passing params to post :create request ruby-on-rails-3.1, Rspec, factory-girl

Question

I am trying to write a controller spec for creating a purchase with a purchase line item. The purchase gets created just fine with all the attributes I give it but the purchase line item is not created. Here is my code:

factories.rb

FactoryGirl.define do
  factory :purchase do |f| 
    f.sequence(:po_number) { |n| "0000-00#{n}" }
    f.sequence(:ship_to) { |n| "Test Corp#{n}"}
    f.sequence(:ship_via) {|n| "Test Delivery#{n}" }
    f.sequence(:terms) {|n| "My terms#{n}" }
    f.sequence(:qa_requirements) {|n| "Requirment#{n}" }
    f.sequence(:justification) {|n| "Justification#{n}" }
    f.become_part_of_delivered_product true
    f.immediately_delivered_to_stc_client false
    f.remain_for_contract_at_stc_as_gov_prop false
    f.consumed_in_job_requirements true
    f.used_in_repair_of_gov_prop false
    f.is_gov_prop_in_possession_of_stc false
    f.sequence(:required) {|n| "2011-10-0#{n}" }
    f.prd_number_id { |n| n.association(:prd_number).id }
    # f.order_for_id { |o| o.association(:user) }
    f.submitted_by_id { |s| s.association(:submitted_by).id }
    # f.ordered_for_date { Time.now.to_s }
    f.submitted_by_date { Time.now.to_s }
    f.quality_system_classification_id { |q| q.association(:quality_system_classification).id }
    f.after_create { |c| Factory(:purchase_line_item, purchase: c) }
  end

  factory :purchase_line_item do |f| 
    f.sequence(:item_description) {|n| "Desc#{n}" }
    f.unit_price "100.00"
    f.qty "40"
    f.sequence(:charge_number) {|n| "000-00#{n}" }
  end 
 end

PurchaseLineItem.rb

belongs_to :purchase
validates_presence_of :item_description,
                      :unit_price,
                      :qty,
                      :charge_number

Purchase.rb

  belongs_to :authorized_signers
  belongs_to :vendor
  belongs_to :purchase_type
  belongs_to :quality_system_classfication
  belongs_to :order_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "order_by_id"
  belongs_to :submitted_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "submitted_by_id"
  belongs_to :approved_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "approved_by_id"
  belongs_to :purchased_by, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "purchased_by_id"

  has_many :purchase_line_items
  has_many :audits

  accepts_nested_attributes_for :purchase_line_items, :allow_destroy => true

  validates_presence_of :required,
                        :ship_to,
                        :ship_via,
                        :terms,
                        :quality_system_classification_id,
                        :prd_number_id

Purchase Controller

load_and_authorize_resource

def new
    @purchase = Purchase.new
    1.times { @purchase.purchase_line_items.build }
end

def create
  @purchase = Purchase.new(params[:purchase])
  @purchase.without_auditing do
    if @purchase.save
      flash[:notice] = "Successfully created purchase."
      redirect_to @purchase
    else
      render action: 'new'
    end
  end
end

PurchaseController spec

require 'spec_helper'

describe PurchasesController do

  login_user

  describe "POST create" do
    before(:each) do
      @ability.can :create, Purchase
    end

    it "should pass the params to purchase" do
      purchase = Factory(:purchase)
      post :create, purchase: purchase.attributes.except("id")
      assigns(:purchase).po_number.should == purchase.po_number     
    end

    it "should pass the params to purchase_line_items" do
      purchase = Factory(:purchase)   
      post :create,   purchase: purchase.attributes, purchase_line_items_attributes: purchase.purchase_line_items.first.attributes 
      assigns(:purchase).purchase_line_items.first.unit_price.should == purchase.unit_price
    end
  end
end

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Under Rails 4, this generality did not work for me:

post :create, purchase: { attributes: p, purchase_line_items_attributes: [pl] } 

The following is a generalized style that I discovered will satisfy the post :create ...updated for Rails 4. Note: The valid_session may not work exactly as I am stubbing, but you get the DRY idea ;)

describe PurchasesController do
  def valid_session
    controller.stub!(:authorize).and_return(User)
  end

  describe 'POST :create' do
    before do
      purchase = FactoryGirl.build(:purchase).attributes
      purchase_line_item = { purchase_line_items_attributes: { "#{rand(903814893)}" =>  FactoryGirl.build(:purchase_line_item).attributes } }
      @valid_attributes = purchase.merge(purchase_line_item)
    end

    context "with valid params" do
      before(:each) do
        post :create, { purchase: @valid_attributes }, valid_session
      end

      it "assigns a newly created purchase as @purchase" do
        assigns(:purchase).should be_a(Purchase)
      end

      it "saves a newly created purchase" do
        assigns(:purchase).should be_persisted
      end

      it "redirects to the created purchase" do
        response.should redirect_to(Purchase.last)
      end

    end

    context "with invalid params" do
      before do
        Purchase.any_instance.stub(:save).and_return(false)
        post :create, { purchase: @valid_attributes }, valid_session
      end

      it "assigns a newly created but unsaved purchase as @purchase" do
        assigns(:purchase).should be_a_new(Purchase)
      end

      it "re-renders the :new template" do
        response.should render_template("new")
      end

      it "returns http success" do
        response.should be_success
      end

    end

  end


end

In Rails 4, if you set up the controller to utilize:

params.require(:purchase).permit(...)

and removing the attr_accessible from the models, then you don't have to worry about using the attributes.except(...) to filter.