# Protected ApplicationController methods not called in Tests? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 7, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protected-applicationcontroller-methods-not-called-in-tests/192883 "2010-08-07T17:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protected-applicationcontroller-methods-not-called-in-tests/192883/1 "2010-08-07T17:05:28Z")
Hey, I’m currently writing some tests and getting a strange error. My ApplicationController has following protected method: before\_filter :load\_user\_vars def load\_user\_vars @current\_user = current\_user [other protected method] @current\_character = @current\_user.character … end When I now run a test and the @current\_character is being used in a controller that is being tested I get a “RuntimeError: Called id for nil” Why is that protected method not being called since it’s a before\_filter method? And how can I make my test to run this method and declare these variables? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protected-applicationcontroller-methods-not-called-in-tests/192883/2 "2010-08-07T17:26:17Z")
On 7 August 2010 16:05, Heinz S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > end > > When I now run a test and the @current\_character is being used in a > controller that is being tested I get a “RuntimeError: Called id for > nil” > > Why is that protected method not being called since it’s a before\_filter > method? And how can I make my test to run this method and declare these > variables? It certainly should be called from tests. Are you sure it is not being called? Try putting a line debugger at the start of the filter and see if it breaks there. Otherwise how are you invoking the controller method that should call the filter? Have you looked in test.log to see if there is anything of note there? If still no joy show us the controller action code and the error trace and which line it is failing on. Colin ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protected-applicationcontroller-methods-not-called-in-tests/192883/3 "2010-08-07T17:32:44Z")
On 7 August 2010 16:05, Heinz S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > When I now run a test and the @current\_character is being used in a > controller that is being tested I get a “RuntimeError: Called id for > nil” > > Why is that protected method not being called since it’s a before\_filter > method? And how can I make my test to run this method and declare these > variables? How do you conclude that load\_user\_vars isn’t being run? Perhaps it is being run, but @current\_user.character is just returning nil (which seems more likely). It’s hard to be sure without seeing some more code. Could you Gist [1] your ApplicationController, and the code where the RuntimeError is being raised? Chris [1] [http://gist.github.com/](http://gist.github.com/) ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protected-applicationcontroller-methods-not-called-in-tests/192883/4 "2010-08-07T18:00:09Z")
Sorry guys, It took me only like ten times going through the code to find a typo that caused the problem. It’s working now, thanks for the quick help!