Question

I’m trying to DRY up my RSpec examples by adding a few controller macros for frequently used tests. In this somewhat simplified example, I created a macro that simply tests whether getting the page results in a direct to another page:

def it_should_redirect(method, path)
  it "#{method} should redirect to #{path}" do
    get method
    response.should redirect_to(path)
  end
end

I’m trying to call it like so:

context "new user" do
  it_should_redirect 'cancel', account_path
end

When I run the test I get an error saying that it doesn’t recognize account_path:

undefined local variable or method `account_path’ for … (NameError)

I tried including Rails.application.routes.url_helpers per the guidance given in this SO thread on named routes in RSpec but still receive the same error.

How can I pass a named route as a parameter to a controller macro?

Answer 1

The url helpers included with config.include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers are valid only within examples (blocks set with it or specify). Within example group (context or describe) you cannot use it. Try to use symbols and send instead, something like

# macro should be defined as class method, use def self.method instead of def method
def self.it_should_redirect(method, path)
  it "#{method} should redirect to #{path}" do
    get method
    response.should redirect_to(send(path))
  end
end

context "new user" do
  it_should_redirect 'cancel', :account_path
end

Don’t forget to include url_helpers to config.

Or call the macro inside example:

def should_redirect(method, path)
  get method
  response.should redirect_to(path)
end

it { should_redirect 'cancel', account_path }