How do I keep a controller spec and its mocks DRY? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm told this is the correct way to write a controller it block:
describe UsersController do
let(:user){ mock_model(User, id: 2, name: "Jimbo", email: 'jimbo#email.com', password: 'passwordhuzzah', password_confirmation: 'passwordhuzzah') }
describe 'PATCH #update' do
it "should fail in this case" do
User.should_receive(:find).with(user.id.to_s).and_return user
user.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({ "email" => user.email, "name" => user.name, "password" => user.password, "password_confirmation" => user.password_confirmation }).and_return true
patch :update, id: user.id, user: { email: user.email, name: user.name, password: user.password, password_confirmation: user.password_confirmation }
flash[:error].should == "could not update user"
response.status.should == 200
end
end
end
But I am surprised, because it doesn't seem DRY to me. Let's say I want to create two 'contexts' here. One where the user.update_attributes call returns false and returns true. Am I meant to simply copy paste two it blocks and tweak that one tiny argument?
describe UsersController do
let(:user){ mock_model(User, id: 2, name: "Jimbo", email: 'jimbo#email.com', password: 'passwordhuzzah', password_confirmation: 'passwordhuzzah') }
it "should pass in this case" do
User.should_receive(:find).with(user.id.to_s).and_return user
user.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({ "email" => user.email, "name" => user.name, "password" => user.password, "password_confirmation" => user.password_confirmation }).and_return true
patch :update, id: user.id, user: { email: user.email, name: user.name, password: user.password, password_confirmation: user.password_confirmation }
flash[:error].should == "updated user"
response.status.should == 302
end
it "should fail in this case" do
User.should_receive(:find).with(user.id.to_s).and_return user
user.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({ "email" => user.email, "name" => user.name, "password" => user.password, "password_confirmation" => user.password_confirmation }).and_return false
patch :update, id: user.id, user: { email: user.email, name: user.name, password: user.password, password_confirmation: user.password_confirmation }
flash[:error].should == "could not update user"
response.status.should == 200
end
end
end
I was hoping rspec would allow me to write this sort of structure:
describe 'PATCH #update' do
before {}
context 'when attributes can be updated' do
before {}
it "should set the flash" do end
it "should set the status" do end
end
context 'when attributes can\'t be updated' do
before {}
it "should set the status" do end
it "should set the flash" do end
end
end
Note the multiple it blocks for the same contexts, because isn't one expectation per it block a good practise because it allows you to see exactly what's not working? How are you meant to do this with mocks?