Problem with datepicker in capybara test

Question

I am using Capybara 1.0.0 for my acceptance test and really liked it until I got stuck in one place. My problem is I have used jQuery datepicker, and right now I am confused how to select date from datepicker in my test spec.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Maybe it's a good idea to test it because date formats might cause issues when saving into the database. Here is how I did it:

page.execute_script %Q{ $('#auction_event_date').trigger("focus") } # activate datetime picker
page.execute_script %Q{ $('a.ui-datepicker-next').trigger("click") } # move one month forward
page.execute_script %Q{ $("a.ui-state-default:contains('15')").trigger("click") } # click on day 15

The test must run with the javascript driver.

Answer 2

I don't like using javascript. I simply expose the alt field if Rails.env.test? and target the alt directly with Capybara.

I create a helper method that generates the datepicker input and hidden fields (its a bit long, and I think unnecessary to show it all). In that method I use:

 def date_picker(options={})

    alt_field = Rails.env.test? ? "string" : "hidden"
    input = "#{ options[:f].input options[:field], as: alt_field.to_sym, input_html: {id: "#{options[

The "as: alt_field.to_sym" is what exposes the date_picker hidden alt field. I can then target the alt field input (which is the one handled by the model) in Capybara with:

  fill_in 'userdoc[issued_date]', with: "2013-05-02

Easy, fairly clean, no javascript...