Iterating over all elements of a page-object - ruby

Question

I have a search filter. I need to be able to check that all fields on the page are there and contain values (if they are select boxes).
I've used the MethodFinder gem to successfully do this, but I was wondering if there is any way with just the PageObject gem.
require 'methodfinder'
class BasicSearchFilter
include PageObject
text_field(:facility_name, :id => "facility-name")
text_field(:queue, :id => "queue")
select_list(:from, :id => "from")
button(:continue, :id => "continue")
def get_search_filter_elements
methods = MethodFinder.find_in_class_or_module('BasicSearchFilter', '.*_element$')
elements = []
methods.each do |method|
elements << send(method)
end
end
end
I've successfully used the above, but now I'm unable to use the page object methods which I would like to do. I would like to be able to somehow hand a list of valid "elements" which is just the PageObject version of the elements.
Edit: So it turns out that something extremely fishy is going on.
I have a RSpec test grabbing the fields from the class above. It looks like this:
it "the basic filter dropdowns should not contain duplicate values"
on_page(BasicSearchFilter).get_search_filter_elements.each do |element|
if element.tag_name == "select"
p element
puts "a select tag #{element}"
end
end
end
Now according to documentation the your_element_element command should return the watir element. Which is happening once. The second puts is somehow changing back to a PageObject object. I now have literally no clue what is happening. Here is some of the output from the above.
#<Watir::Select:0x4c6bdfa4 located=true selector={:id=>"facility-name", :tag_name=>"select"}>
a select tag #<PageObject::Elements::SelectList:0x3101538>

Answer 1

Getting All Elements
While the page-object-gem does not have a method to get all elements, you could do it using plain Ruby. The following would give you the same results as your current method (assuming MethodFinder works as expected).
def get_search_filter_elements
element_methods = self.class.instance_methods(false).find_all{ |m| m =~ /_element$/ }
elements = element_methods.collect{ |m| self.send(m) }
end
Iterating Over Elements
Iterating over the elements returned by get_search_filter_elements is done as you did. However, there are a couple of things regarding your observations.
The your_element_element method returns the PageObject element (not the Watir element). This can be seen by outputting the class of the elements returned:
page.get_search_filter_elements.each{ |e| puts e.class }
#=> PageObject::Elements::TextField
#=> PageObject::Elements::TextField
#=> PageObject::Elements::SelectList
#=> PageObject::Elements::Button
The output of having the Watir element and then the PageObject element is not because the element has changed types. It is always the PageObject element. The output changes because you do p vs puts. When you p an object the .inspect method is outputted, where as when you puts an object the .to_s method is outputted. Given the way that the PageObject elements are written, .to_s gives information about the PageObject element, while the .inspect gives information about the native element (ie Watir or Selenium).
page.queue_element.to_s
#=> <PageObject::Elements::TextField:0x3851ca0>
page.queue_element.inspect
#=> #<Watir::TextField:0x1d58cb4 located=false selector={:id=>\"queue\", :tag_name=>\"input or textarea\", :type=>\"(any text type)\"}>
Converting to Native Element
If you actually want to iterate over the Watir elements (ie you want to call a method not supported by the PageObject), you use the element method. For example, the following iterates over the elements as Watir elements:
page.get_search_filter_elements.each{ |e| puts e.element.class }
#=> Watir::TextField
#=> Watir::TextField
#=> Watir::Select
#=> Watir::Button