Rspec: testing assignment of instance variable

Question

Using Rspec with Factory Girl. Trying to check out what data is being assigned in my controller (and test against it). Every post I've read says I should be able to get something out of assigns() but it keeps returning nill

Controller

def index  @stickies = Sticky.where(:user_id => current_user.id) end 

Spec

it "should assign stickies" do   foo = assigns(:stickies)   puts "foo = #{foo}" end 

Output

foo =  

Am I using the wrong syntax? Is there a better way to do this? Thanks!!

Answer 1

You have to invoke the action first

 describe StickiesController do   describe "GET index" do     it "should assign stickies" do       get :index       assigns(:stickies).should_not be_nil     end   end end