# Functional tests and protected actions

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 6, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560 "2006-06-06T08:29:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/1 "2006-06-06T08:29:43Z")

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Hello!

I have certain methods in my Application Controller, that I need to  
access.  
Namely ApplicationController#logged\_in\_user

The problem is, that when I try to access it, I get:

NoMethodError: protected method `logged\_in\_user’ called for  
#

Any ideas how I can circumvent that?

Or are functional tests really not suited for any kind of logins and  
session  
work? I don’t see why I should move everything to a Integration Test  
just  
because I added user logins.

Any ideas?

Thanks,  
Rob

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/2 "2006-06-06T16:38:25Z")

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On Jun 6, 2006, at 02:28 AM, Robert MannI wrote:

> I have certain methods in my Application Controller, that I need to  
> access. Namely ApplicationController#logged\_in\_user
> 
> The problem is, that when I try to access it, I get:
> 
> NoMethodError: protected method `logged\_in\_user’ called for  
> #
> 
> Any ideas how I can circumvent that?

The simplest way of dealing with this is to have your private/  
protected controller methods only set instance variable values. That  
way, you can run an assert on the value from within the context of  
calling testing a public controller action/method.

However, given that what you are looking to test is a method of your  
Application Controller, my guess is that you are calling it via a  
before\_filter. If that’s the case, then what you are probably going  
to need to do is rely on the session object. If you look at my other  
post on functional tests you’ll see how you can set session values  
when you call into your controller actions.

> Or are functional tests really not suited for any kind of logins  
> and session work? I don’t see why I should move everything to a  
> Integration Test just because I added user logins.

Integration tests are for testing the browser process across multiple  
actions and controllers. Basically, you can use Integration tests to  
completely verify your user stories, front to back. However, if you  
haven’t already verified your business logic (ie. Models) with Unit  
tests and your individual controller actions with Functional tests,  
moving up to Integration tests would be a mistake…

-Brian

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/3 "2006-06-07T12:07:54Z")

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On Jun 5, 2006, at 11:28 PM, Robert MannI wrote:

> Any ideas how I can circumvent that?

protected unless $TESTING

set $TESTING to true in your test case.

–  
Eric H. - removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net)  
This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant

[http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/4 "2006-06-08T22:19:38Z")

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Brian H.: I like to rely on my getters and setters. I don’t want to  
know  
how my class behaves, I just want to use it

Eric H.: I don’t like the idea of changing my code for the tests

I’ll might just change the protected property dynamically, just for the  
duration of the tests.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/5 "2006-06-09T16:47:23Z")

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On Jun 8, 2006, at 04:19 PM, Robert MannI wrote:

> Brian H.: I like to rely on my getters and setters. I don’t  
> want to know how my class behaves, I just want to use it

I’m not sure how to respond to this… at what point did I tell you  
to not rely on your “getters and setters”?

As for how your class might behave, if you are looking to unit test  
that class, I would think you’d absolutely want to know how it works.  
Obviously, that need usually goes away when you are accessing that  
class from outside of itself.

-Brian

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@Robert\_MannI](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robert_MannI)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/functional-tests-and-protected-actions/95560/6 "2006-06-09T18:07:29Z")

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On 6-jun-2006, at 8:28, Robert MannI wrote:

> Any ideas how I can circumvent that?
> 
> Or are functional tests really not suited for any kind of logins  
> and session work? I don’t see why I should move everything to a  
> Integration Test just because I added user logins. ]

Looks like you really want a publci method instead of a protected one.

def get\_stuff  
# do foo  
end

hide\_action :get\_stuff

This will make it a public method and not a callable action. Another  
option would be to just use send to override the access.

@controller.send :logged\_in\_user # bla bla bla

However, if you want t manage authentication in your tests, it’s a  
much better idea to actually make your test go through authentication  
all by itself, I do it with this method in my test case:

def with\_user(slug, &block)  
passwords = { :john =\> ‘secret’ }  
begin  
if @request  
@previous\_host = @request.host  
@request.host = “#{slug}…mydomain.net”  
with\_http\_auth(slug, passwords[slug.to\_sym]) do  
yield  
end  
else  
yield  
end  
ensure # Sometimes the after\_filter does not fire - if a  
controller throws up, for instance, or the test throws  
# do any cleanup here  
@request.host = @previous\_host if @request  
end  
end

Then, to test something with a specific user you do

get :index  
assert\_response 401

with\_user :john do  
get :index  
assert\_success  
end

You can also make your method supply the actual User object to the  
block to compare against it

with\_user :john do | john |  
get :index  
assert\_success  
assert\_equal assigns(:user), john  
end

–  
Julian ‘Julik’ Tarkhanov  
please send all personal mail to  
me at julik.nl