Hartl Chapter 10 Undefined local variable or method 'object'

Question

I made the form partial for creating microposts as shown in Listing 10.33 with <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %> and updated the respective views files as instructed. However, I cannot get the Rspec tests to pass as I keep getting "undefined local variable or method 'object' for Class..." Any ideas?

app/views/shared/_micropost_form.html.erb

<%= form_for(@micropost) do |f| %>
  <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %>
  <div class="field">
    <%= f.text_area :content, placeholder: "Compose new micropost..." %>
  </div>
  <%= f.submit "Post", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
<% end %>

app/views/shared/_error_messages.html.erb

<% if object.errors.any? %>
  <div id="error_explanation">
    <div class="alert alert-error">
      The form contains <%= pluralize(object.errors.count, "error") %>.
    </div>
    <ul>
      <% object.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
        <li>* <%= msg %></li>
      <% end %>
    </ul>
  </div>
<% end %>

app/views/users/new.html.erb

<% provide(:title, 'Sign up') %>
<h1>Sign up</h1>

<div class="row">
  <div class="span6 offset3">
    <%= form_for(@user) do |f| %>
      <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %>
      <%= render 'fields', f: f %>
      <%= f.submit "Create my account", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
    <% end %>
  </div>
</div>

app/views/users/edit.html.erb

<% provide(:title, "Edit user") %> 
<h1>Update your profile</h1>

<div class="row">
  <div class="span6 offset3">
    <%= form_for(@user) do |f| %>
      <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %>
      <%= render 'fields', f: f %>
      <%= f.submit "Save changes", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %>
    <% end %>

    <%= gravatar_for @user %>
    <a href="http://gravatar.com/emails" target="_blank">change</a>
  </div>
</div>

Authentication Spec

require 'spec_helper'

describe "Authentication" do

  subject { page }

  describe "signin page" do
    before { visit signin_path }

    it { should have_selector('h1',    text: 'Sign in') }
    it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign in') }
  end

  describe "signin" do
    before { visit signin_path }

    describe "with invalid information" do
      before { click_button "Sign in" }

      it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign in') }
      it { should have_error_message('Invalid') }

      it { should_not have_link('Users',    href: users_path) }
      it { should_not have_link('Sign out', href: signout_path) }

      describe "after visiting another page" do
        before { click_link "Home" }
        it { should_not have_selector('div.alert.alert-error') }
      end      
    end

    describe "with valid information" do
      let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
      before { sign_in user }

      it { should have_selector('title', text: user.name) }

      it { should have_link('Users',    href: users_path) }
      it { should have_link('Profile', href: user_path(user)) }
      it { should have_link('Settings', href: edit_user_path(user)) }
      it { should have_link('Sign out', href: signout_path) }

      it { should_not have_link('Sign in', href: signin_path) }

      describe "followed by signout" do
        before { click_link "Sign out" }
        it { should have_link('Sign in') }
      end      
    end    
  end  

  describe "authorization" do

    describe "for non-signed-in users" do
      let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }

      describe "in the Users controller" do

      it { should_not have_link('Profile', href: user_path(user)) }
      it { should_not have_link('Settings', href: edit_user_path(user)) }

        describe "visiting the edit page" do
          before { visit edit_user_path(user) }
          it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign in') }
        end

        describe "submitting to the update action" do
          before { put user_path(user) }
          specify { response.should redirect_to(signin_path) }
        end

        describe "visiting the user index" do
          before { visit users_path }
          it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign in') }
        end 
      end

      describe "when attempting to visit a protected page" do
        before do
          visit edit_user_path(user)
          fill_in "Email",    with: user.email
          fill_in "Password", with: user.password
          click_button "Sign in"
        end

        describe "after signing in" do

          it "should render the desired protected page" do
            page.should have_selector('title', text: 'Edit user')
          end

      describe "when signing in again" do
        before do
          visit signin_path
          fill_in "Email", with: user.email
              fill_in "Password", with: user.password
          click_button "Sign in"
            end

        it "should render the default (profile) page" do
          page.should have_selector('title', text: user.name)
        end
          end
        end

      describe "in the Microposts controller" do

        describe "submitting to the create action" do
          before { post microposts_path }
          specify { response.should redirect_to(signin_path) }
        end

        describe "submitting to the destroy action" do
          before { delete micropost_path(FactoryGirl.create(:micropost)) }
          specify { response.should redirect_to(signin_path) }
        end
      end   
    end
  end

    describe "as wrong user" do
      let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
      let(:wrong_user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user, email: "[email protected]") }
      before { sign_in user }

      describe "visiting Users#edit page" do
        before { visit edit_user_path(wrong_user) }
        it { should_not have_selector('title', text: full_title('Edit user')) }
      end

      describe "submitting a PUT request to the Users#update action" do
        before { put user_path(wrong_user) }
        specify { response.should redirect_to(root_path) }
      end
    end  

    describe "as non-admin user" do
      let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
      let(:non_admin) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }

      before { sign_in non_admin }

      describe "submitting a DELETE request to the Users#destroy action" do
        before { delete user_path(user) }
        specify { response.should redirect_to(root_path) }        
      end
    end
  end  
end

User Spec

require 'spec_helper'

describe "User pages" do

  subject { page }

  describe "index" do

    let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }

    before(:all) { 30.times { FactoryGirl.create(:user) } }
    after(:all)  { User.delete_all }

    before(:each) do
      sign_in user
      visit users_path
    end    

    it { should have_selector('title', text: 'All users') }
    it { should have_selector('h1',    text: 'All users') }    

    describe "pagination" do

      it { should have_selector('div.pagination') }

      it "should list each user" do
        User.paginate(page: 1).each do |user|
          page.should have_selector('li', text: user.name)
        end
      end
    end

    describe "delete links" do

      it { should_not have_link('delete') }

      describe "as an admin user" do
        let(:admin) { FactoryGirl.create(:admin) }
        before do
          sign_in admin
          visit users_path
        end

        it { should have_link('delete', href: user_path(User.first)) }
        it "should be able to delete another user" do
          expect { click_link('delete') }.to change(User, :count).by(-1)
        end
        it { should_not have_link('delete', href: user_path(admin)) }
      end
    end     
  end

  describe "signup page" do
    before { visit signup_path }

    it { should have_selector('h1',    text: 'Sign up') }
    it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign up') }
  end

  describe "profile page" do
    let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
    let!(:m1) { FactoryGirl.create(:micropost, user: user, content: "Foo") }
    let!(:m2) { FactoryGirl.create(:micropost, user: user, content: "Bar") }   

    before { visit user_path(user) }

    it { should have_selector('h1',    text: user.name) }
    it { should have_selector('title', text: user.name) }
  end  

  describe "microposts" do
      it { should have_content(m1.content) }
      it { should have_content(m2.content) }
      it { should have_content(user.microposts.count) }
    end

  describe "signup" do

    before { visit signup_path }

    let(:submit) { "Create my account" }

    describe "with invalid information" do
      it "should not create a user" do
        expect { click_button submit }.not_to change(User, :count)
      end

      describe "after submission" do
        before { click_button submit }

        it { should have_selector('title', text: 'Sign up') }
        it { should have_content('error') }
      end      
    end

    describe "with valid information" do
      before { valid_signup }

      it "should create a user" do
        expect { click_button submit }.to change(User, :count).by(1)
      end

      describe "after saving the user" do
        before { click_button submit }
        let(:user) { User.find_by_email('[email protected]') }

        it { should have_selector('title', text: user.name) }
        it { should have_success_message('Welcome') }
    it { should have_link('Sign out') }
      end
    end
  end  

  describe "edit" do
    let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
    before do
      sign_in user
      visit edit_user_path(user)
    end

    describe "page" do
      it { should have_selector('h1',    text: "Update your profile") }
      it { should have_selector('title', text: "Edit user") }
      it { should have_link('change', href: 'http://gravatar.com/emails') }
    end

    describe "with invalid information" do
      before { click_button "Save changes" }

      it { should have_content('error') }
    end

    describe "with valid information" do
      let(:new_name)  { "New Name" }
      let(:new_email) { "[email protected]" }
      before do
        fill_in "Name",             with: new_name
        fill_in "Email",            with: new_email
        fill_in "Password",         with: user.password
        fill_in "Confirm Password", with: user.password
        click_button "Save changes"
      end

      it { should have_selector('title', text: new_name) }
      it { should have_success_message }
      it { should have_link('Sign out', href: signout_path) }
      specify { user.reload.name.should  == new_name }
      specify { user.reload.email.should == new_email }
    end    
  end  
end

Answer 1

Wow, now I feel like a bonehead...I left an extra <%= render 'shared/error_messages' %> in the user fields partial

Hopefully this will help anyone else who had the same problem.

Answer 2

The current version of the tutorial, as of Aug 2013, has a warning:

(Note: Your code will differ if you implemented Listing 9.50 and Listing 9.51 from the exercises in Section 9.6...)

...but like everybody else asking these questions I missed it at first. So again, if you did exercises in Section 9.6, then do NOT edit your current new.html.erb and edit.html.erb files. The only file that you need to update with <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %> is _fields.html.erb.

Answer 3

He should update the Tutorial to remind us to remove the extra <%= render 'shared/error_messages' %> in the user fields partial as the person above said. This was left over from an earlier requirement for it. I had this same problem. Don't think you're a bonehead, few would recall that.