Create method test keeps failing with RSpec - ruby-on-rails

Question

Alright, I keep trying to make this test work and for some reason it does not want to work. I don't know if I missed something or what but I can't figure out what the heck is going on with this code. Every thing seems to point to it being correct but I don't know. Anyway here is what I have done, which I think is correct but obviously it isn't since it keeps failing.
These are my test attributes, the invalid ones are failing for some reason.
let(:valid_attributes){
#user = User.create!(:email => "email#gmail.com", :password => 'password')
{:name => "name", :user_id => #user.id}
}
let(:invalid_attributes){
#user = User.create!(:email => "email#gmail.com", :password => 'password')
{:name => "", :user_id => #user.id}
}
Here's my post request:
describe "POST #create" do
context "with valid attributes" do
it "describes a survey created with valid attributes" do
expect{
post :create, survey: valid_attributes
}.to change(Survey, :count).by(1)
end
it "redirects the user to the survey's detail page" do
post :create, {survey: valid_attributes}
expect(response).to redirect_to(Survey.last)
end
end
context "with invalid attributes" do
it "describes a survey created with invalid attributes" do
post :create, {survey: invalid_attributes}
expect(assigns(:survey)).to be_a_new(Survey)
end
it "re-renders the new template" do
post :create, {survey: invalid_attributes}
expect(response).to render_template('new')
end
end
end
And of course my controller method, which is implemented, as such this shouldn't be failing, especially because it is doing exactly what that stuff indicates.
def create
#survey = Survey.new(survey_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #survey.save
format.html { redirect_to #survey, notice: 'Survey was successfully created.' }
else
format.html { render :new }
end
end
end
I'm using strong parameters as well, don't know if that makes a difference, I don't think it should but anyway this is what they have:
def set_survey
#survey = Survey.find(params[:id])
end
# Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
def survey_params
params.require(:survey).permit(:name, :user_id)
end
Finally, this is what my error messages say, which make no sense to me, especially the first one since the object seems to meet all the standards for it to be a survey.
Error 1:
1) SurveysController POST #create with invalid attributes describes a survey created with invalid attributes
Failure/Error: expect(assigns(:survey)).to be_a_new(Survey)
expected #<Survey id: 187, name: "", user_id: 257, created_at: "2015-10-11 04:46:35", updated_at: "2015-10-11 04:46:35"> to be a new Survey(id: integer, name: string, user_id: integer, created_at: datetime, updated_at: datetime)
# ./spec/controllers/surveys_controller_spec.rb:82:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'
Error 2:
2) SurveysController POST #create with invalid attributes re-renders the new template
Failure/Error: expect(response).to render_template('new')
expecting <"new"> but rendering with <[]>
# ./spec/controllers/surveys_controller_spec.rb:87:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'

Answer 1

What is happening is when you send a request using invalid_attributes, your controller still takes the successful path through your code. You can tell from your two failures. Rendering with <[]> happens on a redirect, and object instances only have an id and created_at if they've been saved.
This would indicate that you're not validating presence of name in your Survey model:
# app/models/survey.rb
class Survey < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
validates :name, presence: true
end
and thus it is saved successfully with a blank name.