Rails API post in request spec should pass params but getting empty - ruby-on-rails-5

Question

To start, in my request spec sites.spec.rb I have this test:
describe "POST /v1/sites" do
let(:valid_attributes) { { url: "www.example.com", site_code: "123456" } }
context 'when the request is valid' do
before { post v1_sites_path, params: valid_attributes }
it 'creates a site' do
expect(json['url']).to eq("www.example.com")
expect(json['site_code']).to eq("123456")
end
it 'returns status code 201' do
expect(response).to have_http_status(201)
end
end
I then get a failing test for "creates a site"...
1) Sites POST /v1/sites when the request is valid creates a site
Failure/Error: expect(json['url']).to eq("www.example.com")
expected: "www.example.com"
got: ["can't be blank"]
(compared using ==)
# ./spec/requests/sites_spec.rb:61:in `block (4 levels) in <top (required)>'
# ./spec/rails_helper.rb:84:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
# ./spec/rails_helper.rb:83:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
Now this technically makes sense because my Site model has validates :url, :site_code, presence: true. So the test is failing because the post is not passing the params correctly.
Lastly, here is the controller:
module Api::V1
class SitesController < BaseApiController
before_action :set_site, only: [:show, :update, :destroy]
# GET /sites
def index
#sites = Site.all
render json: #sites
end
# GET /sites/1
def show
render json: #site
end
# POST /sites
def create
#site = Site.new(site_params)
if #site.save
render json: #site, status: :created, location: #site
else
render json: #site.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity
end
end
# PATCH/PUT /sites/1
def update
if #site.update(site_params)
render json: #site
else
render json: #site.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity
end
end
# DELETE /sites/1
def destroy
#site.destroy
end
private
# Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions.
def set_site
#site = Site.find(params[:id])
end
# Only allow a trusted parameter "white list" through.
def site_params
# params.require(:data).require(:attributes).permit(:url, :side_code, :user_id)
# params.require(:site).permit(:url, :side_code, :user_id)
params.fetch(:site, {}).permit(:url, :side_code)
end
end
end
I am speculating that the way I am passing parameters to the post for Rails API is perhaps not formatted or correctly or something else entirely. I did play with the params in the test block trying data: { attributes: valid_attributes } with no luck.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

This problem was indeed due to format of the parameters I was passing to POST request in the test block. I tested the POST via the command line and watched the rails server to see how the params were coming through. They looked like this:
Parameters: {"site_code"=>"123456", "url"=>"www.updated.com", "subdomain"=>"api", "id"=>"2", "site"=>{"site_code"=>"123456", "url"=>"www.updated.com"}}
Then in my sites_spec.rb, I copied this format for the valid params of the post request:
let(:valid_attributes) { { "site"=>{"url"=>"www.example.com", "user_id"=>user_id, "site_code"=>"123456"} } }
This works. The JSON format of the params needed to be formatted in the test block the same way they would be if it was real JSON request.