undefined method `sign_in' for #<RSpec::Core::ExampleGroup::Nested_1::Nested_1:0x1057fd428> error while trying to set up RSpec with Devise

Question

I've got a spec/controllers/add_to_carts_spec.rb:

require 'spec_helper'

describe CartItemsController do

  before (:each) do
    @user = Factory(:user)
    sign_in @user
  end

  describe "add stuff to the cart" do
    it "should add a product to the cart" do
      product = FactoryGirl.create(:product)
      visit products_path(product)
      save_and_open_page
      click_on('cart_item_submit')
    end
  end

end

and /spec/support/spec_helper.rb:

# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'
require 'capybara/rspec'

# Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc,
# in spec/support/ and its subdirectories.
Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.mock_with :rspec
  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
end

... which also loads /spec/support/devise.rb:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller
end

Guard is running in the background and keeps throwing this:

Failures:

  1) CartItemsController add stuff to the cart should add a product to the cart
     Failure/Error: sign_in @user
     NoMethodError:
       undefined method `sign_in' for #<RSpec::Core::ExampleGroup::Nested_1::Nested_1:0x1057fd428>
     # ./spec/controllers/add_to_carts_spec.rb:7

I've spent the last couple hours trying various config adjustments and different syntaxes but nothing seems to change. Any ideas?

(edited to reflect newer error)

Answer 1

Those test helpers won't work for integration/request specs. The recommended way to test Devise in these situations is to visit the login page, fill in the form and submit it, and then run the test.

Please see David Chelimsky's answer to a previous SO question on this topic for a more complete explanation.