Rspec, CanCan and Devise

Question

I am starting a project and i would like to be able to test everything :)

And i have some problems with CanCan and devise.

For exemple, I have a controller Contacts. Everybody can view and everybody (excepts banned people) can create contact.

#app/controllers/contacts_controller.rb
class ContactsController < ApplicationController
  load_and_authorize_resource

  def index
    @contact = Contact.new
  end

  def create
    @contact = Contact.new(params[:contact])
    if @contact.save
      respond_to do |f|
        f.html { redirect_to root_path, :notice => 'Thanks'}
      end
    else
      respond_to do |f|
        f.html { render :action => :index }
      end
    end
  end
end

The code work, but I don't how to test the controller. I tried this. This works if I comment the load_and_authorize_resource line.

#spec/controllers/contacts_controller_spec.rb
require 'spec_helper'

describe ContactsController do

  def mock_contact(stubs={})
    (@mock_ak_config ||= mock_model(Contact).as_null_object).tap do |contact|
      contact.stub(stubs) unless stubs.empty?
    end
  end

  before (:each) do
    #    @user = Factory.create(:user)
    #    sign_in @user
    #    @ability = Ability.new(@user)
    @ability = Object.new
    @ability.extend(CanCan::Ability)
    @controller.stubs(:current_ability).returns(@ability)
  end

  describe "GET index" do
    it "assigns a new contact as @contact" do
      @ability.can :read, Contact
      Contact.stub(:new) { mock_contact }
      get :index
      assigns(:contact).should be(mock_contact)
    end
  end

  describe "POST create" do

    describe "with valid params" do
      it "assigns a newly created contact as @contact" do
        @ability.can :create, Contact
        Contact.stub(:new).with({'these' => 'params'}) { mock_contact(:save => true) }
        post :create, :contact => {'these' => 'params'}
        assigns(:contact).should be(mock_contact)
      end

      it "redirects to the index of contacts" do
        @ability.can :create, Contact
        Contact.stub(:new) { mock_contact(:save => true) }
        post :create, :contact => {}
        response.should redirect_to(root_url)
      end
    end

    describe "with invalid params" do
      it "assigns a newly created but unsaved contact as @contact" do
        @ability.can :create, Contact
        Contact.stub(:new).with({'these' => 'params'}) { mock_contact(:save => false) }
        post :create, :contact => {'these' => 'params'}
        assigns(:contact).should be(mock_contact)
      end

      it "re-renders the 'new' template" do
        @ability.can :create, Contact
        Contact.stub(:new) { mock_contact(:save => false) }
        post :create, :contact => {}
        response.should render_template("index")
      end
    end

  end
end

But these tests totally failed .... I saw nothing on the web ... :( So, if you can advise me on the way i have to follow, i would be glad to ear you :)

Answer 1

CanCan does not call Contact.new(params[:contact]). Instead it calls contact.attributes = params[:contact] later after it has applied some initial attributes based on the current ability permissions.

See Issue #176 for details on this and an alternative solution. I plan to get this fixed in CanCan version 1.5 if not sooner.