Rspec instance variables and controller testing - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm writing a bowling score calculator, and I'm trying to set up RSpec tests, but for some reason I can't get my tests to work correctly.
players_controller_spec.rb:
require 'spec_helper'
describe PlayersController do
let(:player_names) { ["player1",
"player2",
"player3",
"player4"] }
describe "POST bowl" do
before(:each) do
#game = Game.create!
player_names.each do |name|
Player.create!(:name => name)
end
#game.players = Player.all
Player.all.each do |player|
(0..9).each do |number|
player.frames << Frame.create(:number => number)
end
end
end
describe "for the player's third bowl" do
before(:each) do
#game.players[#game.current_player].frames[9].update_attributes({:number => 9, :first_bowl => "X", :second_bowl => "X", :score => 20})
#game.update_attributes({:current_player => 0, :current_frame => 9})
end
describe "if the bowl is a number score" do
before(:each) do
post :bowl, {:score => "5", :id => #game.id}
end
it "should update the player's score" do
#game.players[#game.current_player].frames[#game.current_frame].score.should == 25
end
end
end
end
end
players_controller.rb
def bowl
#game = Game.find(params[:id])
#score = params[:score]
#current_player = #game.current_player
#current_frame = #game.current_frame
#player = #game.players[#current_player]
#frame = #player.frames[#current_frame]
if #frame.first_bowl.nil?
#frame.first_bowl = #score
if #score == "/"
raise "Error"
end
if #score == "X" && #frame.number == 9
#frame.bonus = 2
end
#frame.score = (/\A[0-9]\z/ === #score ? #score.to_i : 10)
elsif #frame.second_bowl.nil?
#frame.second_bowl = #score
if #frame.score + #score.to_i > 10
raise "Error"
end
if #score == "X"
if #frame.number != 9 || (#frame.number == 9 && #frame.first_bowl != "X") # can't be a spare has to be number or strike
raise "Error"
end
end
if #score == "/" && #frame.number == 9
#frame.bonus = 1
end
if /\A[0-9]\z/ === #score
#frame.score += #score.to_i
elsif #score == "/"
#frame.score = 10
elsif #score == "X"
#frame.score = 20
end
elsif #frame.third_bowl.nil?
#frame.third_bowl = #score
if #frame.number != 9
raise "Error"
end
#frame.bonus = nil
#frame.update_attributes({:score => (/\A[0-9]\z/ === #score ? #frame.score + #score.to_i : #frame.score + 10)})
else
raise "Error"
end
#frame.save
if #game.current_frame > 0
#prev_frame = #player.frames[#frame.number-1]
if #prev_frame.nil?
#prev_frame = Frame.create(:number => #game.current_frame-1)
#player.frames << #prev_frame
#player.frames = #player.frames.sort_by { |f| f.number }
end
update_scores
end
The spec in question is players_controller_spec.rb and at the start of the tests I'm creating a new game with 4 players and each player with 10 frames. Before each test, I'm setting a certain frame's values to be fit what I'm trying to test. The test above is an example where I want to make sure that bowling a score of 5 on the third bowl on the last frame correctly updates the score. But, even though in the debugger I see that the score is updated in the frame (when I debug in the controller method), once I return to the Rspec test, it doesn't work. It expects 25 but gets nil. Is there something I'm missing about how instance variables are transferred between specs and controllers?

Answer 1

So first off there is no 'transferring'. The controller and the example are 2 completely independent objects, each with their own instance variables (You can use the assigns spec helper to retrieve the value of a controller instance variable though).
That's not the root cause of your issue. You do, even before the controller executes, have an #game instance variable that is the game you are interested in. However with activerecord, every time you do Game.find you'll receive separate ruby objects (corresponding to the same database row). Once the row has been loaded from the database it doesn't notice changes made to the database behind its back.
You can reload the object with #game.reload
As a side note this sort of stuff is easier to work with if most of that logic was pushed down into one of your models rather than sitting in the controller.