Assert2-0.4.6 provides assert_xhtml, an alternative to assert_select

Phlip · March 26, 2009, 1:55pm

Rubyists:

Consider the following monstrosity, coded using assert_select:

assert_select “div#logo_box img[src=/0000/0001/logo.gif][alt=My
Company]”

Now, behold it rewritten to use assert_xhtml:

assert_xhtml do
div.logo_box! do
img :src => /logo.gif$/,
:alt => ‘My Company’
end
end

That sample contains more Ruby; it’s not just one big string.

Still not convinced? Oh, I forgot the around the ! Try this:

assert_xhtml do
div.logo_box! do
a :href => ‘/’ do
img :src => /logo.gif$/, :alt => ‘My Company’
end
end
end

And we had an issue with the small logo sneaking into the logo_box once.
Let’s exclude it:

assert_xhtml do
div.logo_box do
a :href => ‘/’ do
img :src => /logo.gif$/, :alt => ‘My Company’
end
without!{ img :src => /mini_logo.gif/ }
end
end

Imagine adding all that to assert_select - it would get much harder to
read, and
more complex. assert_xhtml uses Nokogiri::HTML::Builder notation, so
anything it
can build, you can query.

Version 0.4.6 adds all the following features. To begin, enter:

gem install nokogiri assert2

== require ‘assert2/xhtml’ ==

All assert{ 2.0 } dependencies are optional. If you have Nokogiri
(>=1.2.2), you can test Rails views like this:

  user = users(:Moses)
  get :edit_user, :id =>  user.id

  assert_xhtml do

    form :action =>  '/users' do
      fieldset do
        legend 'Personal Information'
        label 'First name'
        input :type =>  'text',
              :name =>  'user[first_name]'
              :value =>  user.first_name
      end
    end

  end

That’s a Rails functional test on a form. The assertion expects the form
to target the given action, and contain a fieldset, a legend, a label,
and
a populated text input field. The assertion forgives any other details,
such as intervening structural tags, excess spaces, or extra attributes;
and complains if any required detail is missing, out of order, or
ill-formed.

The DSL inside that block is Nokogiri::HTML::Builder notation. Generally
speaking, anything Nokogiri can build, you can specify.

=== arguments ===

Call assert_xhtml(my_xml){} to interrogate your XML. When called without
an argument, the method reads @response.body.

=== without! ===

Every assert* has a matching deny* method. assert_xhtml recognizes the
special element without! as a request to fail if the given elements
do indeed appear in your output:

 get :info, :record_id => record.id
 assert_xhtml do
   div :class => :content do
     without!{ div :class => :download }
   end
 end

That assertion will fail if the outer

tag does not
exist, or if any inner

does exist.

The without! element respects your document layout. This assertion
passes…

 assert_xhtml SAMPLE_LIST do
   ul{ li{ ul{ li 'Sales report'
       without!{ li 'All Sales report criteria' } } } }
 end

…even though the target document contains an

All Sales report
criteria

:

 <ul style='font-size: 18'>
   <li>model
     <ul>
       <li>Billings report</li>
       <li>Sales report</li>
       <li>Billings criteria</li>
       <li>Common system</li>
     </ul>
   </li>
   <li>controller
     <ul>
       <li>All Sales report criteria</li>
       <li>All Billings reports</li>
     </ul>
   </li>
 </ul>

The two

elements appear in different

The committee does not yet know what without!{ without!{} } does, so
please
do not rely on its current behavior, whatever that is!

=== escapes ===

Certain elements, such as and , have the same names as
internal
methods. If you experience a bizarre error message, such as “wrong
argument
type Hash (expected Array)”, add a ! to the end of the element, like
this:

 assert_xhtml do
   h2 'Sites'

   select! :id => 'sites',
           :name => 'sites[]',
           :multiple => :multiple,
           :size => SaleController::LIST_SIZE
 end

=== text ===

An element such as h3{ ‘text’ } will match

text

, with leading
or
trailing blanks, but it won’t match

text

. This
rule
prevents runaway matches between high- and low-level elements.

The example for the next section illustrates how to mix text and
attribute
specifications on the same element.

A text specification may be a /regexp/.

=== :xpath!=> ===

assert_xhtml works by throwing away structural information. If you need
more control over your structure, use an :xpath! attribute to apply raw
XPath specifications to your target elements.

This assertion detect the rather pedestrian fact that your
element remains inside your block - and it did not
escape and rampage off to somewhere else:

 assert_xhtml do
   title :xpath! => 'parent::head/parent::html' do
     text 'Chamber of Commerce - Info - Hope Orphanage'
   end
 end

Note the XPath evaluates as a predicate of the target , so its
parent
axis lists the familiar elements in reverse.

That code also shows the ‘text’ directive, inserting text contents
directly
into the enclosing element. A future version of Nokogiri will allow the
element’s first argument to specify its text.

An :xpath! of a number evaluates to the 1-based index of an item in its
parent. This assertion forces list items to appear in the correct order:

 assert_xhtml do
   ul :style => 'font-size: 18' do
     li 'model' do
       li(:xpath! => 1){ text 'Sales report'  }
       li(:xpath! => 2){ text 'Billings report' }
       li(:xpath! => 3){ text 'Billings criteria' }
     end
   end
 end

=== :verbose! => true ===

Sometimes when an assertion fails, you can’t tell why. To see each
context the assertion considers, add :verbose! => true to the lowest
element you know works, and run the tests:

 assert_xhtml SAMPLE_FORM do
   fieldset do
     li :verbose! => true do
       label 'First name', :for => :user_first_name
     end
   end
 end

The verbose option works as “spew”, not as a diagnostic, and it reports
each considered element’s contents.

Because XPath evaluates the , in our example, before the

,
you
might need to comment the out to see a successful spew on the

.

=== scope ===

assert_xhtml{} yields its block to Nokogiri::HTML::Builder, which turns
every method call into an HTML element. This freedom comes at a price -
you can’t easily call your own methods!

Use this scope trick to pass your outer scope into the specification:

  get :edit_user, :id => users(:Moses).id
  scope = self

  assert_xhtml do
    form :action => '/users' do
      input :value => scope.users(:Moses).first_name
    end
  end

Notice we could improve that test by declaring a variable,
user = users(:Moses), in the outer scope, and simply passing
the user variable itself into the specification.

=== :class=> ===

The :class attribute is magic. This assertion passes…

 assert_xhtml SAMPLE_LIST do
   ul :class => :kalika do
     li 'Billings report'
   end
 end

…despite the actual HTML contains

=== class & ID shortcuts ===

Nokogiri expands div.rad.thing! to

. That
means you don’t need to write div :class => ‘rad’, :id => ‘thing’ (or
ul :class => :kalika). You can then put other arguments after the
shortcut,
and the

in our example receives them, too.

=== diagnostic message ===

When this assertion fails, it attempts to print out…

your reference elements, rendered as HTML
each “near-miss” region of your sample HTML

The next version will feature much better diagnostics. Until they work,
if these
diagnostics are not sufficient, put :verbose! on the lowest element you
think
works, and comment out its contents…

=== RSpec ===

The matching “specification”, in RSpec language, is be_html_with{}.
Its syntax and behavior are the same:

it ‘should have a cute form’ do
render ‘/users/new’

 response.body.should be_html_with{
   form :action => '/users' do
     fieldset do
       legend 'Personal Information'
       label 'First nome'
       input :type => 'text', :name => 'user[first_name]'
     end
   end
 }

end

Good hunting!