Question

This has been stumping me for days.

test "should check inbox for messages" do
@inbox = create(:inbox)
@user = create(:user)

#user owns inbox
  @inbox.user_id = @user.id
  @inbox.save

  assert_equal @inbox.user_id, @user.id

The assertion always fails.

Answer 1

Try that:

test "should check inbox for messages" do
    @inbox = create(:inbox, user: create(:user))
    assert_equal @inbox.user_id, @inbox.user.id

Otherwise it probably means there is an error when the record is saved. Check the test logs: tail -f log/test.log.