RSpec request spec for post action that includes headers results in parms being dropped

Question

I am trying to figure out why I can't use use both params and headers in an request spec.

What works:

RSpec.describe  Api::V1::UsersController, :type => :request  do

  before { host! 'api.localhost:3000'}

  let(:params) {
    {
      "user": {
        "identifier_for_vendor": "BD43813E"
      }
    }
  }

  describe 'Post /users' do
    context 'when request is valid' do
      before {
        post api_users_path,
        params: params
      }

      it "is successful" do
        expect(response).to be_successful
      end
    end
  end
end

What does not:

RSpec.describe  Api::V1::UsersController, :type => :request  do

  let(:params) {
    {
      "user": {
        "identifier_for_vendor": "BD43813E"
      }
    }
  }

  let(:headers) {
    {
      "host": "api.localhost:3000",
      "Accept": "application/vnd.domain_name.v1",
      "Content-Type": "application/vnd.api+json",
      "X-API-Key": "fake087uakey"
    }
  }

  describe 'Post /users' do
    context 'when request is valid' do
      before {
        post api_users_path,
        params: params,
        headers: headers
      }

      it "successful" do
        expect(response).to be_successful
      end
    end
  end
end

The above fails, returning the error:

  1) Api::V1::UsersController Post /users when request is valid is successful 
     Failure/Error: params.require(:user).permit(:identifier_for_vendor)

     ActionController::ParameterMissing:
       param is missing or the value is empty: user

The headers are needed due to having to ensure that valid api-keys are included in the request.

Would appreciate feedback on what I am missing. Thank you

Versions:

• Ruby version: 2.6.3
• Rails version: 6.0.3.4
• RSpec 3.10

Answer 1

So issue had to do with how params and headers objects are created.

Params:

• I passed in:

  {"user": {"identifier_for_vendor": "OFJPJ"} }

• the correct object is:

  {:params=>{:user=>{:identifier_for_vendor=>"OFJPJ"}}}

Headers:

• I passed in:

    {
      "host": "api.localhost:3000",
      "Accept": "application/vnd.domain_name.v1",
      "Content-Type": "application/vnd.api+json",
      "X-API-Key": "fake087uakey"
    }

• the correct object is:

{
  "headers" => {
    "host" => "api.localhost:3000", 
    "Accept" => "application/vnd.domain_name.v1", 
    "X-API-Key" => "api_key"
  }
}

Final solution looks like this:

RSpec.describe  Api::V1::UsersController, :type => :request  do

  describe 'Post /users' do
    context 'when request is valid' do


      before do
        post api_users_path,
        :params => params,
        :headers => headers
      end


      it "is successful" do
        expect(response).to be_successful
      end

      it "returns a data of type user" do
        expect(json_data["type"]).to eq("user")
      end
    end
  end
end

The key to figuring this out was reading the documentation and realizing the my formatting was wrong.