# rSpec, controller, restful route problem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 13, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629 "2008-04-13T04:55:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pkoebbe)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629/1 "2008-04-13T04:55:21Z")

</div>

I’m trying to wrap my brain around bdd, and it’s not going nearly as  
well as I’d like. I’ve been struggling with it for a few weeks now, and  
had been doing relatively well at first, while I was doing models. Now  
I’m trying to understand how to spec controllers, and it’s got me a bit  
befuddled. I’ve been reading what I can find on the internet and have  
also watched the PeepCode screencasts. I have come a bit further in the  
past few days, but I’ve hit a small snag with named routes that I can’t  
quite figure out. To make matters worse, I’m implementing REST for the  
first time as well. So I’m trying to get a grip on BDD and REST at the  
same time.

Here’s what I have (applicable code only):

in the spec:

require File.dirname( **FILE** ) + ‘/…/model\_helper’

describe WelcomeController do  
include ModelHelperMethods # for valid\_user\_hash

it ‘POST :log\_in should log user in with correct email/password’ do  
email = valid\_user\_hash[:email]  
password = valid\_user\_hash[:password]  
user = mock\_model(User)  
user.stub!(:id).and\_return(1)  
User.should\_receive(:authenticate).with(email,  
password).and\_return(user)  
post :log\_in, {:email =\> email, :password =\> password} # this is  
line 86 in the error  
session[:user\_id].should == user.id  
response.should be\_redirect  
end  
end

in the controller:

class WelcomeController \< ApplicationController  
def log\_in  
user = User.authenticate(params[:email], params[:password])  
if user  
session[:user\_id] = user.id  
redirect\_to users\_path(user) # this is line 15 in the error  
else  
flash[:error] = ‘Invalid login.’  
redirect\_to :action =\> :index  
end  
end  
end

in routes.rb

map.resource :users

When I run the spec, I’m getting the error

NoMethodError in ‘WelcomeController POST :log\_in should log user in with  
correct email/password’  
You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!  
The error occurred while evaluating nil.to\_sym  
(eval):17:in `users_path' /Users/phillip/dev/projects/cashflow/app/controllers/welcome_controller.rb:15:in`log\_in’  
./spec/controllers/001\_welcome\_controller\_spec.rb:86:  
script/spec:4:

I believe it has something to do with the call to users\_path and it  
trying to figure out the id of the object. That’s why I have the  
user.stub!(:id) line in there. If I change

users\_path(user)

to

users\_path

in the controller, the error goes away. But since I’ve done a singleton  
map.resource, I’m redirecting to the show method of the users  
controller, and that requires an id, or so I believe.

Two questions, one specific and one more general:

1. What’s the cause of the error and how can I resolve it? [Okay, that  
was two questions there]
2. Am I one the right track as far as bdd-ing contollers?

Peace,  
Phillip

---

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**Author:** ![pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pkoebbe)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629/2 "2008-04-15T17:34:21Z")

</div>

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Peace,  
Phillip

---

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**Author:** ![pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pkoebbe)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629/3 "2008-04-15T18:02:10Z")

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cause of the error:  
no, a singleton resource doesn’t need an id, since there is (should be)  
only a single thingy of it around (either only one exists at all or like  
in case of logins you keep the necessary id in the session)  
this nil.to\_sym is very typical for that kind of error with the  
path\_helpers

if for some reason you need the id anyway use:  
users\_path(:id =\> user)  
but since you store the thing in session[:user\_id] that’s not necessary

otherwise your spec code looks fine  
just i would stub the authenticate thing instead of the id and return a  
User out of the fixtures, otherwise you’ll end up stubbing every single  
attribute for more complex use-cases  
(but we’re not making that much use of the mock/stub)

---

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**Author:** ![pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pkoebbe)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629/4 "2008-04-15T18:14:50Z")

</div>

Thorsten M. wrote:

> cause of the error:  
> no, a singleton resource doesn’t need an id, since there is (should be)  
> only a single thingy of it around (either only one exists at all or like  
> in case of logins you keep the necessary id in the session)  
> this nil.to\_sym is very typical for that kind of error with the  
> path\_helpers

Thanks for the input, Thorsten. Maybe I’m not understanding the  
singleton resource correctly. I was under the impression that if you  
have no need of listing out the resources, you should use the singleton.  
So in my case, the users controller is for the currently logged in user.  
This controller will never list all users (that will be in an admin  
controller). Is this the correct understanding? If so, maybe using the  
plural form of user was a mistake. If I plan on singleton mapping,  
maybe I should use the singular

user\_controller

?

Okay, so if I have session[:user\_id], I don’t need an id passed into  
:show, user\_path with no parameter would generate the correct route?  
Something like

/user/show

?

Wow. If it’s really that simple, how’d I miss it? _sigh_

> otherwise your spec code looks fine  
> just i would stub the authenticate thing instead of the id and return a  
> User out of the fixtures, otherwise you’ll end up stubbing every single  
> attribute for more complex use-cases  
> (but we’re not making that much use of the mock/stub)

The only point of stubbing :id was I thought it was needed by Rails in  
users\_path(user). I mistakenly thought the error was referring to the  
fact that it looked for a method :id and couldn’t find it (nil to sym).

Thanks again!  
Phillip

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@pkoebbe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pkoebbe)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controller-restful-route-problem/134629/5 "2008-04-15T18:26:32Z")

</div>

> This controller will never list all users (that will be in an admin  
> controller). Is this the correct understanding?

yes

> If so, maybe using the  
> plural form of user was a mistake. If I plan on singleton mapping,  
> maybe I should use the singular
> 
> user\_controller

no, your controllers are always pluralized, rails will handle that