Helpers that call helpers not working in specs?

Testing RSpec
1

I’m trying to test some of my helpers. I have one helper (in module
LocationsHelper) that calls a helper/method in ApplicationHelper. If I
include ApplicationHelper and LocationHelper in my spec, and then I call
the
helper using the “helper.” scope:
helper.location_tree(‘Portland’)

then it complains that it can’t find the other helper it uses from
ApplicationHelper. If instead, I call it directly:

location_tree(‘Portland’)

Then, it can’t find the Rails’ generated URL helpers (e.g.
“location_path”
or “location_url”). How do I make it so that all the dependencies or
Rails’
included stuff is found?

2

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Christopher B.
[email protected] wrote:

included stuff is found?
You don’t need to include the helpers if you are using the helper
object. You should be able to do just this:

describe LocationsHelper do
it “should …” do
helper.location_tree(‘Portland’).should …
end
end

Have you tried that? Does it fail?

3

If I don’t include them, then the helpers in LocationsHelper can’t
find/use
the helpers in ApplicationHelper. Maybe this will help illustrate:
test code:

describe LocationsHelper do
describe “location tree” do
it “should not show siblings for state, country, or root level
locations” do
helper.location_tree(@oregon).should_not
include_text(@hawaii.name)
end
end
end

The location_tree method is defined in the module/helper
LocationsHelper.
But, it calls ApplicationHelper.markaby. When I run the above test, it
can’t find the markaby method/helper. It will only find markaby if I
remove
the leading “helper.” from in front of the call, and also include
ApplicationHelper (including this, when using helper. doesn’t remedy
it).

4

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Christopher B.
[email protected] wrote:

end
The location_tree method is defined in the module/helper LocationsHelper.
But, it calls ApplicationHelper.markaby. When I run the above test, it
can’t find the markaby method/helper. It will only find markaby if I remove
the leading “helper.” from in front of the call, and also include
ApplicationHelper (including this, when using helper. doesn’t remedy it).

OK - in the short run, I’d do this as a workaround instead:

helper.extend ApplicationHelper

You can do that in a before block or in the examples directly.

This is a better option because you’ll soon not have direct access to
the helper methods in the examples except through the helper object.

Next question is whether rspec-rails should just include the
ApplicationHelper module into the helper object. My instinct is yes.
WDYT?

Cheers,
David

5

Thanks, that did the trick.

And for including ApplicationHelper, I would say it should include it -
because that would parallel Rails’ standard behavior.