test rails controllers that are not in spec/controllers with rspec 2 - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

rspec expects your controller specs to be in /spec/controllers. I have some modules that are included in my controllers. The only way to test them, near as I can tell, is to create a dummy controller, include the module in it, and test from there. The problem is that the module specs are in /spec/lib/module, and so ControllerExampleGroup is not included, which means I can't call the helper methods get "action" etc.
I can manually import these, which gets me most of the way there, but I then get this error:
Failure/Error: Unable to find matching
line from backtrace undefined method
`path_set' for nil:NilClass
activesupport-3.0.3/lib/active_support/whiny_nil.rb:48:in
`method_missing'
rspec-rails-2.2.1/lib/rspec/rails/view_rendering.rb:68
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:291:in
`instance_eval'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:291:in
`instance_eval_with_rescue'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:39:in
`run_in'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:70:in
`run_all'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:70:in
`each'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:70:in
`run_all'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:106:in
`run_hook'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:194:in
`eval_after_eachs'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:194:in
`each'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:194:in
`eval_after_eachs'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:130:in `run_after_each'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:44:in `run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:88:in `with_around_hooks'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:37:in `run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:81:in `with_pending_capture'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:80:in `catch'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:80:in `with_pending_capture'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:36:in `run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:261:in
`run_examples'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:257:in
`map'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:257:in
`run_examples'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:231:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:232:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:232:in
`map'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/example_group.rb:232:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:27:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:27:in
`map'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:27:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/reporter.rb:12:in `report'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:24:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:55:in
`run_in_process'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:46:in
`run'
rspec-core-2.2.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:10:in
`autorun'
/Users/jeffdeville/.rvm/gems/ree-1.8.7-2010.02/bin/rspec:19
Suggestions?

Answer 1

If you have a spec that's not in one of the standard locations, you can always tell rspec by passing a :type attribute to the describe method:
describe MyController, :type => :controller do
...
end
For specing modules that are meant to be included by a controller, rspec 2 has a very handy way to create anonymous controllers.
describe MyModule do
context "when included by a controller", :type => :controller do
controller do # anonymous subclass of ActionController::Base
include MyModule
def index
head :ok
end
end
it "works" do
get "index"
response.should be_success
end
end
end
More info here in the rspec docs (generated from Cucumber features): http://relishapp.com/rspec/rspec-rails/dir/controller-specs/anonymous-controller