FactoryGirl: attributes_for not giving me associated attributes

Question

I have a Code model factory like this:

Factory.define :code do |f|
    f.value "code"
    f.association :code_type
    f.association(:codeable, :factory => :portfolio)
end

But when I test my controller with a simple test_should_create_code like this:

  test "should create code" do
    assert_difference('Code.count') do
      post :create, :code => Factory.attributes_for(:code)
    end
    assert_redirected_to code_path(assigns(:code))
  end

... the test fails. The new record is not created.

In the console, it seems that attributes_for does not return all required attributes like the create does.

rob@compy:~/dev/my_rails_app$ rails console test
Loading test environment (Rails 3.0.3)
irb(main):001:0> Factory.create(:code)
=> #<Code id: 1, code_type_id: 1, value: "code", codeable_id: 1, codeable_type: "Portfolio", created_at: "2011-02-24 10:42:20", updated_at: "2011-02-24 10:42:20">
irb(main):002:0> Factory.attributes_for(:code)
=> {:value=>"code"}

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Iowa

Answer 1

You can try something like this:

(Factory.build :code).attributes.symbolize_keys 

Check this: http://groups.google.com/group/factory_girl/browse_thread/thread/a95071d66d97987e)

Presentiment

This has the unwanted side-effect of returning timestamps, id, etc... Not really a solution for all problems – Endways

@coneybeare: there's a simple fix for that. See the solution at #10290786 – Patrica

Not work for me: it shows "MassAssignmentSecurity::Error: Can't mass-assign protected attributes: id, created_at, updated_at.." – Laidlaw

Answer 2

This one doesn't return timestamps etc., only attributes that are accessible for mass assignment:

(FactoryGirl.build :position).attributes.symbolize_keys.reject { |key, value| !Position.attr_accessible[:default].collect { |attribute| attribute.to_sym }.include?(key) }

Still, it's quite ugly. I think FactoryGirl should provide something like this out of the box.

I opened a request for this here.

Heterozygous

Answer 3

I'd suggest yet an other approach, which I think is clearer:

attr = attributes_for(:code).merge(code_type: create(:code_type))

Sequoia

You can also do attributes_for(:code).merge(code_type_attributes: attributes_for(:code_type)) – Dichroic

Answer 4

heres what I end up doing...

conf = FactoryGirl.build(:conference)
post :create, {:conference => conf.attributes.slice(*conf.class.accessible_attributes) }

Atrabilious

Answer 5

I've synthesized what others have said, in case it helps anyone else. To be consistent with the version of FactoryGirl in question, I've used Factory.build() instead of FactoryGirl.build(). Update as necessary.

def build_attributes_for(*args)
  build_object = Factory.build(*args)
  build_object.attributes.slice(*build_object.class.accessible_attributes).symbolize_keys
end

Simply call this method in place of Factory.attributes_for:

post :create, :code => build_attributes_for(:code)

The full gist (within a helper module) is here: https://gist.github.com/jlberglund/5207078

Husein

Answer 6

In my APP/spec/controllers/pages_controllers_spec.rb I set:

let(:valid_attributes) { FactoryGirl.attributes_for(:page).merge(subject: FactoryGirl.create(:theme), user: FactoryGirl.create(:user)) } 

Because I have two models associated. This works too:

 FactoryGirl.define do
    factory :page do
       title      { Faker::Lorem.characters 12 }
       body       { Faker::Lorem.characters 38 }
       discution  false
       published  true
       tags       "linux, education, elearning"
       section   { FactoryGirl.create(:section) }
       user      { FactoryGirl.create(:user)    }                                                                                                                            
     end
  end

Gisellegish

Answer 7

Here's another way. You probably want to omit the id, created_at and updated_at attributes.

FactoryGirl.build(:car).attributes.except('id', 'created_at', 'updated_at').symbolize_keys

Limitations:

• It does not generate attributes for HMT and HABTM associations (as these associations are stored in a join table, not an actual attribute).
• Association strategy in the factory must be create, as in association :user, strategy: :create. This strategy can make your factory very slow if you don't use it wisely.

Suffuse