Using stub_template

In order to isolate view specs from the partials rendered by the primary view, rspec-rails (since 2.2) provides the stub_template method.

Stub a template that does not exist

Given a file named “spec/views/gadgets/list.html.erb_spec.rb” with:

require "rails_helper"

RSpec.describe "gadgets/list" do
  it "renders the gadget partial for each gadget" do
    assign(:gadgets, [
      double(:name => "First"),
      double(:name => "Second")
    ])
    stub_template "gadgets/_gadget.html.erb" => "<%= gadget.name %><br/>"
    render
    expect(rendered).to match /First/
    expect(rendered).to match /Second/
  end
end

And a file named “app/views/gadgets/list.html.erb” with:

<%= render :partial => "gadget", :collection => @gadgets %>

When I run rspec spec/views/gadgets/list.html.erb_spec.rb

Then the examples should all pass.

Stub a template that exists

Given a file named “spec/views/gadgets/edit.html.erb_spec.rb” with:

require "rails_helper"

RSpec.describe "gadgets/edit" do
  before(:each) do
    @gadget = assign(:gadget, Gadget.create!)
  end

  it "renders the form partial" do
    stub_template "gadgets/_form.html.erb" => "This content"
    render
    expect(rendered).to match /This content/
  end
end

When I run rspec spec/views/gadgets/edit.html.erb_spec.rb

Then the examples should all pass.