Rspec 3 how to test flash messages

Question

I want to test controller's action and flash messages presence with rspec.

action:

def create   user = Users::User.find_by_email(params[:email])   if user     user.send_reset_password_instructions     flash[:success] = "Reset password instructions have been sent to #{user.email}."   else     flash[:alert] = "Can't find user with this email: #{params[:email]}"   end    redirect_to root_path end 

spec:

describe "#create" do   it "sends reset password instructions if user exists" do     post :create, email: "[email protected]"           expect(response).to redirect_to(root_path)     expect(flash[:success]).to be_present   end ... 

But I've got an error:

Failure/Error: expect(flash[:success]).to be_present    expected `nil.present?` to return true, got false 

Answer 1

You are testing for the presence of flash[:success], but in your controller you are using flash[:notice]

Answer 2

The best way to test flash messages is provided by the shoulda gem.

Here are three examples:

expect(controller).to set_flash expect(controller).to set_flash[:success] expect(controller).to set_flash[:alert].to(/are not valid/).now