Rspec testing attributes after creating record in controller - ruby-on-rails

Question

Background: I've got an after_action callback in my controller, which takes the string address, processes it and stores longitude and latitude in corresponding fields. I want to test this.
This SO question, as well as this article only consider update methods, but at least, they are quite clear, because I've already got an object to work with.
So my question is - how to find this newly created record? This SO question led me to this code:
require 'rails_helper'
RSpec.describe Admin::Settings::GeneralSettingsController, type: :controller do
context "POST methods" do
describe "#edit and #create" do
it "encodes and stores lang/lot correctly" do
post :create, general_setting: FactoryGirl.attributes_for(:general_setting)
expect(assigns(:general_setting).long).to eq(37.568021)
# expect(general_setting.long).to eq(37.568021)
# expect(general_setting.lat).to eq(55.805553)
end
end
end
end
But using the code in the answer, I get this error:
Failure/Error: expect(assigns(:general_setting).long).to eq(37.568021)
NoMethodError:
undefined method `long' for nil:NilClass
Update #1:
This is my new controller spec code:
RSpec.describe Admin::Settings::GeneralSettingsController, type: :controller do
context 'POST methods' do
before(:each) do
allow(subject).to receive(:set_long_lat)
end
describe 'post create' do
before(:each) do
post :create, params: { general_setting: FactoryGirl.attributes_for(:general_setting) }
end
it "saves the record with valid attributes" do
expect{subject}.to change{GeneralSetting.count}.by(1)
end
it 'calls :set_long_lat' do
expect(subject).to have_received(:set_long_lat)
end
end
end
describe '#set_long_lat' do
# spec for method
end
end
Update #2:
Here is my controller code:
class Admin::Settings::GeneralSettingsController < AdminController
include CrudConcern
before_action :find_general_setting, only: [:edit, :destroy, :update, :set_long_lat]
after_action :set_long_lat
def index
#general_settings = GeneralSetting.all
end
def new
#general_setting = GeneralSetting.new
# Билдим для того, что бы было видно сразу одно поле и пользователь не должен
# кликать на "добавить телефон"
#general_setting.phones.build
#general_setting.opening_hours.build
end
def edit
# Тоже самое, что и с нью - если телефонов нет вообще, то показываем одно пустое поле
if #general_setting.phones.blank?
#general_setting.phones.build
end
if #general_setting.opening_hours.blank?
#general_setting.opening_hours.build
end
end
def create
#general_setting = GeneralSetting.new(general_setting_params)
create_helper(#general_setting, "edit_admin_settings_general_setting_path")
end
def destroy
destroy_helper(#general_setting, "admin_settings_general_settings_path")
end
def update
# debug
# #general_setting.update(language: create_hash(params[:general_setting][:language]))
#general_setting.language = create_hash(params[:general_setting][:language])
update_helper(#general_setting, "edit_admin_settings_general_setting_path", general_setting_params)
end
private
def set_long_lat
geocoder = Geocoder.new
data = geocoder.encode!(#general_setting.address)
#general_setting.update!(long: data[0], lat: data[1])
end
def find_general_setting
#general_setting = GeneralSetting.find(params[:id])
end
def general_setting_params
params.require(:general_setting).permit(GeneralSetting.attribute_names.map(&:to_sym).push(
phones_attributes: [:id, :value, :_destroy, :general_setting_id ]).push(
opening_hours_attributes: [:id, :title, :value, :_destroy, :deneral_setting_id]) )
end
def create_hash(params)
language_hash = Hash.new
params.each do |param|
language_hash[param.to_sym] = param.to_sym
end
return language_hash
end
end
(If it helps - I've got a lot of similar crud-actions, that is why I've put them all in a concern controller)
module CrudConcern
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
include Language
included do
helper_method :create_helper, :update_helper, :destroy_helper, :get_locales
end
def get_locales
#remaining_locales = Language.get_remaining_locales
end
def create_helper(object, path)
if object.save!
respond_to do |format|
format.html {
redirect_to send(path, object)
flash[:primary] = "Well done!"
}
end
else
render :new
flash[:danger] = "Something not quite right"
end
#remaining_locales = Language.get_remaining_locales
end
def update_helper(object, path, params)
if object.update!(params)
respond_to do |format|
format.html {
redirect_to send(path, object)
flash[:primary] = "Well done!"
}
end
else
render :edit
flash[:danger] = "Something's not quite right"
end
end
def destroy_helper(object, path)
if object.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html {
redirect_to send(path)
flash[:primary] = "Well done"
}
end
else
render :index
flash[:danger] = "Something's not quite right"
end
end
end
Update #3
It's not the ideal solution, but, somehow, controller tests just won't work. I've moved my callback into the model and updated my general_setting_spec test.
class GeneralSetting < ApplicationRecord
after_save :set_long_lat
validates :url, presence: true
private
def set_long_lat
geocoder = Geocoder.new
data = geocoder.encode(self.address)
self.update_column(:long, data[0])
self.update_column(:lat, data[1])
end
end
My tests now:
RSpec.describe GeneralSetting, type: :model do
let (:regular) { FactoryGirl.build(:general_setting) }
describe "checking other validations" do
it "is invalid with no url" do
expect{
invalid.save
}.not_to change(GeneralSetting, :count)
end
it 'autofills the longitude' do
expect{ regular.save }.to change{ regular.long }.from(nil).to(37.568021)
end
it 'autofills the latitude' do
expect{ regular.save }.to change{ regular.lat }.from(nil).to(55.805078)
end
end
end

Answer 1

I would test expectation that controller calls method specified in after_action and make a separate test for that method.
Something like:
context 'POST methods' do
before(:each) do
allow(subject).to receive(:method_from_callback)
end
describe 'post create' do
before(:each) do
post :create, params: { general_setting: attributes_for(:general_setting) }
end
it 'calls :method_from_callback' do
expect(subject).to have_received(:method_from_callback)
end
end
end
describe '#method_from_callback' do
# spec for method
end
Be sure to use your method name instead of :method_from_callback pay attention that I've used rspec 3.5 syntax (wrapped request request parameters into params).