `@user = Factory(:user)` in the setup: " do
    2.times do |i|
      it "this should pass on the 1st iteration, but not the 2nd (iteration ##{i+1})" do
        # This doesn't trigger an error
        true.should_not eql(false)
      end

      it "this should pass on the 1st iteration, but trigger the error that causes all successive test cases to fail (iteration ##{i+1})" do
        # Every test case after this will be borken!
        get '/'
      end

      it "this will fail on all iterations (iteration ##{i+1})" do
        # This will now trigger an error
        true.should_not eql(false)
      end
    end
  end
end

If we comment out or replace the get '/' bit with anything else (or nothing at all), the tests all run fine.

So, I don't know if this is a factory_girl issue (I tend to doubt it since I can use User factories elsewhere w/o issue) or a Devise issue (I started getting these errors after setting up that gem in my application, but I also only had one other request test which did work fine but is now getting that AssociationTypeMismatch error; correlation ≠ causation...) or an RSpec issue or some other weird edge-case gem conflict.

I found that this happens even if the users aren't actually used in any of the test cases. I'm posting an update to the ticket since it's too big to post in the comment form. — Chris Bloom
I found a thread in the Devise mailing group discussing this same problem, but so far no answers there either. groups.google.com/group/plataformatec-devise/browse_thread/… — Chris Bloom

Bruno Paulino Bruno Paulino · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-08T21:10:13

Add this line to your routes.rb

# Devise routes
devise_for :users # Or the name of your custom model

"Could not find a valid mapping for #<User ...>" only on second and successive tests

9 Answers