Cookie related rspec test problem while working through tutorial - ruby-on-rails

Question

I've been working through Michael Hartl's Rails tutorial (which is unbelievably awesome by the way).
Anyway, everything has been going pretty well and I've nearly reached the end of chapter 10. The problem is that my rspec tests have started to generate some failures and I can't figure out what's wrong.
The first failure occurred when I was working through the section on destroying users. The test
before :each do
#user = Factory :user
end
describe "as a non-signed-in user" do
it "should deny access" do
delete :destroy, :id => #user
response.should redirect_to(signin_path)
end
end
gives the error:
UsersController DELETE 'destroy' as a non-signed-in user should deny access
Failure/Error: delete :destroy, :id => #user
NoMethodError:
undefined method `admin?' for nil:NilClass
# ./app/controllers/users_controller.rb:76:in `admin_user'
# ./spec/controllers/users_controller_spec.rb:308:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'
Here's the code the message references in users_controller:
def admin_user
# the error tels me that current_user = NilClass
redirect_to(root_path) unless current_user.admin?
end
So I guess this would suggest that current_user isn't working correctly and is being set to nil. Now current_user involves a lot of methods of the SessionsHelper which (afaik) deal with setting the users ID in secure cookies and referencing the cookie as they move around the site. So this suggests that there is something wrong with the cookies.
I've checked the browser and the cookie is being set, I've also gone over every part of the code and it all replicates the tutorial exactly as far as I can tell.
Is there something else I should be looking at?
Appendix
Here is the contents of the SessionsHelper module:
module SessionsHelper
def sign_in user
# rails represents cookies as a hash and deals with the conversion for us
# making the cookie "signed" makes it impervious to attack
cookies.permanent.signed[:remember_token] = [user.id, user.salt]
# this line calls the assignment operator below
self.current_user = user
end
def current_user=(user)
#current_user = user
end
# this is a getter method
def current_user
# this sets #current_user = to the user corresponding to the remember token
# but only if #current user is undefined. ie it only works once
#current_user ||= user_from_remember_token
end
def signed_in?
# return true if current_user is not nil
!current_user.nil?
end
def sign_out
cookies.delete(:remember_token)
self.current_user = nil
end
def current_user? user
# returns true if the user object == the current_user object
user == current_user
end
def authenticate
deny_access unless signed_in?
end
def deny_access
store_location
# this is a shortcut for flash notices: flash[:notice] = "Please sign in to access this page."
redirect_to signin_path, :notice => "Please sign in to access this page."
end
def redirect_back_or(default)
redirect_to(session[:return_to] || default)
clear_return_to
end
private
def user_from_remember_token
# the * allows us to give a 2 element array to a method expecting 2 seperate arguments
User.authenticate_with_salt(*remember_token)
end
def remember_token
# return [nil, nil] if the :remember_token cookie is nil
cookies.signed[:remember_token] || [nil, nil]
end
def store_location
# stores the url the browser was requesting
session[:return_to] = request.fullpath
end
def clear_return_to
session[:return_to] = nil
end
end

Answer 1

In your spec ypu are trying to delete user, while you are not logged in, so current_user is nil. You should prevent access to this action non singed in user.
class UsersController < ApplicationController
before_filter :authenticate, :only => [:index, :edit, :update, :destroy]
....
Just as it is described in example.

Answer 2

I made the same omission and this fixed worked. Thanks. I agree with ducky, Michael Hartl's Rails tutorial is tremendously awesome. It's almost a shame to +just+ call it a "Rails Tutorial." While the tutorial does indeed seem to be pointing me towards good Rails development habits, the text concisely contains much more. Very well done.