ruby on rails - `Assigns` isn't working in my integration test -

i'm trying write test following suggestion on https://stackoverflow.com/a/17002140/4499505.

my simplified test:

test "test"   log_in_as(@user)   users_path   assert_template 'users/index'   assigns[:users].each      assert_select 'a[href=?]', users_path(user)   end end 

the error result:

nomethoderror: undefined method `each' nil:nilclass 

the controller method:

  def index     @users_grid = initialize_grid(user.where(verified: true),       per_page:        15,       order:           'users.username',       order_direction: 'desc')   end 

apparantly assigns[:users] empty though there users in fixtures file. doing wrong? understand assigns[:users] should assign exact same users shown on users/index, want.

well, correct code :

test "test"   log_in_as(@user)   users_path   assert_template 'users/index'   # in controller have instance var    # @users_gird, not @users.   assigns[:users_grid].each      assert_select 'a[href=?]', users_path(@user)   end end 

assigns hash, accessible within rails tests, containing instance variables available view @ point. it’s accessor allows attribute symbol (since, historically, assigns hash’s keys strings). in other words, assigns(:contact) same assigns["contact"].