What does this default RSpec statement mean?

Question

User.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({'these' => 'params'})

What does that statement mean? these isn't instantiated anywhere as meaning anything.

The whole statement is this :

  describe "with valid params" do
    it "updates the requested user" do
      User.should_receive(:find).with("37") { mock_user }
      User.should_receive(:update_attributes).with({'these' => 'params'})
      put :update, :id => "37", :user => {'these' => 'params'}
    end

I say this because I'm getting an error :

unknown attribute: these

Which is coming from aforementioned scenario..

Answer 1

It is saying that the method update_attributes should be invoked on the User model with an argument of {'these' => 'params'} during whatever test is being run.

Basically the following is expected to happen during the execution:

User.update_attributes({'these' => 'params'})

More here: http://rspec.info/documentation/mocks/message_expectations.html

Answer 2

You don't have to replace the hash ({'these' => 'params'}). Think of it as a contract. I have said that when I PUT, the following hash should be received by my objects update_attributes model. In the next line, you call the update method and the contract is checked.