Routes in Functional Tests?

I have the following:

:: generic_controller.rb ::

class GenericController < ApplicationController
def activate
end

def index
end
end

:: routes.rb ::

ActionController::Routing::Routes.draw do |map|
map.activate ‘/activate/:activation_code’, :controller =>
‘generic’, :action => ‘activate’
end

:: generic_controller_test.rb ::

require File.dirname(FILE) + ‘/…/test_helper’

class GenericControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
def test_activate_path
get :index
assert_not_nil activate_path(“something”)
end
end

0 remus test/functional % ruby generic_controller_test.rb
Loaded suite generic_controller_test
Started
.
Finished in 0.280308 seconds.
1 tests, 1 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors

If I comment out the get :index call in my test file, I get this:

0 remus test/functional % ruby generic_controller_test.rb
Loaded suite generic_controller_test
Started
E
Finished in 0.282201 seconds.

  1. Error:
    test_activate_path(GenericControllerTest):
    NoMethodError: You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!
    The error occurred while evaluating nil.rewrite
    /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.0.2/lib/
    action_controller/base.rb:616:in url_for' (eval):17:inactivate_path’
    /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.0.2/lib/action_controller/
    test_process.rb:463:in send!' /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.0.2/lib/action_controller/ test_process.rb:463:inmethod_missing’
    generic_controller_test.rb:7:in test_activate_path' /usr/lib64/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.0.2-/lib/active_support/ testing/default.rb:7:inrun’

What is it about the get call that “turns on” the named route?

Regards,
–Dean