record generated by FactoryGirl disappears in rspec

Question

We are running a spec (3.4.4) with Rails 4.2.0. Here is the spec:

  it "returns http success" do
    proj = FactoryGirl.create(:ext_construction_projectx_project, :name => 'namenewnew')
    get 'new' , {:project_id => proj.id}
    expect(response).to be_success
  end

In debug, proj.id is 3 and all its values are correct. ExtConstructionProjectx::Project.find(3) returns nil and ExtConstructionProjectx::Project.count returns 0 . The project record just disappears.

Is it possible that the rspec did not see the project record created on its db connection? How to fix this problem?

Update:

Here is the gemspec

  s.add_dependency "rails", ">=4.2.0"
  s.add_dependency "jquery-rails"
  s.add_dependency "simple_form"
  s.add_dependency "will_paginate"
  s.add_dependency "database_cleaner"
  s.add_dependency "execjs"
  s.add_dependency "sass-rails", '~>5.0.1'
  s.add_dependency "coffee-rails", '~>4.1.0'   
  s.add_dependency "uglifier"

  s.add_development_dependency "sqlite3"
  s.add_development_dependency "rspec-rails", ">= 3.2.0"
  s.add_development_dependency "factory_girl_rails", '~>4.5'
  s.add_development_dependency 'capybara'
  s.add_development_dependency 'launchy'

Also in rails_spec , there is:

config.use_transactional_fixtures = true

Answer 1

This is expected behavior. If database records persisted between test calls, your testing wouldn't be isolated or properly test each case.

If you don't want the current behavior:

• Consider removing (or reconfiguring) the database_cleaner gem.
• Set config.use_transactional_fixtures = false in your rspec configuration. Or review the rspec docs for another strategy.

The "better" solution:

• Rewrite your tests such that they do not depend on state from earlier test runs.
• Consider using before(:each) and before(:all) macros in your rspec tests.