Using a hash inside a let()

Question

I'm trying to DRY my code by putting a hash into a let and just calling the let but it doesn't seem to work. I get these errors:

syntax error, unexpected =>, expecting '}' (SyntaxError) "email" => user.email,

syntax error, unexpected =>, expecting :: or '[' or '.' ...l" => user.email, "password" => user.password }

Here's my test:

describe '#create' do
  let(:user) { create(:user) }
  let(:user_params) { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }
  before(:each) { User.stub(:find_by_email).and_return(user) }
  it "should send find message to user model" do
    User.should_receive(:find_by_email)
    post :create, locale: "es", user: { user_params }
  end
  it "should set user to @user" do
    post :create, locale: "es", user: { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }
    assigns(:user).should eq(user)
  end
end

And here's my code:

def create
  @user = User.find_by_email(params[:email])
  if @user && @user.authenticate(params[:password])
    session[:user_id] = @user.id
    redirect_to root_url
  else
    render 'login'
  end
end

Answer 1

You're missing one pair of braces.

let(:user_params) { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }

should be

let(:user_params) { {"email" => user.email, "password" => user.password} }

Answer 2

I would prefer a bit longer explanation. When you write something like this:

let(:user_params) { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }

You call method let with one parameter (:user_params) and a block (in this case { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }). I will state it again:

let(:something) { some_method_call }

and

let(:something) do
  some_method_call
end

are equal. By using let, RSpec sets variable to the result of the block. So, inside of the block, you need to return something. In this case - hash:

let(:user_params) do 
  { "email" => user.email, "password" => user.password }
end

That's it! You can find out more about let on APIdock