# Routes and Testing Routes **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971 "2006-05-18T23:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/1 "2006-05-18T23:12:18Z")
I love the routes feature for RoR…until now. I’m trying to write tests to make sure my urls are correctly mapping to the routes I expect them to map to. This is driving me nuts because I simply can’t get any of my tests to pass. I have thus concluded that routes must work differently than I thought. If someone could possibly point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it…I will try to explain my understanding of how routes work. Here is my route: ```auto map.download 'latform_filter/:software/:version/latform/:distribution_channel/:id', :controller => 'user/version', latform_filter => /all/, latform => /windows/linux/, :distribution_channel => /download/, :action => 'download', :id => /\d+/ ``` Ok, so the following url will map to this route: [http://mysite.com:3000/all/eudora/7.0.1/windows/download/5](http://mysite.com:3000/all/eudora/7.0.1/windows/download/5) Here’s how I _think_ the match is determined: 1. Rails looks at the first portion of the url–“all”–and checks to see if it will be accepted by my route. It matches my regex constraint, so platform\_filter =\> “all” is set. 2. Rails inspects the next url item–“eudora”–checks to see if it matches my mapping constraint. There is no constraint, so it matches, sets :software =\> “eudora”. 3. Rails inspects the next url item–“7.0.1”–checks to see if it matches my mapping constraint. There is no constraint, so :version =\> “7.0.1” is set. 4. Rails inspects the next url item–“windows”–checks to see if it matches my mapping constraint. It matches my regex constraint, so platform =\> “windows” is set. 5. Rails inspects the next url item–“download”–checks to see if it matches my mapping constraint. It matches my regex constraint, so :distribution\_channel =\> “download” is set. 6. Rails inspects the last url item–“5”–checks to see if it matches my mapping constraint. It matches my regex constraint, so :id =\> “download” is set. 7. All the url portions mapped, so this route will be used. 8. Rails looks at the :controller and the :action defined in this route and executes them, passing all the matchig url portions via the params hash. Ex: we can access the :software portion of the url like this–params[:software] If any of the above steps do not match, the route is skipped, the keys are cleared and the process is repeated with the next route. So now I want to test my route with within the User::VersionControllerTest class: ```auto def test_route url = "/all/eudora/7.0.1/windows|download/5" opts = {:controller => 'user/version', latform_filter => "all", :software => "eudora", :version => "7.0.1", latform => "windows", :distribution_channel => "download", :id => 5} assert_recognizes(opts, url) # Assertion fails! end ``` I really don’t understand why this is failing, even the error message doesn’t make sense: ```auto The recognized options <{"software"=>"eudora", "platform"=>"windows", "action"=>"download", "platform_filter"=>"all", "id"=>"5", "controller"=>"user/version", "version"=>"7.0.1", "distribution_channel"=>"download"}> did not match <{"software"=>"eudora", "platform"=>"windows", "platform_filter"=>"all", "id"=>5, "controller"=>"user/version", "version"=>"7.0.1", "distribution_channel"=>"download"}> ``` The error message show identical options but says they don’t match? If anyone can shed some light on this, please do. -Steven ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/2 "2006-05-18T23:59:03Z")
Hello Steven, > “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, > “id”=\>5, > “controller”=\>“user/version”, > “version”=\>“7.0.1”, > “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> > [/code] > > The error message show identical options but says they don’t match? The two hashes are not the same because of “action” =\> “download” key/value pair. I guess you have to modify opts. Hope it helps, ``` -- Jean-François. ``` ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/3 "2006-05-19T00:23:50Z")
Thanks! I’ve been staring at the computer screen way too long! 😛 However, hah, when I change “opts” I get: def test\_route url = “/all/#{sname}/#{vname}/#{platform\_name}/download/5” opts = {:controller =\> ‘user/version’, :platform\_filter =\> “all”, :software =\> sname, :version =\> vname, :platform =\> platform\_name, :action =\> “download”, :distribution\_channel =\> “download”, :id =\> 5} assert\_recognizes(opts, url) end [ERROR]: The recognized options \<{“software”=\>“matlab”, “platform”=\>“windows”, “action”=\>“download”, “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, “id”=\>“5”, “controller”=\>“user/version”, “version”=\>“r2006a”, “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> did not match \<{“software”=\>“matlab”, “platform”=\>“windows”, “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, “action”=\>“download”, “id”=\>5, “controller”=\>“user/version”, “version”=\>“r2006a”, “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/4 "2006-05-19T00:39:33Z")
Hello again Steven, > I’ve been staring at the computer screen way too long! 😛 Yes, a pause for the eyes in not bad… > assert\_recognizes(opts, url) > end Because 5 is different from “5” ! – Jean-François. ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/5 "2006-05-19T01:26:51Z")
2006/5/19, Steven H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > assert\_recognizes(opts, url) > “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> did not match \<{“platform”=\>“windows”, > “action”=\>“download”, > “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, > “id”=\>“5”, > “controller”=\>“user/version”, > “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> Can you post your download route again, is the :software line missing ? – Jean-François. ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/6 "2006-05-19T01:11:16Z")
Even if I change it to a string the error is still occurs: def test\_route url = “/all/matlab/r2006a/windows/download/5” opts = {:controller =\> ‘user/version’, :platform\_filter =\> “all”, :software =\> “matlab”, :version =\> “r2006a”, :platform =\> “windows”, :action =\> “download”, :distribution\_channel =\> “download”, :id =\> “5”} assert\_recognizes(opts, url) end [ERROR]: The recognized options \<{“software”=\>“matlab”, “platform”=\>“windows”, “action”=\>“download”, “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, “id”=\>“5”, “controller”=\>“user/version”, “version”=\>“r2006a”, “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> did not match \<{“platform”=\>“windows”, “action”=\>“download”, “platform\_filter”=\>“all”, “id”=\>“5”, “controller”=\>“user/version”, “distribution\_channel”=\>“download”}\> @michael\_daines No that’s just a typo ☹ The actual platform regex is /windows|linux/ As far as the “ltform\_filter” That was the emotions feature in my email client striping off the 😛 from :platform\_filter. -Steven ---
**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/routes-and-testing-routes/60971/7 "2006-05-19T01:48:27Z")
Ok I finally got the test to pass. I think what was throwing me was that I had :id =\> 5 when it should have been :id =\> “5” Then I kept frantically changing the keys and not realize that there literally wasn’t a match. def test\_download\_via\_get\_before\_authentication() url = “/all/matlab/r2006a/windows/download/5” opts = {:controller =\> “user/version”, :platform\_filter =\> “all”, :software =\> “matlab”, :version =\> “r2006a”, :platform =\> “windows”, :distribution\_channel =\> “download”, :action =\> ‘download’, :id =\> “5”} ``` assert_recognizes(opts, url) ``` end [OUTPUT]: 2 tests, 3 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors I do have a question though, do the hashes that I pass via the “opts” argument have to include the total sum of the keys in my route? if my route is: map.download ‘:platform\_filter/:software/:version/:platform/:distribution\_channel/:id’, :controller =\> ‘user/version’, :platform\_filter =\> /all/, :platform =\> /windows/, :distribution\_channel =\> /download/, :action =\> ‘download’, :id =\> /\d+/ I can’t just pass in {:platform\_filter, :software, :version, :platform, :distribution\_channel, :id} like I can with redirect\_to() or url\_for() ? I would also need to include the :controller and :action ? I guess the answer is yes since my test is now passing, but to me this seem a bit unintuitive. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the help and patience. -Steven