Should A Custom Method Be Used In The before(:each) Section

I have a method on the model Category called create_main used to create main categories. Should I use this method in the before(:each) section even though the method itself has to be tested, or should the main category be created manually using rails built in functionality.

From stackoverflow

• It should be possible to partition your Examples into two Example Groups, one group where before(:each) is called with create_main, and you use this to test everything except create_main. Then, you have another subset, where before(:each) does not call create_main, and here you test create_main.

  In your case, I think you could try something like the following:

  describe Category, " without a main category" do
    before(:each) do
      # No call to create_main here
    end
  
    it "should create the main category" do
      # Here we test that create_main is working
    end
  end
  
  describe Category, " with a main category already created" do
    before(:each) do
      # This time, we do call create_main to set up the object as necessary
    end
  
    # More examples go here that depend on create_main
  end
  

  Give that a shot. I'm not 100% sure it works, but I've seen similar setups in the past.