Question

Note: I am very new to Cucumber.

I am trying to make a generalized step (not sure if one already exists somewhere or not) so that you can easily add objects to another object, given the association exists. I want to do something like:

manage_notes.feature

Background: Login User
  Given the following user records
    | email          | password |
    | [e-mail] | password |
  Given I am logged in as "[e-mail]" with password "password"

Scenario: Edit existing note
  Given I have already created a note that belongs to current_user

general_steps.rb

Given /^the following (.+) records?$/ do |factory, table|
  table.hashes.each do |hash|
    Factory(factory, hash)
  end
end

Given /^I am logged in as "([^\"]*)" with password "([^\"]*)"$/ do |email, password|
  unless email.blank?
    visit new_user_session_path
    fill_in "Email", :with => email
    fill_in "Password", :with => password
    click_button "Sign In"
  end
end

note_steps.rb

  Given /^I have already created a (.+) that belongs to (.+)$/ do |factory, resource|
      model = Factory(factory)
      resource.send(model.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize) << model
  end

Seems like there might be a way to use the devise ‘current_user’ helper.

What is the correct way to accessing the user that is logged in?

Please let me know if you need more information.
Thanks!

UPDATE 1:
I have temporarily fixed my issue by creating a new step that allows me to do:

Given I have already created a note that is owned by the user with email "[e-mail]"

But I don’t want to specify the email, I’d still like to be able to use the logged in user if possible.

UPDATE 2:
Added general_steps.rb

So you can see, that in my ‘Background’, the user is created via a Factory, and then is logged in via my interface. I want to access the model of that logged in User.

Answer 1

I don’t use Devise, so I can’t answer specifically to if Devise has method of access the current_user.

But I actually like to use Pickle to help me keep my references. And perhaps this can help you out till you find a more Devise specific way to achieve what you want.

Given /^the following (.+) records$/ do |factory, table|
  table.hashes.each do |hash|
    Factory(factory, hash)

    # since this is like an all encompassing factory creator, this line to 
    # create a Pickle references might need a bit more extra work if you want
    # to create references for other factory types

    # I assume email is unique, else use a unique identifier of some sort
    find_model! %{user: "#{hash['email']}"}, {:email => hash['email']} 
  end
end

Given /^I have already created a (.+) that belongs to #{capture_model}$/ do |factory, name|
  model = Factory(factory)
  ref = model!(name) # we find that reference here
  ref.send(model.class.to_s.downcase.pluralize) << model
end

This would read

Given I have already created a note that belongs to user: "[e-mail]"

# I would just change this to 
Given I have already created a note

# or
Given a note was created for user: "[e-mail]"

You are I since you said Given I logged in..., no need to say that belongs to user: "[e-mail]" it’s already you.

Not to mention it could lead to confusion when you read it, some people may think you are adding a note to a user, who they might now know (or realize) is actually yourself.

---

While you still have to reference explicitly (eg. user: “John Doe”), I think that is a plus. By always calling specific references, everyone knows who is being referenced and there is no question about who is doing what to what.

Pickle serves us very well for this purpose. The only problematic areas we find are with things created directly through the app’s ui, which gets a bit tricky to ensure you are creating the right reference to it.

Pickle has a large number of uses so definitely take a look.

---

Upate

You will have to find yourself here. Since, like you wanted, there is no current_user option (as far as we know). So you basically have to go find the “actor” in this scenario.

Given /^I have already created a note$/ do
  user = model!(%{user: "[e-mail]"}) # if using pickle
  # user = User.find_by_email("[e-mail]") # if just regular AR
  user.notes << Note.create
end