assert_select not working in test - ruby-on-rails

Question

I've scoured the internet for an answer and found nothing... this is driving me insane!
No assert_select statements are working in any of my tests. I've repeatedly confirmed that the element is actually in the dom on the targeted page — and it is — but every test fails on an assert_select statement. Even one as general as assert_select 'body'!
Here's one test:
require 'test_helper'
class UsersIndexTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
def setup
#user = users(:matt)
end
test "index including pagination" do
log_in_as(#user)
get users_path
assert_template 'users/index'
assert_select 'div.pagination'
User.paginate(page: 1).each do |user|
assert_select 'a[href=?]', user_path(user), text: user.first_name
end
end
end
Here's users/index.html.haml
%h1 All Users
= link_to 'New User', new_user_path
= will_paginate
%table
%thead
%tr
%th
%th First name
%th Last name
%th Email
%th
%th
%th
%tbody
- #users.each do |user|
%tr
%td= gravatar_for(user)
%td= user.first_name
%td= user.last_name
%td= user.email
%td= link_to 'Show', user
%td= link_to 'Edit', edit_user_path(user)
%td= link_to 'Destroy', user, :method => :delete, :data => { :confirm => 'Are you sure?' }
= will_paginate
Pretty boring stuff, right? And yet, the test fails:
FAIL["test_index_including_pagination", UsersIndexTest, 0.9574]
test_index_including_pagination#UsersIndexTest (0.96s)
Expected at least 1 element matching "div.pagination", found 0..
Expected 0 to be >= 1.
test/integration/users_index_test.rb:12:in `block in <class:UsersIndexTest>'
Even when I change the assertion to assert_select div, it fails. And, again, I can confirm that the div is present when I visit the index page.
What am I missing here!?!?!?!
If it helps, here's my gemfile:
source 'https://rubygems.org'
gem 'rails', '4.2.0'
gem 'pg'
gem 'puma'
gem 'turbolinks'
gem 'jquery-rails'
gem 'bcrypt', '~> 3.1.7'
gem 'faker', '~> 1.4.2'
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 5.0.1'
gem 'bootstrap-sass', '~> 3.2.0'
gem 'will_paginate', '~>3.0.7'
gem 'bootstrap-will_paginate','~>0.0.10'
gem 'uglifier', '>= 2.5.0'
gem 'haml-rails', '~> 0.8'
gem 'jbuilder', '~> 2.2.3'
gem 'sdoc', '~> 0.4.0', group: :doc
gem 'rest-client', '~> 1.7.3'
gem 'bourbon'
group :development, :test do
gem 'byebug'
gem 'web-console', '~> 2.0.0'
gem 'spring'
gem 'better_errors'
end
group :test do
gem 'minitest-reporters', '~> 1.0.5'
gem 'mini_backtrace', '~> 0.1.3'
gem 'guard-minitest', '~> 2.3.1'
end
group :production do
gem 'rails_12factor'
end
ruby '2.2.0'
Thanks to Steve Klein for the suggestion of printing out the response body. Unfortunately, the plot only thickens. The body clearly has the tag I'm targeting!
Added a line to the above test
assert_template 'users/index'
puts #response.body
assert_select 'div.pagination'
And the output has the tag!
← Previous 1 2 Next →
And yet still fails!!!
FAIL["test_index_as_admin_including_pagination_and_delete_links", UsersIndexTest, 1.412393] test_index_as_admin_including_pagination_and_delete_links#UsersIndexTest (1.41s)
Expected at least 1 element matching "div.pagination", found 0..
Expected 0 to be >= 1.
test/integration/users_index_test.rb:15:in `block in <class:UsersIndexTest>'

Answer 1

Make sure you are loading enough test data to trigger pagination. This selector won't be on your page unless pagination kicks in (depends on how you have configured will_paginate in your controller action).

Answer 2

It might be that the problem lies in line 13: User.paginate(page: 1).each do |user|. Try commenting the loop or cutting it out and run the test again. If it succeeds now, it could be that you have changed the default pagination method in your /users_controller.rb file. Try matching your custom pagination method with the one in your integration test. Something like the following for example: User.paginate(page: 1, per_page: 10).each do |user|

Answer 3

I had same problem with assert_select 'div.pagination', so I cought this thread googling the error.
I read the thread and got back to my app.
I tried to test:
assert_select 'div'
which passed.
I then switched back to:
assert_select 'div.pagination'
and test passed as well :O
For your reference, this is my users_index_test.rb
require 'test_helper'
class UsersIndexTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
def setup
#user = users(:archer)
end
test "index including pagination" do
log_in_as(#user)
get users_path
assert_template 'users/index'
assert_select 'div.pagination'
User.paginate(page: 1).each do |user|
assert_select 'a[href=?]', user_path(user), text: user.name
end
end
end
and this is my fixture users.yml
michael:
name: Michael Example
email: michael#example.com
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
archer:
name: Sterling Archer
email: duchess#example.gov
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
lana:
name: Lana Kane
email: hands#example.gov
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
mallory:
name: Mallory Archer
email: boss#example.gov
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
<% 30.times do |n| %>
user_<%= n %>:
name: <%= "User #{n}" %>
email: <%= "user-#{n}#example.com" %>
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
<% end %>
I really don't know why now it pass, but I wanted to contribute in the research of a more logical solution.

Answer 4

Double check your fixture file for typos and make sure that you are indeed loading enough comments to trigger inclusion of a pagination.
I had the same problem as you, originating from chapter 13 of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial. I included 'puts response.body' in my test and discovered that the ERb comments that I attempted to generate in my "comments.yml" were not being generated during the test. The issue turned out to be that I forgot a single '=' sign in an ERb tag. Hopefully for you the solution is equally simple!

Answer 5

For whoever runs into this problem in the future, knowing fully well you tried all of the solutions above and nothing changed.
Pay attention to this line in the users.yml file
Wrong:
<% 30.times do |n| %>
user_<%= n %>:
name: <%= "User #{n}" %>
email: <%= "user-#{n}#example.com" %>
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
<% end %>
Wrong:
<% 30.times do |n| %>
user_<%= n %>:
name: <%= "User #{n}" %>
email: <%= "user-#{n}#example.com" %>
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
<% end %>
Correct:
<% 30.times do |n| %>
user_<%= n %>:
name: <%= "User #{n}" %>
email: <%= "user-#{n}#example.com" %>
password_digest: <%= User.digest('password') %>
<% end %>