Rspec Test Won't Pass using assigns() - ruby-on-rails

Question

Here is my current users_controller_spec.rb file
require 'spec_helper'
describe UsersController do
render_views
.
.
.
describe "success" do
before(:each) do
#attr = { :name => "New User", :email => "user#example.com",
:password => "foobar", :password_confirmation => "foobar" }
end
it "should create a user" do
lambda do
post :create, :user => #attr
end.should change(User, :count).by(1)
end
it "should redirect to the user show page" do
post :create, :user => #attr
response.should redirect_to(user_path(assigns(:user)))
end
end
end
end
When I run this I get the following:
Failures:
1) UsersController POST 'create' success should redirect to the user show page
Failure/Error: response.should redirect_to(user_path(user))
ActionController::RoutingError:
No route matches {:action=>"show", :controller=>"users"}
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:95:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'
Which leads me to believe that :user isn't an actual object. How can I test this and how can I change :user into an object that user_path understands.
Thanks in advance for any help.
UPDATED:
def create
#title = "Sign up"
#user = User.new(params[:user])
if #user.save
redirect_to #user, :notice => "Signed Up!"
else
#title = "Sign up"
render "new"
end
end
When I run the following:
it "should redirect to the user show page" do
post :create, :user => #attr
user = assigns(:user)
user.should_not be_blank
puts "user errors are: #{user.errors.full_messages.inspect}" unless user.is_valid?
user.should be_valid
response.should redirect_to(user_path(user))
end
I get:
1) UsersController POST 'create' success should redirect to the user show page
Failure/Error: user.should_not be_blank
expected blank? to return false, got true
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:94:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'

Answer 1

Try using assigns with brackets instead of parenthesis.
assigns[:user]
(RSpec docs)
EDIT
One pattern I always use when testing controller actions is to ensure that a variable required by the associated view(s) is assigned. For example,
it "should assign an #user variable" do
post :create, :user => #attr
assigns[:user].should_not be_nil
assigns[:user].should be_kind_of(User)
end

Answer 2

You've got a typo
response.should redirect_to(user_path(:user))
should be
response.should redirect_to(user_path(user))
Edit:
Try checking that the user is valid with:
it "should redirect to the user show page" do
post :create, :user => #attr
user = assigns(:user)
user.should_not be_blank
puts "user errors are: #{user.errors.full_messages.inspect}" unless user.is_valid?
user.should be_valid
response.should redirect_to(user_path(user))
end
I know it works on the previous test case... but still worth checking extensively at least once here. You can remove all that guff when you're certain.

Answer 3

In your test:
it "should redirect to the user show page" do
#user = Factory(:user)
post :create, :user => #attr
user = assigns(:user)
response.should redirect_to(user_path(#user))
end
Your #attr hash is different from #user. You are creating user with attributes of #attr, and asserting that it should redirect to #user show (which is different from one created). Change to:
it "should redirect to the user show page" do
post :create, :user => #attr
user = assigns(:user)
response.should redirect_to(user_path(user))
end