How to refactor RSpec tests for API - ruby

Question

I've got a series of RSpec tests for a Sinatra based API, and would like to refactor them to make them a little simpler and reduce repetition.
Here's an example a test for a route:
describe 'post /sections with empty data' do
before do
params = {
:site_id => site.id,
:page_id => page.id,
}
post '/sections', params, #session
end
specify { last_response.status.should == 200 }
specify { json_response['id'].should_not be_nil }
specify { json_response['type'].should == default_section_type }
end
Each test will be using the same base URL, with the same session data, the only difference is the parameters, and what the responses should be. There's at least 4 tests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) per route, and usually more.
Is there a way of making these tests more manageable?

Answer 1

Without resorting to metaprogramimng, you can use nested describe blocks to override only the parameters you want:
describe "/sessions" do
before do
send(http_method, "/sessions", params, #session)
end
describe "with POST" do
let(:http_method) { :post }
describe "and empty data" do
let(:params) do
{ :site_id => site.id, :page_id => page.id }
end
specify { last_response.status.should == 200 }
specify { json_response['id'].should_not be_nil }
specify { json_response['type'].should == default_section_type }
end
describe "with non-empty data" do
let(:params) do
# relevant params
end
end
end
describe "with GET" do
let(:http_method) { :get }
# ...
end
end

Answer 2

Have no idea if this works but it can give you an idea of what you can do
describe ' /sections with empty data' do
before(:all) do
#params = {
:site_id => site.id,
:page_id => page.id,
}
end
after(:each) do
specify { last_response.status.should == 200 }
specify { json_response['id'].should_not be_nil }
specify { json_response['type'].should == default_section_type }
end
[:get, :post, :put, :delete].each do |http_method|
it "works with #{http_method}" do
send(http_method) '/sections', #params, #session
end
end
end
Update
Reading your question again made me realize that this is not what you actually asked for. If it doesn't help at all tell me so I delete it.