Select elements from checkbox-group with Capybara

Question

I have a lot of rows like this:

<input id="car_ids_" name="car_ids[]" value="142" type="checkbox"> Car 142
<input id="car_ids_" name="car_ids[]" value="143" type="checkbox"> Car 143
<input id="car_ids_" name="car_ids[]" value="144" type="checkbox"> Car 144
<input id="car_ids_" name="car_ids[]" value="145" type="checkbox"> Car 145

I want this behaviour since i saw it in this railscast: http://railscasts.com/episodes/165-edit-multiple?view=asciicast

When i test myself, it works, but when I try to select some elements with Capybara, i dont know how?

before(:each) do
  check "car_ids_:first"
  check "car_ids_:last"
end

I get always

Capybara::ElementNotFound:
       cannot check field, no checkbox with id, name, or label 'car_ids_:first' found

Can you help me how this works? I want to select f.e. the second and the third element?

UPDATE:

  find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car1.id}']").set(true)
  => find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car1.id}']").checked?
  ==> "checked"
  find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car2.id}']").set(nil)
  => find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car1.id}']").checked?
  ==> nil
  find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car3.id}']").set(true)
  => find(:css, "#car_ids_[value='#{@car1.id}']").checked?
  ==> "checked"

  select("Deactivate", :from => "car_action")

  click_button "Submit"

  page.body.should have_content "Updated cars!"

  @user.cars[0].active?.should == true
  @user.cars[1].active?.should == false
  @user.cars[2].active?.should == true

But in the end, the checkbox values are not passed to the controller! I dont know why.... The checkboxes seem checked (but if i open the page with save_and_open_page they are also not checked?)

This is dangerous since capybara does not guarantee that the elements in the collection are returned in the same order they appear in the markup. — HargrimmTheBleak, Aug 17 '12 at 13:32
Got the solution there http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8297624/how-to-check-a-checkbox-in-capybara — BvuRVKyUVlViVIc7, Aug 17 '12 at 13:55
What made you think the controller is not getting the values? Have you checked this in the `params` hash? — HargrimmTheBleak, Aug 17 '12 at 15:08
Yeah, the params-hash is full with the common informations, but no car_ids_-array. when i try it in browser it works... argh — BvuRVKyUVlViVIc7, Aug 17 '12 at 15:11
Hard to tell... Can you show the code for the form, the controller action and the test you're running? A gist would be good if there's too much code. — HargrimmTheBleak, Aug 17 '12 at 15:20

HargrimmTheBleak · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-17T14:19:27.567

1

The simplest way is to tell capybara to check the boxes by their labels. If you have the @cars collection at your disposal, you can do something like this:

[@cars[1], @cars[2]].each do |car|
  check("Car #{car.id}")
end

EDIT

Based on your comment below, if you want to specifically access 2nd and 3rd elements without regard to what collection items they refer to, you can wrap your inputs in a div with some id (to narrow the selector scope), e.g. car-checkboxes, and then do this:

find(:css, "#car-checkboxes input:nth-child(2)").click

or

find(:css, "#car-checkboxes input:nth-child(2)").set(true)

edited Aug 17 '12 at 14:19

answered Aug 17 '12 at 13:35

HargrimmTheBleak

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Thanks for your help, but i cant use labels since there are a lot of informations in the rows and i dont need a special label for each... – BvuRVKyUVlViVIc7 Aug 17 '12 at 13:51
Could you look at my update? The checkboxes are now checked but it doesnt work.. :S – BvuRVKyUVlViVIc7 Aug 17 '12 at 14:53
I'm an idiot.. I had some code mixed up and reloaded the page after filling out the form.. and then i wondered why the form is empty.. thanks! – BvuRVKyUVlViVIc7 Aug 17 '12 at 16:14

Select elements from checkbox-group with Capybara

1 Answers1