Nil @controller error in rspec 3.3, rails 4.2.0

Question

I'm having an error when running any post create rspec related to missing controller variable inside controller specs.

I've researched for at least a day into this and most of the issues are with unrelated gems, or don't address the problem.

I'm seeing many errors like this:

Failure/Error: post :create, { user: @user_attributes }, format: :json RuntimeError: @controller is nil: make sure you set it in your test's setup method. # ./spec/controllers/api/v0/users_controller_spec.rb:27:in `block (3 levels) in '

For reference, here is my Gemfile:

source 'https://rubygems.org'


# Bundle edge Rails instead: gem 'rails', github: 'rails/rails'
gem 'rails', '4.2'
# Use postgresql as the database for Active Record
gem 'pg'
# Use SCSS for stylesheets
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 5.0'
# Use Uglifier as compressor for JavaScript assets
gem 'uglifier', '>= 1.3.0'
# Use CoffeeScript for .coffee assets and views
gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 4.1.0'
# See https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs#readme for more supported runtimes
# gem 'therubyracer', platforms: :ruby

# Use jquery as the JavaScript library
gem 'jquery-rails'
# Turbolinks makes following links in your web application faster. Read more: https://github.com/rails/turbolinks
gem 'turbolinks'
# Build JSON APIs with ease. Read more: https://github.com/rails/jbuilder
gem 'jbuilder', '~> 2.0'
# bundle exec rake doc:rails generates the API under doc/api.
gem 'sdoc', '~> 0.4.0', group: :doc

# Use ActiveModel has_secure_password
# gem 'bcrypt', '~> 3.1.7'

# Use Unicorn as the app server
gem 'unicorn'

# Use Capistrano for deployment
# gem 'capistrano-rails', group: :development

gem 'activerecord-postgis-adapter'
gem 'rgeo'
gem 'rb-readline'
gem "devise"
gem "responders"

group :development, :test do
  # Call 'byebug' anywhere in the code to stop execution and get a debugger console
  gem 'byebug'

  # Access an IRB console on exception pages or by using <%= console %> in views
  gem 'web-console', '~> 2.0'

  # Spring speeds up development by keeping your application running in the background. Read more: https://github.com/rails/spring
  gem 'spring'

  gem "rspec-rails", "~> 3.3"
end

group :test do

  #gem "shoulda-matchers"
  gem "factory_girl_rails"
  gem 'ffaker'
end

Here is my spec/controllers/api/v0/users_controller_spec.rb:

require 'spec_helper'

describe Api::V0::UsersController do
  before(:each) { request.headers['Accept'] = "application/market.v0" }

  describe "GET #show" do
    before(:each) do
      @user = FactoryGirl.create :user
      get :show, id: @user.id, format: :json
    end

    it "returns the information about a reporter on a hash" do
      user_response = JSON.parse(response.body, symbolize_names: true)
      expect(user_response[:email]).to eql @user.email
    end

    #it { should respond_with 200 }
    it { expect(response).to have_http_status(200) }
  end
end

  describe "POST #create" do

    context "when is successfully created" do
      before(:each) do
        @user_attributes = FactoryGirl.attributes_for :user
        post :create, { user: @user_attributes }, format: :json
      end

      it "renders the json representation for the user record just created" do
        user_response = JSON.parse(response.body, symbolize_names: true)
        expect(user_response[:email]).to eql @user_attributes[:email]
      end

      it { expect(response).to have_http_status(201) }
    end

    context "when is not created" do
      before(:each) do
        #notice I'm not including the email
        @invalid_user_attributes = { password: "12345678",
                                     password_confirmation: "12345678" }
        post :create, { user: @invalid_user_attributes }, format: :json
      end

      it "renders an errors json" do
        user_response = JSON.parse(response.body, symbolize_names: true)
        expect(user_response).to have_key(:errors)
      end

      it "renders the json errors on why the user could not be created" do
        user_response = JSON.parse(response.body, symbolize_names: true)
        expect(user_response[:errors][:email]).to include "can't be blank"
      end

      it { expect(response).to have_http_status(422) }
    end
  end

This is my spec_helper.rb:

# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'

# Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc, in
# spec/support/ and its subdirectories. Files matching `spec/**/*_spec.rb` are
# run as spec files by default. This means that files in spec/support that end
# in _spec.rb will both be required and run as specs, causing the specs to be
# run twice. It is recommended that you do not name files matching this glob to
# end with _spec.rb. You can configure this pattern with with the --pattern
# option on the command line or in ~/.rspec, .rspec or `.rspec-local`.
Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each { |f| require f }

# Checks for pending migrations before tests are run.
# If you are not using ActiveRecord, you can remove this line.
ActiveRecord::Migration.maintain_test_schema!

RSpec.configure do |config|
  # ## Mock Framework
  #
  # If you prefer to use mocha, flexmock or RR, uncomment the appropriate line:
  #
  # config.mock_with :mocha
  # config.mock_with :flexmock
  # config.mock_with :rr

  # Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
  config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"

  # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
  # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
  # instead of true.
  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true

  # If true, the base class of anonymous controllers will be inferred
  # automatically. This will be the default behavior in future versions of
  # rspec-rails.
  config.infer_base_class_for_anonymous_controllers = false

  # Run specs in random order to surface order dependencies. If you find an
  # order dependency and want to debug it, you can fix the order by providing
  # the seed, which is printed after each run.
  #     --seed 1234
  config.order = "random"

  # RSpec Rails can automatically mix in different behaviours to your tests
  # based on their file location, for example enabling you to call `get` and
  # `post` in specs under `spec/controllers`.
  #
  # You can disable this behaviour by removing the line below, and instead
  # explictly tag your specs with their type, e.g.:
  #
  #     describe UsersController, :type => :controller do
  #       # ...
  #     end
  #
  # The different available types are documented in the features, such as in
  # https://relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-rails/v/3-0/docs
  config.infer_spec_type_from_file_location!
end

Here is app/controllers/application_controller.rb:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  # Prevent CSRF attacks by raising an exception.
  # For APIs, you may want to use :null_session instead.
  protect_from_forgery with: :exception
end

and finally my app/controllers/api/v0/users_controller.rb:

require 'application_controller.rb'

class Api::V0::UsersController < ApplicationController
  respond_to :json

  def show
    #respond_to do |format|
    #  format.json { render request.format.to_sym => User.find(params[:id]) }
    #end
    respond_with User.find(params[:id])
  end

    def create
    user = User.new(user_params)
    if user.save
      render json: user, status: 201, location: [:api, user]
    else
      render json: { errors: user.errors }, status: 422
    end
  end

  private

  def user_params
    params.require(:user).permit(:email, :password, :password_confirmation)
  end
end

Answer 1

In your code, (see line 19 in your posted spec) where you have:

describe Api::V0::UsersController do
  before(:each) { request.headers['Accept'] = "application/market.v0" }

  describe "GET #show" do
    before(:each) do
      @user = FactoryGirl.create :user
      get :show, id: @user.id, format: :json
    end

    it "returns the information about a reporter on a hash" do
      user_response = JSON.parse(response.body, symbolize_names: true)
      expect(user_response[:email]).to eql @user.email
    end

    #it { should respond_with 200 }
    it { expect(response).to have_http_status(200) }
  end
end

You only need 1 end here. No end is needed for the last "it" statement. The it doesn't have a do block, so there shouldn't be an end for it. In the last two lines (the ends), the first end closes your describe "GET #show" block. Thus, the second extra end closes the first describe block:

describe Api::V0::UsersController do

Your describe Api::V0::UserController block is closed hence the no controller error you get occurs at line 27. Once your Api::V0::UserController block is closed, when the next describe block executes controller is nil.