ruby on rails - 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!!

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4720135/rspec-testing-assignment-of-instance-variable

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