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How to check for a JSON response using RSpec?

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How do I get response JSON?

To return JSON from the server, you must include the JSON data in the body of the HTTP response message and provide a "Content-Type: application/json" response header. The Content-Type response header allows the client to interpret the data in the response body correctly.

What type is response JSON?

JSON-P: JSON with padding. Response is JSON data, with a function call wrapped around it.

What is let in RSpec?

let generates a method whose return value is memoized after the first call. This is known as lazy loading because the value is not loaded into memory until the method is called. Here is an example of how let is used within an RSpec test. let will generate a method called thing which returns a new instance of Thing .

What is Rails RSpec?

RSpec is a testing tool for Ruby, created for behavior-driven development (BDD). It is the most frequently used testing library for Ruby in production applications. Even though it has a very rich and powerful DSL (domain-specific language), at its core it is a simple tool which you can start using rather quickly.


You could parse the response body like this:

parsed_body = JSON.parse(response.body)

Then you can make your assertions against that parsed content.

parsed_body["foo"].should == "bar"

You can examine the response object and verify that it contains the expected value:

@expected = { 
        :flashcard  => @flashcard,
        :lesson     => @lesson,
        :success    => true
}.to_json
get :action # replace with action name / params as necessary
response.body.should == @expected

EDIT

Changing this to a post makes it a bit trickier. Here's a way to handle it:

 it "responds with JSON" do
    my_model = stub_model(MyModel,:save=>true)
    MyModel.stub(:new).with({'these' => 'params'}) { my_model }
    post :create, :my_model => {'these' => 'params'}, :format => :json
    response.body.should == my_model.to_json
  end

Note that mock_model will not respond to to_json, so either stub_model or a real model instance is needed.


Building off of Kevin Trowbridge's answer

response.header['Content-Type'].should include 'application/json'

There's also the json_spec gem, which is worth a look

https://github.com/collectiveidea/json_spec


Simple and easy to way to do this.

# set some variable on success like :success => true in your controller
controller.rb
render :json => {:success => true, :data => data} # on success

spec_controller.rb
parse_json = JSON(response.body)
parse_json["success"].should == true