All helpers are included in helper object for helper specs, despite clear_helpers

[ewollesen]

It seems that the "helper" object inside helper specs has all helper modules included into it, despite having clear_helpers in ApplicationController.

I setup a small test app using rails 3.0.5, rspec-rails 2.5. In it, I edited my ApplicationController to call "clear_helpers."

I then created two helpers:

app/helpers/bar_helper.rb:

module BarHelper
  def bar
    "I am the bar helper"
  end
end

app/helpers/foo_helper.rb:

module FooHelper
  def bar
    "I am the foo helper"
  end
end

Then I setup the following spec in spec/helpers/bar_helper_spec.rb:

require "spec_helper"

describe BarHelper do
  it "should be the bar helper" do
    helper.bar.should == "I am the bar helper"
  end
end

When run, it fails with:

Failures:

  1) BarHelper should be the bar helper
     Failure/Error: helper.bar.should == "I am the bar helper"
       expected: "I am the bar helper"
            got: "I am the foo helper" (using ==)
     # ./spec/helpers/bar_helper_spec.rb:5

It seems that FooHelper is included in the helper object. Is there any way to "clear_helpers" for rspec's helper object?

Thanks!

[dchelimsky]

Helper specs are for helpers, and have no conceptual relationship to controllers.

What problem are you seeing?

[ewollesen]

As my test shows, one helper's method is being clobbered by the other.

In a non-test environment, I can get around this by using ActionController's clear_helpers method. I'm wondering if there's a way to do something similar for rspec?

[dchelimsky]

You could create your own object and include only the helper in question:

helper_object = Object.new.extend(MyHelper)

This is how it worked originally, but users requested that all helpers be included in the helper object :)

[ewollesen]

Ah, yes, it's so obvious now. That will do nicely. Thank you for the quick responses!

[Wanderfalke]

But you normally test one helper per spec. Who would expect that other helpers are included as well?

[dchelimsky]

@Avenger Rails makes all helpers available to all views, so even though you're spec'ing only one helper, the runtime reality is that all of them are included in the same object.

[Wanderfalke]

yes, but in rails you can turn off this behaviour by calling clear_helpers() in a controller. A really common use case for me is to define some method in the ApplicationController and override it in dirrefent helpers, depending on the needs of a particular view, which works really great.
And now when upgrading from rspec 1.x to 2.x a lot of specs are failing, because methods on wrong helpers are called, which doesn't happen in the running app (using clear_helpers()). It would be really nice to have some kind of a switch in rspec to disable "all helpers always" thing. Or my other option is to create my own helper object in each helper spec, which is kind of annoying.

[dchelimsky]

@Avenger we can't really do it implicitly since we don't have access to the controller from the helper spec, but an option would make sense. Addressing this is low on my priority list, so I won't be fixing it myself, but if you want to submit a patch or coerce someone else to do it, I'll be glad to merge it (provided it is sound, of course).

[Wanderfalke]

I'll come back with a patch as soon as I get time to work on it.

[scottdavis]

This is also happening in view specs clear_helpers is not being obeyed

[alindeman]

Anybody still want to take a stab at this?

[alindeman]

@Avenger, @scottdavis, how and where are you calling clear_helpers?

[alindeman]

Closing due to age and inactivity. If it's still problematic, ping me to reopen.