rails test not allowing to assert processing of before_action - ruby-on-rails

Question

The following unit test succeeds in the first assertion, but fails in the second
test "login_name, kee and virtual_qr changed" do
#user = users(:funky_mobile)
assert_changes 'users(:funky_mobile).mobile' do
#user.update(address: 'muuvt', mobile: '728363', mobile_nation_id: 1)
# patch update_user_path(#user_mobile), params: { user: { address: 'muuvt', mobile: '728364', mobile_nation_id: 1 } }
end
assert_changes 'users(:funky_mobile).login_name' do
#user.update(address: 'muuvt', mobile: '728365', mobile_nation_id: 1)
end
end
"users(:funky_mobile).login_name" didn't change.
Note: while patch - attempted as per the following - does process correctly, it appears not applicable to a unit test.
The unit test with update only registers the submitted params but does not kick in the before_action, as per test.log
User Update (0.5ms)[0m [1m[33mUPDATE "users" SET "mobile" = $1 WHERE "users"."id" = $2[0m [["mobile", 728365], ["id", 165956397]]
Conversely, with an integration test
sign_in users(:funky_mobile)
assert_changes 'users(:funky_mobile).login_name' do
patch user_url(#user_mobile), params: { user: { address: 'muuvt', mobile: '728364', mobile_nation_id: 1 } }
end
"users(:funky_mobile).login_name" didn't change.
Expected nil to not be equal to nil.
the changed data enacted via before_action :set_user_login_name, only: %i[ update ] of the users_controller
def set_user_login_name
if params[:user][:email].present?
params[:user][:login_name] = params[:user][:email].gsub(/\s+/, "")
elsif params[:user][:mobile_nation_id].present? && params[:user][:mobile].present?
#nation = Nation.where(id: params[:user][:mobile_nation_id]).first
params[:user][:login_name] = #nation.phone_cc.to_s + params[:user][:mobile].to_s
params[:user][:twilio_number] = '+' + #nation.phone_cc.to_s + params[:user][:mobile].to_s
else
params[:user][:login_name]
end
params[:user][:kee] = SecureRandom.alphanumeric(32)
params[:user][:virtual_qr_code] = params[:user][:login_name] + params[:user][:kee]
end
is processed as demonstrated by the test.log
User Update (0.7ms)[0m [1m[33mUPDATE "users" SET "login_name" = $1, "kee" = $2, "virtual_qr_code" = $3 WHERE "users"."id" = $4[0m [["login_name", "39728364"], ["kee", "Rce8sQoH0VPvqUPeuegZL4gYVmJuamqi"], ["virtual_qr_code", "39728364Rce8sQoH0VPvqUPeuegZL4gYVmJuamqi"], ["id", 165956397]]
TRANSACTION (0.1ms)[0m [1m[35mRELEASE SAVEPOINT active_record_1[0m
Redirected to http://www.example.com/users/165956397
Oddly, if the integration test is altered reomving assert_changes to simply
patch user_url(#user_mobile), params: { user: { address: 'muuvt', mobile: '728364', mobile_nation_id: 1 } }
puts #user_mobile.mobile
assert_equal(39728364, #user_mobile.mobile)
returns
3331112200
F [...]
Expected: 39728364
Actual: 3331112200
yet the log shows the same User update reference as above.
How can I properly assert that these changes are being carried forth?

Answer 1

This is going to fail...
assert_changes 'users(:funky_mobile).login_name' do
because...
users(:funky_mobile).login_name
returns the original value every time. It is calling the fixture and acts like a constant.
What you should do is...
login_name = users(:funky_mobile).login_name
assert_changes login_name do