Rspec user controller - NoMethodError: undefined method 'user_url' - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm now making Rspec test for users_controller.rb. However I'm in trouble the error NoMethodError: undefined method 'user_url' as follow.
FF
Failures:
1) UsersController PUT update user update does not succeed
Failure/Error: put :update, {:id => user.to_param}, valid_session, :user_route => user
NoMethodError:
undefined method `user_url' for #<UsersController:0x52e40e0>
# ./app/controllers/users_controller.rb:21:in `block (2 levels) in update'
# ./app/controllers/users_controller.rb:18:in `update'
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:64:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
2) UsersController PUT update user update succeeds
Failure/Error: put :update, {:id => user.to_param}, valid_session, :user_route => user
NoMethodError:
undefined method `user_url' for #<UsersController:0x53bc560>
# ./app/controllers/users_controller.rb:21:in `block (2 levels) in update'
# ./app/controllers/users_controller.rb:18:in `update'
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:58:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
Finished in 0.679 seconds
2 examples, 2 failures
Failed examples:
rspec ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:61 # UsersController PUT update user update does not succeed
rspec ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:56 # UsersController PUT update user update succeeds
Randomized with seed 33412
users_controller.rb
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def show
#user = User.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => #user }
end
end
def edit
#user = User.find(params[:id])
end
def update
#user = User.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
if #user.update_attributes(params[:user])
format.html { redirect_to #user, notice: 'User was successfully updated.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
else
format.html { render action: "user#edit" }
format.json { render json: #idea.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
end
Also here is my Rspec users_controller_spec.rb. I made two tests about "POST update". One is for being updated successfully. Another is for not being updated. (About the latter, I put the stub User.stub(:update_attribute).and_return(false) which I expect that "update_attribute" returns "false" so that process proceeds to "else".)
require 'spec_helper'
describe UsersController do
let(:valid_attributes) { {
"email" => "hoge#hogehoge.com",
"password" => "12345678"
} }
def valid_session
{}
end
describe "PUT update" do
it "user update succeeds" do
user = User.create! valid_attributes
put :update, {:id => user.to_param}, valid_session
assigns(:user).should eq(user)
end
it "user update does not succeed" do
user = User.create! valid_attributes
User.stub(:update_attribute).and_return(false)
put :update, {:id => user.to_param}, valid_session
assigns(:user).should eq(user)
response.should render_template("edit")
end
end
end
I have no idea to solve this, because I cannot understand where user_url did come. So I would like to have your help.

Answer 1

When you use redirect_to #user, rails sends that request to UsersController#show, but it does so by calling user_url(#user). If I had to guess, you probably don't have the line that defines user_url:
resources :users
in your routes.rb file. This would automatically create the named route user_url that your controller is referencing with redirect_to #user
Alternatively, you could define the route yourself in your routes.rb file like so:
get "/users/show" => "users#show", as: :user
But that's not really the 'Rails-y' way to do it. At any time, you can run the command rake routes in the terminal to see all the named routes you have defined in your routes.rb file. If user isn't there, then you need to define it like I mentioned above.
More info on named routes here: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html#singular-resources

Answer 2

If you are using devise then check if the following method returns anything.
def after_sign_in_path_for(resource)
in application_controller.rb
If the method returns nothing you will receive the error:
undefined method `user_url' for #
I also ended up removing
stored_location_for(resource)
in after_sign_in_path_for(resource) because it was causing an endless loop. Refer to this answer for details.
rails:3 Devise signup Filter chain halted as :require_no_authentication rendered or redirected