Rails - Testing fixtures error NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass

Question

I have a problem running tests that use fixtures with associations between models.

Here's the error I get, as soon as I run rake test:

ERROR["test_truth", SevenPortfolioTest, 0.005154775]
 test_truth#SevenPortfolioTest (0.01s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_destroy_item_video", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.008887804]
 test_should_destroy_item_video#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.01s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_index", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.011364416]
 test_should_get_index#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.01s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_create_item_video", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.014584266]
 test_should_create_item_video#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.01s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_new", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.017282812]
 test_should_get_new#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.02s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_update_item_video", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.019729858]
 test_should_update_item_video#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.02s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_edit", SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest, 0.022365633]
 test_should_get_edit#SevenPortfolio::ItemVideosControllerTest (0.02s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_destroy_item", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.025860205]
 test_should_destroy_item#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.03s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_edit", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.030867796]
 test_should_get_edit#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.03s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_show_item", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.036687105]
 test_should_show_item#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.04s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_update_item", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.040130774]
 test_should_update_item#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.04s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_create_item_with_video", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.042776553]
 test_should_create_item_with_video#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.04s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_index", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.045301694]
 test_should_get_index#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.05s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_get_new", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.048094189]
 test_should_get_new#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.05s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass


ERROR["test_should_create_item_with_gallery", SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest, 0.051019403]
 test_should_create_item_with_gallery#SevenPortfolio::ItemsControllerTest (0.05s)
NoMethodError:         NoMethodError: undefined method `type' for nil:NilClass

I'm testing a rails engine. Here's my fixtures:

# test/fixtures/seven_portfolio/items.yml
item_one:
  description: item one description
  finished_at: <%= 7.days.ago %>
  is_featured: true
  item_type: 0

item_two:
  description: item two description
  finished_at: <%= 6.days.ago %>
  is_featured: false
  item_type: 1


# test/fixtures/seven_gallery/galleries.yml
gallery_one:
  title: seven_gallery_gallery_one_title
  item: item_one

# test/fixtures/seven_gallery/photos.yml
photo_one:
  caption: photo_one_caption
  gallery: gallery_one

# test/fixtures/seven_portfolio/item_videos.yml
one:
  item: item_one

When, for example, I remove item: item_one and similar associations lines. The test works well.

-- EDIT

Here's the backtrace

Command failed with status (1): [ruby -I"lib:lib:test"  "/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/rake_test_loader.rb" "test/**/*_test.rb" ]

/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/testtask.rb:108:in `block (3 levels) in define'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils.rb:57:in `call'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils.rb:57:in `sh'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils_ext.rb:37:in `sh'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils.rb:96:in `ruby'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils_ext.rb:37:in `ruby'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/testtask.rb:104:in `block (2 levels) in define'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/file_utils_ext.rb:58:in `verbose'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/testtask.rb:100:in `block in define'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:240:in `call'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:240:in `block in execute'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:235:in `each'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:235:in `execute'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:179:in `block in invoke_with_call_chain'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:172:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/task.rb:165:in `invoke'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:150:in `invoke_task'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:106:in `block (2 levels) in top_level'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:106:in `each'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:106:in `block in top_level'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:115:in `run_with_threads'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:100:in `top_level'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:78:in `block in run'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:176:in `standard_exception_handling'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/lib/ruby/2.2.0/rake/application.rb:75:in `run'
/home/rafael/.rbenv/versions/2.2.0/bin/rake:33:in `<main>'

---

EDIT

Here's Item class:

module SevenPortfolio
  class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_one :item_video, class_name:'SevenPortfolio::ItemVideo', foreign_key: "seven_portfolio_item_id"
    has_one :item_gallery, class_name: 'SevenGallery::Gallery', foreign_key: "seven_portfolio_item_id"
    accepts_nested_attributes_for :item_video, :item_gallery

    before_save :process_type

    def process_type
      self.build_item_video if self.item_type == 0
      self.build_item_gallery if self.item_type == 1
    end

    def type_content
      self.item_gallery if self.item_type == 0
      self.item_video if self.item_type == 1
    end
  end
end

And Gallery class:

class SevenGallery::Gallery < ActiveRecord::Base
  include SevenGallery::Concerns::Gallery
  belongs_to :item, :class_name => 'SevenPortfolio::Item'
end

---

EDIT Here's the schema.rb file:

ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150414145951) do

  create_table "seven_gallery_galleries", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string   "title",                   limit: 255
    t.datetime "created_at",                          null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",                          null: false
    t.integer  "seven_portfolio_item_id", limit: 4
  end

  add_index "seven_gallery_galleries", ["seven_portfolio_item_id"], name: "index_seven_gallery_galleries_on_seven_portfolio_item_id", using: :btree

  create_table "seven_gallery_photos", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string   "caption",                  limit: 255
    t.string   "image",                    limit: 255
    t.integer  "seven_gallery_gallery_id", limit: 4
    t.datetime "created_at",                                             null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",                                             null: false
    t.boolean  "is_new",                   limit: 1,     default: true
    t.boolean  "is_featured",              limit: 1,     default: false
    t.text     "description",              limit: 65535
    t.string   "alt",                      limit: 255
    t.integer  "position",                 limit: 4,     default: 0
  end

  add_index "seven_gallery_photos", ["seven_gallery_gallery_id"], name: "index_seven_gallery_photos_on_seven_gallery_gallery_id", using: :btree

  create_table "seven_portfolio_item_videos", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string   "url",                     limit: 255
    t.text     "description",             limit: 65535
    t.string   "title",                   limit: 255
    t.integer  "seven_portfolio_item_id", limit: 4
    t.datetime "created_at",                            null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",                            null: false
  end

  add_index "seven_portfolio_item_videos", ["seven_portfolio_item_id"], name: "index_seven_portfolio_item_videos_on_seven_portfolio_item_id", using: :btree

  create_table "seven_portfolio_items", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.datetime "created_at",                                null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",                                null: false
    t.text     "description", limit: 65535
    t.date     "finished_at"
    t.boolean  "is_featured", limit: 1,     default: false
    t.integer  "item_type",   limit: 4,     default: 0
  end

  add_foreign_key "seven_gallery_galleries", "seven_portfolio_items", on_delete: :cascade
  add_foreign_key "seven_gallery_photos", "seven_gallery_galleries", on_delete: :cascade
  add_foreign_key "seven_portfolio_item_videos", "seven_portfolio_items", on_delete: :cascade
end

Answer 1

I've hit the same errors after migrating and rolling back a few times in my dev environment. It's something to do with the "_type" column.

The only thing that fixed it for me was a drop/create of the test database:

bundle exec rake db:reset RAILS_ENV=test

Be confident your schema.rb is in good shape before doing this.

Answer 2

This error happen when in you model you create a relationship that doesnt have a field in the db. Example:

class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base
 belongs_to account
end

But in your table contacts:

create_table "contacts", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string   "fname"
    t.string   "lname"
    t.string   "title"
    t.string   "description"
    t.datetime "created_at",                 null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",                 null: false
    t.boolean  "primary"
    t.integer  "contactable_id"
    t.integer  "contactable_type"
  end

See there's no account_id field.

In my case I forgot to update the model's belongs_to to be polymorphic:

class Contact < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :contactable, polymorphic: true
end

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :contacts, as: :contactable
end