# NoMethodError: nil object with Autotest/ZenTest **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 2, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nomethoderror-nil-object-with-autotest-zentest/127892 "2008-02-02T07:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jeff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nomethoderror-nil-object-with-autotest-zentest/127892/1 "2008-02-02T07:21:48Z")
Hello, I’m attempting to get started with ZenTest and Autotest, but I haven’t had any luck getting it to run even the simplest test so far. I created a fresh Rails app, made sure the latest ZenTest gem (3.9.1) was installed, altered test\_helper.rb and Rakefile as directed, and tried to run “autotest -rails”. I have a database model called “things”, and a single test of the View, Unit and Functional type. The View test includes only a test for the “index” page. When I run autotest, here’s the result: C:\rails\funk\>autotest -rails loading autotest/rails C:\ruby\bin\ruby -I.;lib;test -rtest/unit -e “%w[test/functional/ things\_controll er\_test.rb test/views/thing\_view\_test.rb test/unit/thing\_test.rb].each { |f| req uire f }” | unit\_diff -u Loaded suite -e Started .E Finished in 1.266 seconds. 1. Error: test\_index(ThingViewTest): NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! You might have expected an instance of Array. The error occurred while evaluating nil.split C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.9.1/lib/test/rails.rb: 276:in `path2 class' C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.9.1/lib/test/rails/ functional_test_ case.rb:28:in`setup\_without\_fixtures’ C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.0.2/lib/ active\_record/fixtures .rb:979:in `full\_setup’ 2 tests, 1 assertions, 0 failures, 1 errors – Does anyone know why this might be happening? I get no errors when I change my test\_helper and Rakefile back to Test::Unit and run “rake”. But this happens with ZenTest and autotest. I’d love to use them if I can figure out what’s going on. Thanks! Jeff C.man ---
**Author:** ![jeff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@jeff](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/nomethoderror-nil-object-with-autotest-zentest/127892/2 "2008-02-06T00:23:21Z")
I’m having the same issue, just upgraded to rails 2.0.2 from 1.2.3 and getting the same error: NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it! You might have expected an instance of Array. The error occurred while evaluating nil.split /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.9.1/lib/test/rails.rb:276:in `path2class' /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ZenTest-3.9.1/lib/test/rails/ functional_test_case.rb:28:in`setup\_without\_fixtures’ /home/kenglish/workspace/first2/vendor/rails/activerecord/lib/ active\_record/fixtures.rb:979:in `full\_setup’