How to test render :file => 'public/404.html' in Rspec 2?

Question

I have following code in an action:

render :file => 'public/404.html' and return

This works fine in the browser. I have written the following rspec example to test this:

  it "renders 404" do
    get :new
    response.should render_template('public/404.html')
  end

Running this example results in the following error:

 Failure/Error: response.should render_template('public/404.html')
   Expected block to return true value.

I have also tried response.should render_template(:file => 'public/404.html') but that too results in an error.

How should I test this?

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 23 '12 at 09:05

20

You should use:

response.should render_template(:file => "#{Rails.root}/public/404.html")

answered Jul 23 '12 at 09:05

Kamil Bednarz

7

This doesn't work: render_template(:file => "bogus file") passes. – therin Sep 12 '13 at 01:55
Works for me RSpec 3.2, Rails 4.2 – fny Mar 23 '15 at 17:21

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

5

if you want to show a 404 page, remember to set the status code. this is also what i would test: it { should respond_with :not_found }

instead of rendering the public/404 directly, there are better ways of doing this. have a look at this answer: How to redirect to a 404 in Rails?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

answered Jul 12 '12 at 13:18

phoet

What if it is any other page and not 404.html (or 502.html) specifically? For example, depending on some parameter, I want to show different landing pages to different users. – Chandranshu Jul 12 '12 at 13:58
i would put this in the router and write routing tests for it. – phoet Jul 12 '12 at 15:28

2 Answers2