Helpers from ApplicationHelper are included when they shouldn't be

[jacob-carlborg]

We have an Rails application with two application controllers, one standard, ApplicationController and one namespaced to Admin::ApplicationController. Both of these two inherit from ActionController::Base, so they are completely separated.

When I normally run this application ApplictionHelper is only included when ApplicationController is used and Admin::ApplictionHelper is only included when Admin::ApplicationController is used. But when I run the specs for this application ApplictionHelper is always included, regardless if I test a view or helper which is namespaced to admin or not.

The issue is here:

https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/blob/master/lib/rspec/rails/example/helper_example_group.rb#L21

And here:

https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/blob/master/lib/rspec/rails/example/view_example_group.rb#L21

[JonRowe]

@alindeman or @dchelimsky can you shed light on why we do this?

[jacob-carlborg]

Hmm, actually, those two lines may not be the problem. I removed both of them and ApplicationHelper is still included. This might be a problem in Rails.

BTW, I'm using RSpec Rails 2.11.4 and Rails 3.2.11.

[JonRowe]

Well AFAIK the default Rails behaviour is to include ApplicationHelper in all controllers by default...

[jacob-carlborg]

Not if the application controller is namespaced and I call clear_helpers.

[jacob-carlborg]

I've done some more investigation. Calling clear_helpers in the controller is what removes the helper methods coming from the application helper that is not namespaced.

[jacob-carlborg]

The problem seems to be in Rails. The controller used in a view spec has nothing to do with the controller used when viewing the site. Instead the controller in the view spec is an instance of this class: ActionView::TestCase::TestController. Of course, this controller doesn't clear all helpers, like I do in my controllers.

I managed to monkey patch Rails to set the controller class in the view spec. Now I can use a controller looking like this:

class Admin::ApplicationController < ActionView::TestCase::TestController
  clear_helpers
end

Now I've instead encountered what I thought was my original problem, this:

https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/blob/master/lib/rspec/rails/example/view_example_group.rb#L21

The above code was added in this commit: a4200ef. I guess it was added to work correctly when using a config, like this:

config.action_controller.include_all_helpers = false

But the helpers should not be added if clear_helpers has been called. �I guess I could monkey patch that as well.

[JonRowe]

For the most part we won't monkey patch Rails to fix their issues, we open PR's to help them, is there anything left that is actually an issue within RSpec?

[jacob-carlborg]

For the most part we won't monkey patch Rails to fix their issues, we open PR's to help them

I understand that.

is there anything left that is actually an issue within RSpec?

Yes, this code should not be called if clear_helpers has been called: https://github.com/rspec/rspec-rails/blob/master/lib/rspec/rails/example/view_example_group.rb#L21. I can see if I can do a pull request.

[jacob-carlborg]

I created an issue for Rails, rails/rails#12432. I've been thinking a bit about this. The standard Rails test system works differently when it comes to views. To test the views it seems one needs to use functional tests. As far as I can see, they're basically not making any difference between tests for controller and tests for views.

This might actually be an RSpec problem after all, I'm not sure.

[JonRowe]

If your view tests are isolated from your controller, then clear_helpers is never invoked so we don't know, if your doing integration tests with your controllers then clear_helpers should be invoked by that.

[jacob-carlborg]

I just want the correct helpers to be available to the view. I guess I probably should have created an engine, or something like that.

[JonRowe]

I'm open to a PR that adds a clear_helpers or set_helpers type setup to this so you can clear them and set the appropriate ones you wish to use.

[jacob-carlborg]

Cool, I see what I can do.

[cupakromer]

Ping, @jacob-carlborg is this still something you're interested in?

[jacob-carlborg]

@cupakromer no, most likely not. Sorry.

[cupakromer]

Close as this is no longer requested.