How to stub ApplicationController method in request spec

Question

I am needing to stub the response of a current_user method in an Rspec/capybara request spec. The method is defined in ApplicationController and is using helper_method. The method should simply return a user id. Within the test, I'd like this method to return the same user id each time.

Alternatively, I could fix my problem by setting session[:user_id] in the spec (which is what current_user returns)... but that doesn't seem to work either.

Are either of these possible?

Edit:

Here is what I've got (it is not working. It just runs the normal current_user method).

require 'spec_helper'

describe "Login" do

   before(:each) do
     ApplicationController.stub(:current_user).and_return(User.first)
   end

  it "logs in" do
    visit '/'
    page.should have_content("Hey there user!")
  end

end

Also not working:

require 'spec_helper'

describe "Login" do

  before(:each) do
    @mock_controller = mock("ApplicationController") 
    @mock_controller.stub(:current_user).and_return(User.first)
  end

  it "logs in" do
    visit '/'
    page.should have_content("Hey there user!")
  end

end

Answer 1

skalee seems to have provided the correct answer in the comment.

If the method you're trying to stub is an instance method (most likely) and not a class method then you need use:

ApplicationController.any_instance.stub(:current_user)