Watir on Rails

Watir is a tool for user acceptance testing and in general can be used to control a browser to do automated task. Since I am using the standard Rails's testing framework, and I run my tests with rake test, I thought why not to use watir test in a similar way. There is a plugin, Watir on Rails, that integrates Ruby on Rails with Waitr. You only need to run rake test:watir to test your application with rake. The test can be written in a similar way of the other Rails' tests. For instance:

	require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
	class PickaxeBookGooggleSearchTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
	include WatirOnRails
	# Uncomment the following lines to specify a test server.
	# WatirOnRails defaults to http://localhost:3000
	#
	# server "localhost"
	# port 3001
	# fixtures :foos, :bars
	def test_pickaxe_google_search
	test_site = 'http://www.google.com'
	ie = open_browser
	puts "Beginning of test: Google search."
	puts " Step 1: go to the test site: " + test_site
	ie.goto test_site
	puts " Step 2: enter 'pickaxe' in the search text field."
	ie.text_field(:name, "q").set "pickaxe" # "q" is the name of the search field
	puts " Step 3: click the 'Google Search' button."
	ie.button(:name, "btnG").click # "btnG" is the name of the Search button
	puts " Expected Result:"
	puts " A Google page with results should be shown. 'Programming Ruby' should be high on the list."
	puts " Actual Result:"
	if ie.text.include? "Programming Ruby"
	puts " Test Passed. Found the test string: 'Programming Ruby'. Actual Results match Expected Results."
	else
	puts " Test Failed! Could not find: 'Programming Ruby'."
	end
	ie.link(:text, "Pickaxe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia").click
	if ie.text.include? "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
	puts "The browser is inside Wikipedia"
	else
	put "Error: could not reach Wikipedia web site"
	end
	if ie.text.include? "Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing."
	puts "Yes, I can read the first paragraph"
	else
	puts "Error: I cannot read the first paragraph"
	end
	puts "Since I am not in the Pickaxe book web site, I am going back to the previous visited page (back button)"
	ie.back
	puts "I am following the link for the Pickaxe book..."
	ie.link(:text, "The Pragmatic Bookshelf | Programming Ruby").click
	ie.image(:src, "http://assets2.pragprog.com/images/logo.gif?1264475979").exists?
	puts "Yes! I am inside the pragprog web site."
	puts "End of test: Google search."
	end
	end

view raw pickaxe_book_googgle_search_test.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

How to use the example:

1. gem install watir # install watir
2. script/plugin install git://github.com/chip/watir-on-rails.git
3. put the file in test/watir or script/generate watir SuccessfulLogin to generate a test
4. run: rake test:watir
5. watch the browser doing your job ;-)
6. Start learning from the cheat sheet:http://wiki.openqa.org/display/WTR/Ruby+Cheat+Sheet
   

Watir need your web server on, if you are testing a local application, so you should run:

mongrel_rails start -e test # if you are using mongrel

Links:

Watir on Rails - Watir on Rails web page
Watir on Rails at Github
Watir - the official web site