Rails 6 API Rspec request test - Conflicting behavior - ruby-on-rails

Question

I need help with my current testing approach. I am currently testing my React-Rails app using Rspec and initially I setup this in my favourite_cocktail controller:
def destroy
#favouritecocktail = FavouriteCocktail.find(params[:id])
#favouritecocktail.delete
end
On testing the DELETE request using the code below:
describe 'DELETE /api/v1/favourite_cocktails/:id' do
let!(:users) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:cocktails) { FactoryBot.create(:cocktail) }
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create_list(:favourite_cocktail, 10, cocktail: cocktails) }
let(:cocktail_id) { favourite_cocktail.first.id }
before do
sign_in users
end
before { delete "/api/v1/favourite_cocktails/#{cocktail_id}" }
it 'returns status code 204' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(204)
end
end
it passes, but on my app, the function responsible for deleting the user's favourite cocktail does not work. That is when I click a button to remove a users' favourite cocktail it does not work.
However, if I refactor the destroy action method in the favourite_cocktail controller to this:
def destroy
#favouritecocktail = current_user.favourite_cocktails.find_by(cocktail_id: params[:id])
#favouritecocktail.delete
end
the function responsible for deleting the user's favourite cocktail works on the application. But when I run the test again:
describe 'DELETE /api/v1/favourite_cocktails/:id' do
let!(:users) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:cocktails) { FactoryBot.create(:cocktail) }
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create_list(:favourite_cocktail, 10, cocktail: cocktails) }
let(:cocktail_id) { favourite_cocktail.first.id }
before do
sign_in users
end
before { delete "/api/v1/favourite_cocktails/#{cocktail_id}" }
it 'returns status code 204' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(204)
end
end
it fails and this is the error message I get during the RSpec testing:
Api::V1::FavouriteCocktailsController DELETE /api/v1/favourite_cocktails/:id returns status code 204
Failure/Error: #favouritecocktail.delete
NoMethodError:
undefined method `delete' for nil:NilClass
# ./app/controllers/api/v1/favourite_cocktails_controller.rb:47:in `destroy'
# ./spec/requests/favourite_cocktails_spec.rb:80:in `block (3 levels) in <main>'
# ./spec/rails_helper.rb:112:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
# ./spec/rails_helper.rb:111:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
Now the preferred approach I want is such that my remove favourite_cocktail should work on the application and the Rspec test should hit the DELETE route such that it passes. I know that there is no record of favourite_cocktails created when using FactoryBot and my concern is how to make FactoryBot create a record to be deleted. Below are codes for the API:
Gemfile
ruby '2.6.1'
# Bundle edge Rails instead: gem 'rails', github: 'rails/rails'
gem 'rails', '~> 6.0.2', '>= 6.0.2.2'
# Use postgresql as the database for Active Record
gem 'pg', '>= 0.18', '< 2.0'
# Use Puma as the app server
gem 'puma', '~> 4.1'
# Use SCSS for stylesheets
gem 'sass-rails', '>= 6'
# Transpile app-like JavaScript. Read more: https://github.com/rails/webpacker
gem 'webpacker', '~> 4.0'
# Turbolinks makes navigating your web application faster. Read more: https://github.com/turbolinks/turbolinks
gem 'turbolinks', '~> 5'
# Build JSON APIs with ease. Read more: https://github.com/rails/jbuilder
gem 'jbuilder', '~> 2.7'
# Use Redis adapter to run Action Cable in production
# gem 'redis', '~> 4.0'
# Use Active Model has_secure_password
# gem 'bcrypt', '~> 3.1.7'
# Use Active Storage variant
# gem 'image_processing', '~> 1.2'
# Reduces boot times through caching; required in config/boot.rb
gem 'bootsnap', '>= 1.4.2', require: false
gem 'devise'
gem 'react-rails'
gem "font-awesome-rails"
gem 'foreman'
group :development, :test do
# Call 'byebug' anywhere in the code to stop execution and get a debugger console
gem 'byebug', platforms: [:mri, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
# gem 'rspec-rails', '~> 3.8'
gem 'rspec-rails', git: 'https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails', branch: "4-0-maintenance"
end
group :development do
gem 'guard-rspec', require: false
gem 'listen', '>= 3.0.5', '< 3.2'
gem 'rb-fsevent', '~> 0.10.3'
gem 'spring'
gem 'spring-watcher-listen', '~> 2.0.0'
gem 'web-console', '>= 3.3.0'
end
group :test do
gem 'database_cleaner'
gem 'factory_bot_rails'
gem 'faker'
gem 'shoulda-matchers'
end
routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
devise_for :users
get 'landing/index'
get '/index', to: 'landing#index', as: 'index'
namespace :api do
namespace :v1 do
resources :cocktails do
put :favourite, on: :member
end
resources :favourite_cocktails, only: %i[create destroy]
resources :favourites_dashboard, only: %i[index]
end
end
root 'landing#app'
match '*path', to: 'landing#app', via: :all
end
Favourite_cocktails controller
module Api
module V1
class FavouriteCocktailsController < ApplicationController
skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token
def index
#favouritecocktail = current_user.cocktails
if user_signed_in? && #favouritecocktail
render json: {status: 'SUCCESS', message: 'Loading all Favourite Cocktails', data: #favouritecocktail}, status: :ok
else
render json: {}, status: 401
end
end
def create
fav = FavouriteCocktail.new(favourite_params) do |c|
c.user = current_user
end
if fav.save!
render json: { message: 'created' }, status: :created
else
render json: { errors: fav.errors.full_messages },
status: :unprocessable_entity
end
end
def destroy
#favouritecocktail = current_user.favourite_cocktails.find_by(cocktail_id: params[:id])
#favouritecocktail.delete
end
private
def favourite_params
params.require(:favourite_cocktail).permit(:cocktail_id)
end
end
end
end
Favourite_cocktails factory
FactoryBot.define do
factory :favourite_cocktail do
user
cocktail
end
end
User Factory
FactoryBot.define do
factory :user do
username { Faker::Name.name }
email { Faker::Internet.safe_email }
password { 'foobar' }
password_confirmation { 'foobar' }
end
factory :random_user, class: User do
username { Faker::Name.name }
email { Faker::Internet.safe_email }
password { Faker::Password.password }
password_confirmation { Faker::Password.password_confirmation }
end
end
Cocktails factory
FactoryBot.define do
factory :cocktail do
name { Faker::Restaurant.name }
description { Faker::Lorem.sentence }
ingredients { Faker::Lorem.sentence }
image { Faker::Avatar.image }
end
end
Associations
Favourite_cocktails
class FavouriteCocktail < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :user
belongs_to :cocktail
validates :user_id, uniqueness: { scope: :cocktail_id }
end
User
class User < ApplicationRecord
# Include default devise modules. Others available are:
# :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable, :trackable and :omniauthable
devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
:recoverable, :rememberable, :validatable
has_many :favourite_cocktails
has_many :favourites, through: :favourite_cocktails, source: :cocktail
validates :username, presence: true, uniqueness: true, allow_blank: false, length: { minimum: 5 }
validates :email, presence: true, length: { minimum: 5 }
end
cocktail
class Cocktail < ApplicationRecord
has_many :favourite_cocktails
has_many :favourited, through: :favourite_cocktails, source: :user
validates :name, presence: true, allow_blank: false, length: { minimum: 5 }
validates :description, presence: true, allow_blank: false, length: { minimum: 10 }
validates :ingredients, presence: true, allow_blank: false, length: { minimum: 10 }
validates :image, presence: true
end
RSpec
Favourite Cocktail Request Spec
require 'rails_helper'
RSpec.describe Api::V1::FavouriteCocktailsController, type: :request do
describe 'POST Favourite Cocktails' do
let!(:users) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:cocktails) { FactoryBot.create_list(:cocktail, 10) }
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create_list(:favourite_cocktail, 10) }
let(:cocktail_id) { cocktails.first.id }
let(:valid_params) do
{ favourite_cocktail: { cocktail_id: cocktails.first.id } }
end
before do
sign_in users
end
context 'when the request is valid' do
before { post '/api/v1/favourite_cocktails', params: valid_params }
it 'returns status code 201' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
end
it 'returns a created status' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(:created)
end
end
end
describe 'GET all favourite cocktails' do
let!(:users) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create_list(:favourite_cocktail, 10) }
let(:cocktail_id) { cocktails.first.id }
before do
sign_in users
get '/api/v1/favourite_cocktails'
end
it 'returns HTTP status 200' do
expect(response).to have_http_status 200
end
end
describe 'DELETE /api/v1/favourite_cocktails/:id' do
let!(:users) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:cocktails) { FactoryBot.create(:cocktail) }
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create_list(:favourite_cocktail, 10, cocktail: cocktails) }
let(:cocktail_id) { favourite_cocktail.first.id }
before do
sign_in users
end
before { delete "/api/v1/favourite_cocktails/#{cocktail_id}" }
# thing = create(:thing)
# delete '/things', :thing => { :id => thing.id'}
it 'returns status code 204' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(204)
end
end
end
If there are other things you'd like to see to get this working please let me know. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

It looks to me like your RSpec test setup isn't recreating a valid "happy path" scenario, as the cocktail you are trying to delete doesn't actually belong to the user you signed in as.
Here's a slight refactoring that I think should help fix the test:
describe 'DELETE /api/v1/favourite_cocktails/:id' do
let!(:user) { FactoryBot.create(:user) }
let!(:cocktail) { FactoryBot.create(:cocktail) }
# Adding `user: user` is the important bit here according to your factory
let!(:favourite_cocktail) { FactoryBot.create(:favourite_cocktail, user: user cocktail: cocktail) }
let(:cocktail_id) { favourite_cocktail.id }
before do
sign_in users
end
before { delete "/api/v1/favourite_cocktails/#{cocktail_id}" }
it 'returns status code 204' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(204)
end
end
And here's a change I'd make to the delete implementation so that trying to delete a cocktail you don't have as a favorite doesn't throw an exception and 500:
def destroy
#favouritecocktail = current_user.favourite_cocktails.find_by(cocktail_id: params[:id])
#favouritecocktail.delete if #favouritecocktail
end
Of course, this will return success even if it fails to delete, but you could easily send a 400-level response if that is preferable to your application.