Problems stubbing @controller.stub!(:send)

Testing RSpec
1

In one of my controller tests I’m testing a method which uses
self.send() to do some pre-processing if that
private method name is defined:

         # If this task requires some additional preperation then

create a
# private method below with the same name as the
task_type and
# it will be executed here.
if private_methods.include?(task_type)
self.send(task_type)
end

I will be testing these private_methods separately so I want to just
stub out the “self.send” line so that I can verify that it’s called if
there’s a match.

If I just stub out :send in my before() method:

   @controller.stub!(:send)

then it appears that a previous send is stubbed, and my method never
gets tested (shown by my first should not getting hit).

If I specify a “with” for that stub:

   @controller.stub!(:send).with('private method')

I then get a “stack level too deep” error.

I have similar problems when attempt to use the following instead of
the before/stub:

 it "should run any private methods if task_type matches" do
   @mock_task.should_receive(:run).and_return(@mock_task)
   @controller.should_receive(:send).with('private method')
   do_request
 end

Here I get the error message “Mock ‘TasksController’ expected :send
with (“private method” but received it with (:perform_action)”

Is there any way that I can stub out just the :send with “private
method” and leave the other one alone to execute?

Thank you,

David S.
[email protected]

2

David S. [email protected] writes:

          self.send(task_type)

then it appears that a previous send is stubbed, and my method never

method" and leave the other one alone to execute?
I’m not sure, but you should be able to stub out :private_method and it
ought to work fine, even when you send it.

Pat

3

On Nov 4, 2008, at 1:53 PM, Pat M. wrote:

       # it will be executed here.
       if private_methods.include?(task_type)
         self.send(task_type)
       end

I will be testing these private_methods separately so I want to just
stub out the “self.send” line so that I can verify that it’s called
if
there’s a match.

[…]

Is there any way that I can stub out just the :send with “private
method” and leave the other one alone to execute?

I’m not sure, but you should be able to stub out :private_method and
it
ought to work fine, even when you send it.

Pat

That did the trick and worked great. Thanks Pat!

David S.
[email protected]