NameError when passing a URL helper to a method

Testing RSpec
1

Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of my
specs, and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a
method results in a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its
own short spec file to isolate it. Any thoughts on what’s going on?:
http://gist.github.com/32060

Thanks for your help,
Nick

2

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Nick H. [email protected]
wrote:

Hi guys. I just wrote a small spec helper method to DRY up some of my specs,
and found that passing a URL helper (Eg: #photos_url) to a method results in
a NameError error. I extracted the problem into its own short spec file to
isolate it. Any thoughts on what’s going on?:
http://gist.github.com/32060

foo(properties_url) is being executed in the context of the describe
block and not in the instance of an example being run. For example:

describe FooController do
it “has access to routing methods here” do
properties_url
end

it doesn’t have access out here though, this fails

properties_url

your example will fail to

foo(properties_url)
end

–
Zach D.
http://www.continuousthinking.com

3

On 2008-12-04, at 17:06, Zach D. wrote:

your example will fail to

foo(properties_url)
end

Zach D.

Hi Zach. Thanks for that explanation; it makes a lot of sense. What
I’m trying to do is write a spec helper method for DRYing up
controller redirect examples. In other words, rather than having the
following 4 lines repeated throughout my specs:
it ‘should redirect to the account page’ do
do_action
response.should redirect_to account_url
end

I’d like to do this:
it_should_redirect_to ‘the account page’, account_url

I’ve written the method. The only problem is what you explained;
#account_url being called from outside of an example.

The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
before :each do
@account_url = account_url
end
it_should_redirect_to ‘the account page’, @account_url

Are there any alternative solutions? Cheers,
Nick

4

On 2008-12-04, at 17:43, Nick H. wrote:

The only solution that I can think of is to do this:
before :each do
@account_url = account_url
end
it_should_redirect_to ‘the account page’, @account_url

Actually, that suggestion above of mine doesn’t work. It fails with:
You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!
The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
(eval):17:in `account_url’

I thought of it while writing that last email, but didn’t test it
before hitting send.
-Nick

5

Nick H. [email protected] writes:

[email protected]
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

Check out my attempt: 32130’s gists · GitHub I don’t know which
one is correct.

Pat

6

Nick H. [email protected] writes:

(eval):17:in `account_url’

I thought of it while writing that last email, but didn’t test it
before hitting send.
-Nick

rspec-users mailing list
[email protected]
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

It’s the same as

class Foo
@class_instance_variable = “blah”

def foo
puts @class_instance_variable
end
end

Foo.foo will print nothing, because @class_instance_variable is nil in
the object instance.

Anyway, I thought of an even cleaner way to do things than using a
block, assuming you only care about calling one method:

do_something(:blah_url_helper)

def do_something(helper_name)
send(helper_name)
end

Pat

7

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Pat M. [email protected] wrote:

I don’t know if it matters here, but you can define a class method to
return
a class instance variable.

///ark

8

On 2008-12-04, at 19:56, Pat M. wrote:

The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
It’s the same as
the object instance.
Pat
Hi Pat. That’s a great suggestion. Here’s what I ended up doing:
32424’s gists · GitHub

Thanks,
Nick