ruby on rails 4 - RSpec undefined method `full_name' for nil:NilClass -

i'm trying test following rspec , factorygirl:

describe 'get #show'     "assigns requested dish @dishes"         dish = create(:dish)         :show, id: dish         expect(assigns(:dish)).to eq dish     end end 

---

factorygirl.define   factory :dish, :class => 'dish' |f|     f.name "testdish"     f.header "testheader"     f.author_id "1"     f.avatar { file.open("spec/support/sample_photo.jpg")}   end    factory :invalid_dish |f|     f.name nil   end end 

but getting following error:

  1) dishescontroller #show assigns requested dish @dishes      failure/error: :show, id: dish      actionview::template::error:        undefined method `full_name' nil:nilclass      # ./app/views/dishes/show.html.erb:3:in `_app_views_dishes_show_html_erb___4424609358762382481_2199208220'      # ./app/controllers/dishes_controller.rb:16:in `block (2 levels) in show'      # ./app/controllers/dishes_controller.rb:15:in `show'      # ./spec/controllers/dishes_controller_spec.rb:14:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>' 

i believe problems lies in show view line:

<p><%= @dish.author.full_name %></p>

in author.rb model i've defined following:

def full_name         full_name = first_name + " " + last_name     end 

my dish.rb model belongs_to :author , author.rb model has_many :dishes

i've tried google bit around, can't seem find specific answer issue, apart thread rspec: actionview::template::error: undefined method `full_name' nil:nilclass don't understand what's going on there.

let me know if more info needed!

thanks in advance chris

you undefined method 'full_name' nil:nilclass error because in @dish.author.full_name, @dish.author nil i.e., dish record doesn't have matching author record.

what need setup factories such when create dish associated record gets created :

factorygirl.define   factory :dish, :class => 'dish' |f|     f.name "testdish"     f.header "testheader"     f.avatar { file.open("spec/support/sample_photo.jpg")}     ## f.author_id "1"  remove line     association :author, factory: :assoc_author  ## set association   end    factory :assoc_author, :class => 'author' |f|     ## assign fields     f.first_name "john"     f.last_name "doe"    end   ## ... end 

this way when call create(:dish), create record in dishes table plus associated record in authors table.