Using Capybara and RSpec assertions in Page Objects

On my Rails project, I am using RSpec and Capybara to write functional tests.  I did not want to specify any HTML elements in my Capybara feature files, since that makes the feature files brittle to HTML / CSS changes. It also violates the DRY principle and basic code hygiene.

So, I decided to refactor out my HTML centric Capybara code into separate Page Objects. If you are unfamiliar with Page Objects, then read the following:

• Page Objects by Martin Fowler
• Better Acceptance Tests with Page Objects

The Page Object pattern for encapsulating HTML centric DSL is a common pattern followed while writing UI level functional tests in ThoughtWorks.

The problem I was facing when I refactored my code into Page objects was that I was unable to use the RSpec 'expect' syntax in Page Objects. Turns out all I had to do in my page objects was:

include RSpec::Matchers

Here is the full code from my project on Github.
https://github.com/gsluthra/dakshina/tree/master/spec/features

The appropriate feature files and page objects in a GIST:
https://gist.github.com/gsluthra/8356015

	# Page Object
	class CapsuleCreateForm
	include Capybara::DSL
	def submit_form(capsule={})
	fill_in 'Title', :with => capsule[:title]
	fill_in 'Description', :with => capsule[:description]
	fill_in 'capsule_study_text', :with => capsule[:study_text]
	fill_in 'capsule_assignment_instructions', :with => capsule[:assignment_instructions]
	fill_in 'capsule_guidelines_for_evaluators', :with => capsule[:guidelines_for_evaluators]
	click_button 'Save Capsule'
	end
	end

view raw capsule_create_form.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

	require 'spec_helper'
	#Feature File
	feature 'Capsules Feature' do
	let(:capsuleHash) { attributes_for(:tdd_capsule) }
	let(:capsuleForm) { CapsuleCreateForm.new }
	let(:capsuleViewPage) { CapsuleViewPage.new }
	scenario 'Add a new capsule and displays the capsule in view mode' do
	visit '/capsules/new'
	expect {
	capsuleForm.submit_form(capsuleHash)
	}.to change(Capsule, :count).by(1)
	capsuleViewPage.validate_on_page
	capsuleViewPage.validate_capsule_data(capsuleHash)
	end
	end

view raw capsule_feature_spec.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub

	require 'spec_helper'
	# Page Object
	class CapsuleViewPage
	include Capybara::DSL
	include RSpec::Matchers
	def validate_on_page
	expect(page).to have_selector('#capsule-title-page')
	expect(page).to have_link('Edit')
	end
	def validate_capsule_data (capsule={})
	expect(page).to have_content capsule[:title]
	expect(page).to have_content capsule[:description]
	expect(page).to have_content capsule[:study_text]
	expect(page).to have_content capsule[:assignment_instructions]
	expect(page).to have_content capsule[:guidelines_for_evaluators]
	end
	end

view raw capsule_view_page.rb hosted with ❤ by GitHub