Class: ActionController::TestCase
Overview
Superclass for ::ActionController
functional tests. Functional tests allow you to test a single controller action per test method.
Use integration style controller tests over functional style controller tests.
Rails discourages the use of functional tests in favor of integration tests (use ::ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
).
New Rails applications no longer generate functional style controller tests and they should only be used for backward compatibility. Integration style controller tests perform actual requests, whereas functional style controller tests merely simulate a request. Besides, integration tests are as fast as functional tests and provide lot of helpers such as as
, parsed_body
for effective testing of controller actions including even API
endpoints.
Basic example
Functional tests are written as follows:
-
First, one uses the
get
,post
,patch
,put
,delete
, orhead
method to simulate an HTTP request. -
Then, one asserts whether the current state is as expected. “State” can be anything: the controller’s HTTP response, the database contents, etc.
For example:
class BooksControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
def test_create
# Simulate a POST response with the given HTTP parameters.
post(:create, params: { book: { title: "Love Hina" }})
# Asserts that the controller tried to redirect us to
# the created book's URI.
assert_response :found
# Asserts that the controller really put the book in the database.
assert_not_nil Book.find_by(title: "Love Hina")
end
end
You can also send a real document in the simulated HTTP request.
def test_create
json = {book: { title: "Love Hina" }}.to_json
post :create, body: json
end
Special instance variables
TestCase
will also automatically provide the following instance variables for use in the tests:
- @controller
-
The controller instance that will be tested.
- @request
-
An ActionController::TestRequest, representing the current HTTP request. You can modify this object before sending the HTTP request. For example, you might want to set some session properties before sending a GET request.
- @response
-
An ActionDispatch::TestResponse object, representing the response of the last HTTP response. In the above example,
@response
becomes valid after callingpost
. If the various assert methods are not sufficient, then you may use this object to inspect the HTTP response in detail.
Controller is automatically inferred
TestCase
will automatically infer the controller under test from the test class name. If the controller cannot be inferred from the test class name, you can explicitly set it with tests
.
class SpecialEdgeCaseWidgetsControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
tests WidgetController
end
Testing controller internals
In addition to these specific assertions, you also have easy access to various collections that the regular test/unit assertions can be used against. These collections are:
-
session: Objects being saved in the session.
-
flash: The flash objects currently in the session.
-
cookies: Cookies being sent to the user on this request.
These collections can be used just like any other hash:
assert_equal "Dave", [:name] # makes sure that a cookie called :name was set as "Dave"
assert flash.empty? # makes sure that there's nothing in the flash
On top of the collections, you have the complete URL that a given action redirected to available in redirect_to_url
.
For redirects within the same controller, you can even call follow_redirect and the redirect will be followed, triggering another action call which can then be asserted against.
Manipulating session and cookie variables
Sometimes you need to set up the session and cookie variables for a test. To do this just assign a value to the session or cookie collection:
session[:key] = "value"
[:key] = "value"
To clear the cookies for a test just clear the cookie collection:
clear
.
Testing named routes
If you’re using named routes, they can be easily tested using the original named routes’ methods straight in the test case.
assert_redirected_to page_url(title: 'foo')
Constant Summary
::ActiveSupport::TestCase
- Inherited
Behavior
- Attributes & Methods
Class Attribute Summary
::ActiveSupport::TestCase
- Inherited
.file_fixture_path, .file_fixture_path?, | |
.test_order | Returns the order in which test cases are run. |
.test_order= | Sets the order in which test cases are run. |
Class Method Summary
::ActiveSupport::TestCase
- Inherited
.fixture_paths | Returns the |
.fixture_paths= | Sets the given path to the fixture set. |
.parallelize | Parallelizes the test suite. |
.parallelize_setup | Set up hook for parallel testing. |
.parallelize_teardown | Clean up hook for parallel testing. |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::Declarative
- Extended
Instance Attribute Summary
Behavior
- Included
::ActiveSupport::TestCase
- Inherited
Instance Method Summary
::ActionDispatch::Assertions
- self
::ActionDispatch::Assertions::RoutingAssertions
- Included
#assert_generates | Asserts that the provided options can be used to generate the provided path. |
#assert_recognizes | Asserts that the routing of the given |
#assert_routing | Asserts that path and options match both ways; in other words, it verifies that |
#method_missing | ROUTES TODO: These assertions should really work in an integration context. |
#with_routing | A helper to make it easier to test different route configurations. |
::ActionDispatch::Assertions::ResponseAssertions
- Included
#assert_redirected_to | Asserts that the response is a redirect to a URL matching the given options. |
#assert_response | Asserts that the response is one of the following types: |
Behavior
- Included
#build_response, #controller_class_name, | |
#delete | Simulate a DELETE request with the given parameters and set/volley the response. |
#generated_path, | |
#get | Simulate a GET request with the given parameters. |
#head | Simulate a HEAD request with the given parameters and set/volley the response. |
#patch | Simulate a PATCH request with the given parameters and set/volley the response. |
#post | Simulate a POST request with the given parameters and set/volley the response. |
#process | Simulate an HTTP request to |
#put | Simulate a PUT request with the given parameters and set/volley the response. |
#query_parameter_names, #setup_controller_request_and_response |
::ActionDispatch::TestProcess
- Included
::ActionDispatch::TestProcess::FixtureFile
- Included
#file_fixture_upload | Shortcut for |
#fixture_file_upload |
::ActiveSupport::TestCase
- Inherited
#assert_no_match | Alias for: refute_match. |
#assert_not_empty | Alias for: refute_empty. |
#assert_not_equal | Alias for: refute_equal. |
#assert_not_in_delta | Alias for: refute_in_delta. |
#assert_not_in_epsilon | Alias for: refute_in_epsilon. |
#assert_not_includes | Alias for: refute_includes. |
#assert_not_instance_of | Alias for: refute_instance_of. |
#assert_not_kind_of | Alias for: refute_kind_of. |
#assert_not_nil | Alias for: refute_nil. |
#assert_not_operator | Alias for: refute_operator. |
#assert_not_predicate | Alias for: refute_predicate. |
#assert_not_respond_to | Alias for: refute_respond_to. |
#assert_not_same | Alias for: refute_same. |
#method_name |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::FileFixtures
- Included
#file_fixture | Returns a |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::TimeHelpers
- Included
#after_teardown, | |
#freeze_time | Calls |
#travel | Changes current time to the time in the future or in the past by a given time difference by stubbing |
#travel_back | Returns the current time back to its original state, by removing the stubs added by |
#travel_to | Changes current time to the given time by stubbing |
#unfreeze_time |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::ConstantStubbing
- Included
#stub_const | Changes the value of a constant for the duration of a block. |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::Deprecation
- Included
#assert_deprecated | Asserts that a matching deprecation warning was emitted by the given deprecator during the execution of the yielded block. |
#assert_not_deprecated | Asserts that no deprecation warnings are emitted by the given deprecator during the execution of the yielded block. |
#collect_deprecations | Returns the return value of the block and an array of all the deprecation warnings emitted by the given deprecator during the execution of the yielded block. |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::ErrorReporterAssertions
- Included
#assert_error_reported | Assertion that the block should cause at least one exception to be reported to Rails.error. |
#assert_no_error_reported | Assertion that the block should not cause an exception to be reported to Rails.error. |
::ActiveSupport::Testing::Assertions
- Included
#assert_changes | Assertion that the result of evaluating an expression is changed before and after invoking the passed in block. |
#assert_difference | Test numeric difference between the return value of an expression as a result of what is evaluated in the yielded block. |
#assert_no_changes | Assertion that the result of evaluating an expression is not changed before and after invoking the passed in block. |
#assert_no_difference | Assertion that the numeric result of evaluating an expression is not changed before and after invoking the passed in block. |
#assert_not | Asserts that an expression is not truthy. |
#assert_nothing_raised | Assertion that the block should not raise an exception. |
#assert_raise | |
#assert_raises | Asserts that a block raises one of |
Class Attribute Details
._controller_class (rw)
[ GitHub ]# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/test_case.rb', line 571
class_attribute :_controller_class
._controller_class? ⇒ Boolean
(rw)
[ GitHub ]
# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/test_case.rb', line 571
class_attribute :_controller_class
Instance Attribute Details
#_controller_class (rw)
[ GitHub ]# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/test_case.rb', line 571
class_attribute :_controller_class
#_controller_class? ⇒ Boolean
(rw)
[ GitHub ]
# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/test_case.rb', line 571
class_attribute :_controller_class
#executor_around_each_request (rw)
[ GitHub ]# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/test_case.rb', line 346
singleton_class.attr_accessor :executor_around_each_request