The opposite of assert_select?

Question

I am writing an app where it is desirable to check if a view does not have some functionality - in particular because that functionality must be presented only to users in certain security group. I am looking for the opposite of assert_selects in order to see that a menu is not rendered.

score 70 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 16 '17 at 14:20

Take a look at the docs here:

http://apidock.com/rails/ActionController/Assertions/SelectorAssertions/assert_select

From the docs:

assert_select is an assertion that selects elements and makes one or more equality tests.

and from the equality tests sections:

The equality test may be one of the following:

true - Assertion is true if at least one element selected.

false - Assertion is true if no element selected.

String/Regexp - Assertion is true if the text value of at least one element matches the string or regular expression.

Integer - Assertion is true if exactly that number of elements are selected.

Range - Assertion is true if the number of selected elements fit the range.

If no equality test specified, the assertion is true if at least one element selected.

And a simple example:

   # Page contains no forms
   assert_select "form", false, "This page must contain no forms"

The solution from @Gant Laborde worked for me where I had to select the inner text to differentiated between two otherwise identical elements. Otherwise, I would recommend this solution. — Kevin Triplett, Jan 31 '23 at 00:54
The dom testing methods were extracted to the new repository `rails-dom-testing`. Here's [the latest `assert_select` documentation](https://github.com/rails/rails-dom-testing/blob/master/lib/rails/dom/testing/assertions/selector_assertions.rb#L163). — software_writer, Feb 01 '23 at 04:54

score 51 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 12 '13 at 05:39

51

Don't forget you can always pass in the count, and set that to zero.

assert_select "a", {count: 0, text: "New"}, "This page must contain no anchors that say New"

answered Jul 12 '13 at 05:39

Gant Laborde

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This does not work for me: No exception is raised even when the element is found. – Matijs van Zuijlen Sep 14 '16 at 09:24
1

Update: It is working fine for any element other than 'body'. – Matijs van Zuijlen Sep 14 '16 at 09:33
Good to know! Thanks @MatijsvanZuijlen – Gant Laborde Sep 15 '16 at 13:22

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 27 '13 at 02:05

I had this problem to ensure there WASN'T a 'Delete' button, out of many buttons. The accepted answer would not work in this situation because there are already several buttons.

assert_select '.button' do |btn|
  btn.each do |b|
    assert_no_match 'Delete', b.to_s
  end
end

However, I really like GantMan's answer better!

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 04 '18 at 14:53

1

You can easily define your own:

module ActionDispatch::Assertions::SelectorAssertions
  def refute_select(*a,&b)
    begin
      assert_select(*a,&b)
    rescue AssertionFailedError
      return
    end
    raise "fail" # there should be a better built-in alternative
  end
end

edited May 04 '18 at 14:53

Jon Schneider

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answered Jan 26 '12 at 21:57

Alex D

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This is not going to work as `AssertionFailedError` is raised before negation is evaluated. – gertas Sep 16 '12 at 18:40
You could name it `refute_select`? `refute` seems to be a commonly-used antonym for `assert` in Rails, e.g. https://apidock.com/ruby/v1_9_3_125/MiniTest/Assertions/refute – Jon Schneider May 03 '18 at 14:02
1

@JonSchneider, I like it. Please edit this answer if you want. – Alex D May 04 '18 at 14:49

The opposite of assert_select?

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