rspec not loading factory - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am just getting started on rspec, and I may have included to much in the first go. I followed this guide but cant seem to get it all to come together.
I have a Model called Photo, so I have created a Factory girl for that:
# spec/factories/photo.rb
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :photo do
date_taken { Faker::Date.backward(14) }
end
end
I use this in a test:
#spec/models/photo_spec.rb
require 'rails_helper'
RSpec.describe Photo, type: :model do
it "has a valid factory" do
expect(photo).to be_valid
end
end
But I get the following, indicating that the photo factory is not loaded...
rspec spec/models/photo_spec.rb
Failures:
1) Photo has a valid factory
Failure/Error: expect(photo).to be_valid
NameError:
undefined local variable or method `photo' for #<RSpec::ExampleGroups::Photo:0x00000004b769f8>
# ./spec/models/photo_spec.rb:5:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
Finished in 0.29491 seconds (files took 7.67 seconds to load)
1 example, 1 failure
Failed examples:
rspec ./spec/models/photo_spec.rb:4 # Photo has a valid factory
My config is:
#spec/rails_helper.rb
# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
require 'spec_helper'
ENV['RAILS_ENV'] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path('../../config/environment', __FILE__)
# Prevent database truncation if the environment is production
abort("The Rails environment is running in production mode!") if Rails.env.production?
require 'rspec/rails'
# Add additional requires below this line. Rails is not loaded until this point!
require 'shoulda/matchers'
require 'database_cleaner'
require 'support/factory_girl'
# Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc, in
# spec/support/ and its subdirectories. Files matching `spec/**/*_spec.rb` are
# run as spec files by default. This means that files in spec/support that end
# in _spec.rb will both be required and run as specs, causing the specs to be
# run twice. It is recommended that you do not name files matching this glob to
# end with _spec.rb. You can configure this pattern with the --pattern
# option on the command line or in ~/.rspec, .rspec or `.rspec-local`.
#
# The following line is provided for convenience purposes. It has the downside
# of increasing the boot-up time by auto-requiring all files in the support
# directory. Alternatively, in the individual `*_spec.rb` files, manually
# require only the support files necessary.
#
Dir[Rails.root.join('spec/support/**/*.rb')].each { |f| require f }
# Checks for pending migration and applies them before tests are run.
# If you are not using ActiveRecord, you can remove this line.
ActiveRecord::Migration.maintain_test_schema!
RSpec.configure do |config|
# Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
# If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
# examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
# instead of true.
config.use_transactional_fixtures = false
# RSpec Rails can automatically mix in different behaviours to your tests
# based on their file location, for example enabling you to call `get` and
# `post` in specs under `spec/controllers`.
#
# You can disable this behaviour by removing the line below, and instead
# explicitly tag your specs with their type, e.g.:
#
# RSpec.describe UsersController, :type => :controller do
# # ...
# end
#
# The different available types are documented in the features, such as in
# https://relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-rails/docs
config.infer_spec_type_from_file_location!
# Filter lines from Rails gems in backtraces.
config.filter_rails_from_backtrace!
# arbitrary gems may also be filtered via:
# config.filter_gems_from_backtrace("gem name")
end
Shoulda::Matchers.configure do |config|
config.integrate do |with|
with.test_framework :rspec
with.library :rails
end
end
in support dir:
#spec/support/factory_girl.rb
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods
end
#spec/support/database_cleaner.rb`enter code here`
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.before(:suite) do
DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation)
end
config.before(:each) do
DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction
end
config.before(:each, :js => true) do
DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :truncation
end
config.before(:each) do
DatabaseCleaner.start
end
config.after(:each) do
DatabaseCleaner.clean
end
end

Answer 1

Down in the comments section on the linked guide, there's a comment by Rhys Davis on 11 Jan 2016
Although in the Model Specs section I had to add the following to
rails_helper.rb: config.include FactoryGirl::Syntax::Methods
then also add the following to my contact_spec.rb: contact =
build(:contact)
and then a reply by Arkadiusz Zdanowski on 5 Sep
Yes, without those lines I got the following error:
Failures:
1) Contact has a valid factory
Failure/Error: expect(contact).to be_valid
NameError:
undefined local variable or method `contact' for #
Which is the same error you're getting now, so adding those 2 lines should probably fix the issue for you.