Capybara + Webkit: How to test client side validations - "required" input elements? - ruby-on-rails

Question

Using Rspec and Capybara, I'm trying to test a failing validation for a form, where a "required" input is not filled in, so it fails. New navigators understanding HTML5 provide built-in validations, and I understand Capybara is using that as well. Before, I was using
page.should have_error
which doesn't work for me anymore.
Someone knows how to test this now?
Many thanks!
David

Answer 1

HTML5 client side validations are tricky to find. I found this post with a great answer.
The code is:
describe "when I leave required field empty" do
it "I get an the correct html5 validation error" do
#Leave the field empty
click_on "Save" # or whichever button triggers the submit
message = page.find("#field_id_attr").native.attribute("validationMessage")
expect(message).to eq "Please fill out this field."
end
end
Basically the way it works is that the field element has an attribute called "validationMessage" and the process is:
Click submit - this triggers the error message
Get a reference to the native(html) attribute(as opposed to the Capybara page object attribute) called "validationMessage". This will give you the value or the message itself.
Assert that the value is as expected.

Answer 2

I am not familiar with RSpec so I am not sure about what does have_error.
You should think about what you want to test exactly.
You surely don't want to test the exact behavior (what message is displayed, and how) as it is specific to each browser. What you want to test, because this is not specific to the browser, is the fact that the form is not submitted.
For instance, for a basic html form at root, with a required radio button "My value".
# Check form can not be submitted without the radio button
visit '/'
click_button 'Submit'
assert_equal '/', current_path
# Check form can be submitted with the radio button
visit '/'
choose 'My value'
click_button 'Submit'
assert_equal '/next', current_path
You should also consider to test only the presence of required in your html code, as the browser is supposed to work as expected (test only your code, not other's code)

Answer 3

If there is an error message, you can something along the lines of
page.should have_content("error")
This depends on how you handle the errors, and whether you use javascript or not.

Answer 4

This is an old post, however I will try to answer it
have_error is a method provided by webkit, to check e.g. if ajax requests or javascript in general running fine
I use to test my validations in my model specs:
describe 'validations' do
it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of :competitor_name }
it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of :chassi }
it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of :auction }
it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of :car_template_id }
end
or like
expect(FactoryGirl.create(:customer)).to be_valid
to check if my Factory is valid.
If you need to check your notices by targeting invalid inputs, you could test the html of your notice by capybara with the following:
it 'searches for specific order_car by chassi and model' do
visit order_cars_search_detailed_path
fill_in 'order_car_chassi', with: '123456'
select 'Octavia', from: 'order_car_car_template_car_template_id'
click_button 'Search Order'
expect(page).to have_content('THIS IS MY NOTICE')
expect(page).to have_content('123456')
end
Hope I could help some others running into this question.