cannot get controller instance variable with rspec

Question

I have simple controller:

class CreditLogsController < BaseController

  def show
    @account = Account.find_by_email(Base64.urlsafe_decode64(params[:id]))
  end
end

and here is the spec for it:

require 'rails_helper'

describe CreditLogsController, type: :controller do

  describe 'GET #show' do
    it 'responds with 200' do
      create(:account)

      get :show, params: {id: Base64.urlsafe_encode64('[email protected]')}, format: :html
      puts "############# #{controller.instance_variable_get(:account)}"
      expect(assigns(:account)).to eql('[email protected]')
    end
  end

end

The problems is that account in spec is always nil, in coverage file code from controller which assigns value to @account is showed as not covered and controller.instance_variable_get(:account) raises an error:

`account' is not allowed as an instance variable name.

I have similar code in other spec and is working ok, so what am I doing wrong?

Do you use FactoryGirl to create account? you are comparing an object @account with a string '[email protected]'? It should be expect(assigns(:account).email).to eql('[email protected]') — Thanh
– Thanh, Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 16:30
seems that the code pointer hasn't reach the show action method — Малъ Скрылевъ
– Малъ Скрылевъ, Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 19:17

user229044 · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-22 15:40:25Z

1

As the error indicates, that's the wrong name for an instance variable. They must start with @, and so do the symbols and strings describing them.

You must use:

controller.instance_variable_get(:@account)

or

controller.instance_variable_get('@account')

The rest of your test (expect(assigns(:account))...) will not be reached, as instance_variable_get(:account) will raise a NameError exception.

answered Dec 22, 2016 at 15:40

user229044♦

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3 Comments

maki Over a year ago

if I use controller.instance_variable_get(:@account) I have the same problem, value is nil

user229044 Over a year ago

@maki So your find_by_email isn't working, and I can't see any reason why it would. Do some debugging, drop a binding.pry in there. We can't fix everything for you.

maki Over a year ago

you are not right, the problem is not in find_by_email, for example if I just assign some value @account = "test" it's still nil in spec

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