# RSpec Controllers

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controllers/104335>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [May 16, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controllers/104335 "2007-05-16T21:54:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/subimage)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controllers/104335/1 "2007-05-16T21:54:46Z")

</div>

Anyone have any suggestions on basic best practices for rspec  
controllers? Or any good examples of some rspec controllers?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/subimage)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controllers/104335/2 "2007-05-16T23:18:31Z")

</div>

Yeah, I’ve looked at those on multiple occasions but still need more  
meat.

> [http://blog.imperialdune.com/2007/2/26/rspec-ing-rails-controllers](http://blog.imperialdune.com/2007/2/26/rspec-ing-rails-controllers)
> 
> (more about models, but a decent reference)  
> [http://lukeredpath.co.uk/2006/8/29/developing-a-rails-model-using-bdd-and-rspec-part-1](http://lukeredpath.co.uk/2006/8/29/developing-a-rails-model-using-bdd-and-rspec-part-1)
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> Jason

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@subimage](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/subimage)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rspec-controllers/104335/3 "2007-05-16T22:18:17Z")

</div>

I actually gave up trying to convert to rSpec for my controller code  
because  
the information I normally got through a failed test was chomped.  
Example:  
assert\_response. Rspec: response.should be\_success =\> response.success?  
which gives me True or False and no more information while  
assert\_response  
gives me “Response was \<400\> when you expected \<200\>”. Of course, I  
could  
just use the normal assert functions, but that’s not all

I’ve also found that a very important part of functional testing is  
making  
sure that my views compile. As rSpec for Rails wants to disconnect the  
controller code from the view (in general MVC architectures the right  
thing  
to do), I no longer know if my views even compile, much less function.  
Of  
course I put together (right now) selenium tests to make sure my views  
actually function, but when it comes to Rails refactoring, it’s a very  
good  
idea to know if your views compile or not, and rSpec by default keeps  
that  
information away from you. As the whole point of a controller action is  
to  
process data in order to render out a response, I’m not a fan of the  
rspec’s  
view separation.

Of course, I may just be nit-picking, as all of this has a work-around  
to it  
(#include\_views, I think it’s called, and using regular assertion  
functions).

Otherwise rSpec is a great tool that really should be a requirement in  
any  
project.

rSpec’s web site has some pretty thorough documentation, though I’ve  
also  
found a few blog posts that help out with the Rails side:

[http://blog.imperialdune.com/2007/2/26/rspec-ing-rails-controllers](http://blog.imperialdune.com/2007/2/26/rspec-ing-rails-controllers)

(more about models, but a decent reference)  
[http://lukeredpath.co.uk/2006/8/29/developing-a-rails-model-using-bdd-and-rspec-part-1](http://lukeredpath.co.uk/2006/8/29/developing-a-rails-model-using-bdd-and-rspec-part-1)

Hope that helps.

Jason