Flaky Spec Fix: Stub Requests to Elasticsearch For some js: true Specs (#8426)

Co-authored-by: Vaidehi Joshi <vaidehi.sj@gmail.com>

docs/tests/test-flags.md

@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ test example.
 Some flags that we use are:
 
 - `js: true`
-- `elasticsearch: reset`
+- `elasticsearch_reset: true`
 - `elasticsearch: <search class name>`
+- `stub_elasticsearch: true`
 - `throttle: true`
 - `type: <test type>`
 
@@ -25,8 +26,8 @@ don't have a "database cleaner" for Elasticsearch, we have to do it manually.
 There are two ways to do this:
 
 1. `elasticsearch: reset` - This will trigger a complete tear down and rebuild
-   of Elasticsearch via a block. This takes time so it's not something you
-   want to be doing unless you absolutely have to.
+   of Elasticsearch via a block. This takes time so it's not something you want
+   to be doing unless you absolutely have to.
 
 ```ruby
   config.around(:each, elasticsearch_reset: true) do |example|
@@ -50,7 +51,13 @@ There are two ways to do this:
   end
 ```
 
-**NOTE** Any specs that use the `js: true` flag might be hitting Elasticsearch.
-You may want to consider clearing out Elasticsearch data for those specs even if
-you don't intend on working with Elasticsearch directly to ensure that you have
-a clean page load with no unexpected data.
+### `js: true` Flag
+
+`js: true` indicates to our specs that we want the javascript on the page to be
+executed when the page is rendered. One side effect of running our javascript in our specs is
+that a lot of pages will hit Elasticsearch. Since we don't clean out
+Elasticsearch between every single spec (because it is very costly) this can lead
+to unexpected data being loaded for a spec. To prevent this from happening, we can use the
+`:stub_elasticsearch` flag. The `:stub_elasticsearch` flag will stub all index
+and search requests made to Elasticsearch and return an empty response. This
+will ensure that no unwanted data shows up on your spec's page.

spec/rails_helper.rb

@@ -98,6 +98,12 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
     Sidekiq::Worker.clear_all
   end
 
+  config.before(:each, stub_elasticsearch: true) do |_example|
+    stubbed_search_response = { "hits" => { "hits" => [] } }
+    allow(Search::Client).to receive(:search).and_return(stubbed_search_response)
+    allow(Search::Client).to receive(:index).and_return({ "_source" => {} })
+  end
+
   config.around(:each, elasticsearch_reset: true) do |example|
     Search::Cluster.recreate_indexes
     example.run

spec/system/articles/user_visits_articles_by_tag_spec.rb

@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ RSpec.describe "User visits articles by tag", type: :system do
     context "when 2 articles" do
       before { visit "/t/javascript" }
 
-      it "shows the header", js: true, percy: true, elasticsearch: "FeedContent" do
+      it "shows the header", js: true, percy: true, stub_elasticsearch: true do
         Percy.snapshot(page, name: "Tags: logged out user")
 
         within("h1") { expect(page).to have_text("javascript") }
       end
 
-      it "shows the follow button", js: true, elasticsearch: "FeedContent" do
+      it "shows the follow button", js: true, stub_elasticsearch: true do
         within("h1") { expect(page).to have_button("Follow") }
       end
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ RSpec.describe "User visits articles by tag", type: :system do
         end
       end
 
-      it "when user clicks 'week'", js: true, elasticsearch: "FeedContent" do
+      it "when user clicks 'week'", js: true, stub_elasticsearch: true do
         click_on "WEEK"
 
         within("#articles-list") do
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ RSpec.describe "User visits articles by tag", type: :system do
       visit "/t/functional"
     end
 
-    it "shows the following button", js: true, elasticsearch: "FeedContent" do
+    it "shows the following button", js: true, stub_elasticsearch: true do
       # TODO: Add Percy snapshot?
       wait_for_javascript
 

spec/system/articles/user_visits_articles_by_timeframe_spec.rb

@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ RSpec.describe "User visits articles by timeframe", type: :system do
     end
   end
 
-  context "when user has logged in", js: true, elasticsearch: "FeedContent" do
+  context "when user has logged in", js: true, stub_elasticsearch: true do
     let(:user) { create(:user) }
 
     before do

spec/system/homepage/user_visits_homepage_with_announcement_spec.rb

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def expect_no_broadcast_data(page)
   expect(page).not_to have_text("Hello, World!")
 end
 
-RSpec.describe "User visits a homepage", type: :system do
+RSpec.describe "User visits a homepage", stub_elasticsearch: true, type: :system do
   context "when user hasn't logged in" do
     context "with an active announcement" do
       before do

spec/system/user/view_user_index_spec.rb

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 require "rails_helper"
 
-RSpec.describe "User index", type: :system do
+RSpec.describe "User index", type: :system, stub_elasticsearch: true do
   let!(:user) { create(:user, username: "user3000") }
   let!(:article) { create(:article, user: user) }
   let!(:other_article) { create(:article, title: rand(10_000_000).to_s) }