How to access a Rails controller view context from outside of a controller?

Question

I am working on cleaning up some code that relies on some custom controller helper methods, by creating a "plain old Ruby" presenter object. In my controller, I am able to pass the view context to the class:

def show
  # old code: view_context.bad_helper_method
  @foobar = FoobarPresenter.new(Foobar.find(params[:id]), view_context)
end

class FoobarPresenter
  def initialize(model, view_context)
    @model = model
    @view_context = view_context
  end

  def something
    @view_context.bad_helper_method
  end
end

However, I'm not sure what to pass in my test. I would rather pull the helper/view_context dynamically so that I don't have to pass it in.

How can I access the view/controller helper context outside of the controller?

This is a Rails 3.2 project.

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '17 at 11:54

14

Simpler than you think! (I lost almost an hour until I found a way)

You can instantiate an ActionView

_view_context = ActionView::Base.new

and use it in your test

FoobarPresenter.new(Foobar.new, _view_context)

answered Mar 01 '17 at 11:54

Jesus Monzon Legido

1,253
12
10

1

Thanks! I was trying to instantiate one in a rails console, and this did it for me. – Philihp Busby May 19 '17 at 17:38
5

In modern rails (eg 6.1), `ActionView::Base.new` says `wrong number of arguments (given 0, expected 3)` – jrochkind Jun 01 '22 at 16:04
In Rails 7, you can use the controller to create one i.e: `_view_context = InvoicesController.new.view_context`. – Steve Meisner May 31 '23 at 15:28

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '15 at 00:29

How about testing the expectations?

Test for controller (note that subject is the instance of the controller, assuming we're testing using rspec-rails):

view_context     = double("View context")
foobar_presenter = double("FoobarPresenter")

allow(subject).to receive(:view_context).and_return(view_context)
allow(FoobarPresenter).to receive(:new).with(1, view_context).and_return(foobar_presenter)

get :show, id: 1

expect(assigns(:foobar)).to eql(foobar_presenter)

Test for presenter:

view_context = double('View context', bad_helper_method: 'some_expected_result')
presenter    = FoobarPresenter.new(double('Model'), view_context)

expect(presenter.something).to eql('some_expected_result')

I think this is probably the best approach. Thanks! – Andrew Jan 10 '15 at 00:48 — Andrew, Jan 10 '15 at 00:48

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 10 '15 at 00:16

1

I unfortunately don't have a perfect answer for you. However, I've dug through the Draper Decorator library, and they have solved this problem.

In particular, they have a HelperProxy class and a ViewContext class that seem to automatically infer the context that you want.

https://github.com/drapergem/draper

They also have some specs around both of these classes, which I'm sure you could borrow from in setting up your own specs.

answered Jan 10 '15 at 00:16

Bryce

2,802
1
21
46

That's a good idea. I'll dig through the source and see if I can find something. – Andrew Jan 10 '15 at 00:28

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 26 '21 at 01:17

Based on this answer the following (a bit modified version) worked for me:

Add the following to rails_helper.rb

config.include ActionView::TestCase::Behavior, file_path: %r{spec/presenters}

(assuming your presenter classes are located in the /presenters folder)

After this you can access the view context in your specs via the view method:

FoobarPresenter.new(Foobar.new, view)

Andres Leon · Answer 5 · 2022-06-14T16:18:11.153

Unfortunately, it's only available from within the controllers, however, it's fairly easy to create it.

class ViewContextDelegator
  RouteHelpers = Module.new { delegate_missing_to 'Rails.application.routes.url_helpers' }
  HELPERS = ApplicationController.helpers.extend(RouteHelpers)
  delegate_missing_to(:HELPERS)
end

Then use it in any file as follows:

ViewContextDelegator.new.time_ago_in_words(Time.now)
# "less than a minute"
ViewContextDelegator.new.root_path
# "/"

or in a spec:

subject { described_class.new(arg1, view_context) }
let(:view_context) { ViewContextDelegator.new }

Alternatively, you can just define a test helper if you only need it for testing purposes.

def view_context
  @view_context ||= ApplicationController
                    .helpers
                    .extend(Module.new { delegate_missing_to 'Rails.application.routes.url_helpers' })
end

How to access a Rails controller view context from outside of a controller?

5 Answers5