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Ruby Build a Todo List Application with Rails 4 Build a Todo List Application with Rails 4 Relationships

Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points
Posted by Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points

NoMethodError: undefined method…

When I run bin/rspec spec/models/todo_item_spec.rb, it returns:

F

Failures:

1) TodoItem Failure/Error: it { should belong_to(:todo_list) } NoMethodError: undefined method belong_to' for #<RSpec::Core::ExampleGroup::Nested_1:0xb9a97eb4> # ./spec/models/todo_item_spec.rb:5:inblock (2 levels) in <top (required)>'

Finished in 0.00135 seconds 1 example, 1 failure

Failed examples:

rspec ./spec/models/todo_item_spec.rb:5 # TodoItem

Randomized with seed 14438

My code for todo_item_spec.rb is:

require 'spec_helper'

describe TodoItem do

    it { should belong_to(:todo_list) }

end

When I run bin/rspec spec/models/todo_list_spec.rb, it returns:

F

Failures:

1) TodoList should have many :todo_items Failure/Error: it { should have_many(:todo_items) } NoMethodError: undefined method has_many?' for #<TodoList:0xb9f42f68> # ./spec/models/todo_list_spec.rb:5:inblock (2 levels) in <top (required)>'

Finished in 0.00893 seconds 1 example, 1 failure

Failed examples:

rspec ./spec/models/todo_list_spec.rb:5 # TodoList should have many :todo_items

Randomized with seed 59687

My code for todo_list_spec.rb is:

require 'spec_helper'

describe TodoList do

    it { should have_many(:todo_items) }

end
Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points
Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points

Did shoulda-matchers gem get bundled properly? You may need to use gem install shoulda-matchers, then bundle.

Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points
Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points

Seth, Thank you for your reply.

I attempted the install of the should-matchers gem again, bundled, and then verified the install and location using:

bundle show shoulda-matchers

Versions of gems are:

  • shoulda-matchers 3.0.0
  • rails 4.0.1
  • spec-rails 2.0.
  • capybara 2.1.0

The original errors persist, even after attempting the shoulda-matchers reinstall.

Megan Mann
Megan Mann
8,808 Points
Megan Mann
Megan Mann
8,808 Points

Just FYI -- I'm also getting the same errors, haven't been able to resolve, googled for a while but no luck.

6 Answers

Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points
Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points

Per the shoulda-matchers docs, you need to add some configuration to your spec_helper.rb. I looked back at my odot, I had shoulda-matchers 2.6.0 and no configuration. This must be new in 3.0. Anyways, you will need:

Shoulda::Matchers.configure do |config|
  config.integrate do |with
    with.test_framework :rspec
    with.library :rails
  end
end

Add that to the end of spec_helper.rb. (Outside of the rspec configure block.) You should get a pass now.

Megan Mann
Megan Mann
8,808 Points
Megan Mann
Megan Mann
8,808 Points

Thank you for finding this! I should have looked harder. :/

Your solution worked (except your config.integrate block is missing a second pipe on the with variable).

So it should look like this: 

Shoulda::Matchers.configure do |config|
  config.integrate do |with|
    with.test_framework :rspec
    with.library :rails
  end
end
Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points
Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points

Thanks so much, Seth! That worked! I'll have to be more fearless about combing through the docs. Great find.

Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points
Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points

Thank you, Megan, for catching the error with the second pipe. Your profile photo update also gets a thumbs up.

Ariel Espinal
Ariel Espinal
5,451 Points
Ariel Espinal
Ariel Espinal
5,451 Points

i love you guyz! thank you!

Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points
Donald Gray II
Donald Gray II
5,341 Points

Ariel, I'm glad I wasn't the only one with that question.

Mark Megahey
Mark Megahey
7,837 Points
Mark Megahey
Mark Megahey
7,837 Points

For anyone still having issues & is using rspec 3.x:

it needs to be added to the end of rails_helper not spec_helper

https://github.com/thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers/issues/803

Quote from this thread that makes ALOT of sence.

"The shoulda-matchers configuration should not be added to spec_helper, but to rails_helper.

When you run the rspec executable, because you have --require spec_helper in .rspec, RSpec will load spec_helper first before it tries to run any files. The goal of spec_helper is to set up any tests that don't need Rails to run; therefore, it will not load your Rails environment or automatically require any gems in your Gemfile, including shoulda-matchers. This is why the Shoulda constant isn't available. To fix this, move that configuration block into rails_helper (which does set up a Rails environment) and everything should be golden."

Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points
Seth Reece
Seth Reece
32,867 Points

This depends on the version of rspec. I believe in the course Jason specifies rspec 2.0. In this case there is only a spec_helper.rb fil. In rspec 3.0 you have a spec_helper.rb and rails_helper.rb. In this case all customization does go in rails_helper.rb

Mark Megahey
Mark Megahey
7,837 Points
Mark Megahey
Mark Megahey
7,837 Points

I have updated the answer to reflect the rspec version re: @Seth Reece

Katie OK
Katie OK
1,946 Points
Katie OK
Katie OK
1,946 Points

Thanks so much for your explanation!! That totally fixed my issue!

Katie OK
Katie OK
1,946 Points
Katie OK
Katie OK
1,946 Points

Thanks so much for your explanation!! That totally fixed my issue!

Travis Smith
Travis Smith
7,189 Points
Travis Smith
Travis Smith
7,189 Points

Hi guys,

I'm using Rspec 3.2.3 but can't find a rails_helper.rb file. I put the updated configuration in the spec_helper.rb file and everything is working correctly but wondering why I'm missing the rails_helper.rb file?

Any thoughts?

Taylor Williams
Taylor Williams
103 Points
Taylor Williams
Taylor Williams
103 Points

WIth shoulda-matchers 3.0.1 an extra configuration step is needed as answered above by Seth.

For reference:

https://github.com/thoughtbot/shoulda-matchers#configuration

Philomath Ingeniare
Philomath Ingeniare
12,441 Points
Philomath Ingeniare
Philomath Ingeniare
12,441 Points

For any who is still having issues, I had to include "require 'shoulda/matchers'" in spec_helper.rb, in addition, to the above mentioned code snippet.