Stringify/Parse request data through rspec - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm submitting requests on the frontend where I stringify my data (array of objects) and then parse it in the backend.
When I run my specs, I'm getting the error no implicit conversion of Array into String
How can I stringify my data in my spec so that it's consistent with what I'm doing in the frontend? Or is there another way where I don't have to stringify/parse my data to handle all of this?
This is how my frontend data structure looks like:
"categories_and_years": JSON.stringify(
[
{"category_id": 1, "year_ids":[1, 2, 3]},
{"category_id": 2, "year_ids":[2, 3]},
]
)
In my controller, I'm validating the data is an array first:
def validate_categories_and_years_array
#cats_and_yrs = JSON.parse(params[:categories_and_years])
return unless #cats_and_yrs
if !#cats_and_yrs.is_a?(Array)
render_response(:unprocessable_entity, { description_detailed: "categories_and_years must be an array of objects"})
end
end
In my specs, I'm setting my params like this:
context "when all categories and years are valid" do
let(:params) do
{
school_id: school.id,
id: standard_group.id,
categories_and_years: [
{ category_id: category_1.id, year_ids: [ year_1.id ] }
]
}
end
it "adds standards from specific categories and years to the school" do
post :add, params: params, as: :json
expect(school.achievement_standards).to contain_exactly( std_1 )
end
end

Answer 1

This post explains the difference between a regular ruby hash which you have in your spec and a HashWithIndifferentAccess.
Can you also try to_json?
Params hash keys as symbols vs strings
params = ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new()
params['school_id'] = school.id
params['id'] = standard_group.id
params['categories_and_years'] = [
{ category_id: category_1.id, year_ids: [ year_1.id ] }
]
params = params.to_json
let(:params) { params }