Why does an rspec feature spec with javascript not do test teardown? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have several non-javascript specs that use the ui to create and edit records.
When I run these specs the test database records are automatically removed for me by the rspec teardown for each test.
However the test below which is the first one to have :js => true for some ajax stuff isn't doing tear down of the records afterwards and then tests start to break because the database is no longer empty correctly when they start. The link and the group rows still exist in the test database.
# spec/features/verifying_link_spec.rb
require 'spec_helper'
describe "verification", :js => true, :type => :feature do
before :all do
User.create(:username => 'r#google.com', :password => 'esceptio')
end
before :each do
visit '/ladmin/login'
fill_in 'username', :with => 'r#google.com'
fill_in 'password', :with => 'esceptio'
find('input[value="Login"]').click
end
it "lets me verify a link" do
find('div#side div a', text: 'New Group').click
fill_in 'group[group_name]', with: 'Group Add'
click_button 'Save'
find('div#side div a', text: 'New Link').click
fill_in 'link[url_address]', with: 'http://www.a.com/newtest9876link'
fill_in 'link[alt_text]', with: 'abcd9876'
click_button 'Save'
this_year=Time.now.strftime('%Y')
l=Link.first
l.update_attribute(:verified_date, nil)
expect(Link.count).to eq 1
visit links_path
find('a', text: "verify")
click_link("verify", match: :first)
sleep(3)
expect(page).to have_content(this_year)
end
end
Right now I am using a workaround solution of using the ui to delete the records (below) but this should not be necessary
# added at bottom of spec
click_link('Details')
click_link('Delete')
page.driver.browser.switch_to.alert.accept
click_link('Groups')
click_link('Delete')
page.driver.browser.switch_to.alert.accept
None of my other unit tests or feature tests (except this one with js) have this problem. They all create records that get removed automatically.

Answer 1

I highly recommend using the database_cleaner gem to clean your database out between tests. Rspec wraps everything in a transaction and rolling it back once the example is finished. However, when you start using javascript you might be saving the data outside of the rspec transaction and then the database never reverts to its original state.
Truncation is slower than the transaction strategy. However you may only need the truncation strategy with JS tests. You could follow this guide to setup the database cleaner gem in that manner: http://devblog.avdi.org/2012/08/31/configuring-database_cleaner-with-rails-rspec-capybara-and-selenium/
If you find your tests taking eons, you might want to investigate some time looking at a gem that preloads your environment. I highly recommend zeus