Controller specs throwing up undefined method - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm really struggling with Rspec DSL! I read a lot on SO and across the internet, so I'm posting my particular issue because my feeble mind can't get to the solution.
Have a post method in my controller that updates a user's email. Works fine, but I'm struggling with the spec because all I'm getting are undefined methods for NilClass (even though I've tried stubbing every object and method, etc).
users_controller.rb
def update_user_email
#user = User.find_by_id(params[:id])
new_email = params[:user][:new_email].downcase.strip
user_check = User.find_by_email('new_email')
if user_check.blank?
#user.email = new_email
#user.save
flash[:notice] = "Email updated to #{new_email}"
else
flash[:alert] = "This email is already being used by someone else!"
end
respond_with #user do |format|
format.html { redirect_to admin_user_path(#user) }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
Here's the spec I'm trying to write. What test should I be writing, if not this, and what can I do to prevent undefined method on NilClass errors!
users_controller_spec.rb
describe Admin::UsersController do
let!(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user, password: 'oldpass', email: 'bar#foo.com') }
...
describe "admin actions for each user" do
it "resets user email" do
post :update_user_email, {user: {new_email: 'foo#bar.com'} }
response.status.should == 200
end
end
...
end
And the error:
Admin::UsersController admin actions for each user resets user email
Failure/Error: post :update_user_email, {user: {new_email: 'foo#bar.com'} }
NoMethodError:
undefined method `email=' for nil:NilClass

Answer 1

The line that is failing is:
#user = User.find_by_id(params[:id)
Since you are not passing the id in during your test the user is not being found, and therefore you are trying to call email= on nil. Here is how you can clean up your controller and test.
class YourController < ApplicationController
before_filter :find_user, only: [:update_user_email]
def update_user_email
new_email = params[:user][:new_email].downcase.strip
user_check = User.where(email: new_email)
if user_check.blank?
#user.email = new_email
#user.save
flash[:notice] = "Email updated to #{new_email}"
else
flash[:alert] = "This email is already being used by someone else!"
end
respond_with #user do |format|
format.html { redirect_to admin_user_path(#user) }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
def find_user
#user = User.find(params[:id])
rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
flash[:error] = "It looks like that user does not exist"
# redirect or render
end
end
# your test
describe "admin actions for each user" do
it "resets user email" do
post :update_user_email, id: user.id, user: {new_email: 'foo#bar.com'}
response.status.should == 200
end
end
You may also want to consider moving the logic out of the controller and into a service object. That controller method is getting a little long.

Answer 2

The issue is that you also need to pass the id of the User you're wanting to update. The line which is failing is #user.email = new_email, since #user is nil.
To get your test to pass now, you'll need to change your post method to:
post :update_user_email, {id:'bar#foo.com', user: {new_email: 'foo#bar.com'} }
As an aside, it is possible to say that it may be better for you to actually be doing this in the UsersController#update method, in order to maintain RESTful routes. And as for enforcing unique email address - it might be better to do this in the User class with validations.

Answer 3

In your post :update_user_email you're not passing :id... so #user = User.find_by_id... is not finding a user so #user is a nil object.
post :update_user_email, id: user.id, {user: {new_email: 'foo#bar.com'} }