Output the descriptions of RSpec examples while they are running
RSpec’s nested documentation format prints example descriptions while specs run, making warnings and failures visible immediately and giving a quick view of core behavior.
How to fix: WrongScopeError when using rspec_rails with Rails 6.1
rspec_rails with Rails 6.1 can raise WrongScopeError; upgrading the gem to 4.0.1 or later resolves the failure.
Migrating to RSpec 2 from RSpec 1
Rails 3 requires rspec and rspec-rails 2, with renamed namespaces, changed requires, and macro extensions that may break during migration.
Run your own code before specific RSpec examples
Run custom setup code before selected RSpec examples using metadata tags instead of Cucumber scenarios.
Issues with has_select?
has_select? can fail with Cucumber, Capybara, and Selenium when the selected option has no value, so driver-specific handling may be needed.
Fix slow specs using SOLR
Specs can stall for 30+ seconds when SOLR connections are left open and the pool is exhausted. Lowering the old-connection timeout reduces the delay.
How to work around selenium chrome missing clicks to elements which are just barely visible
Chrome/Selenium can miss clicks on barely visible elements when the click target is outside the viewport. A scrollIntoViewIfNeeded patch can work around the issue.
Capybara - The missing API
Capybara node methods for locating elements, filling forms, clicking controls, and checking page content from Cucumber steps.
Turning off VCR when stubbing with Webmock
VCR can block WebMock stubs because it hooks into WebMock and rejects unknown requests. Temporarily disabling VCR in rspec lets WebMock behave normally.
IMAP: Check credentials
IMAP login problems can be isolated by testing the server with openssl s_client and sending a manual LOGIN command to verify credentials and connectivity.
Cucumber: More patience for Selenium features
Parallel Selenium features can time out when Capybara waits too little for browser-server interactions; a support file increases patience for @javascript scenarios.
Operators "in" and "of" are very inconsistent between CoffeeScript and JavaScript
in and of mean different things in CoffeeScript and JavaScript, making property checks and iteration easy to mix up.
Recent RSpec features you might not know about
Less-known RSpec features simplify expectation style, chained stubs, and restoring stubbed methods while using double as the preferred mock object.
Hack-fix Selenium::WebDriver::Element#select is deprecated
Temporary monkey patch for older Capybara and selenium-webdriver versions to suppress repeated deprecation warnings from Selenium::WebDriver::Element#select.
Spreewald: Check that a CSS selector is present on the current page
Spreewald 1.3.0 adds assertions for checking whether CSS selectors are present or absent on the current page, with plain-English selector names via selector_for.
Stub a request's IP address in a Cucumber scenario
Force a fixed client IP in Cucumber scenarios when request-dependent code needs predictable behavior.
Taking advantage of RSpec's "let" in before blocks
before :each blocks can use let values declared later, enabling per-context setup without predeclaring variables; local variables inside it blocks do not work.
Jasmine: Expecting objects as method invocation arguments
Jasmine spy assertions can match invocation arguments by type, partial object shape, or any value using jasmine.any(), jasmine.objectContaining(), and jasmine.anything().
Colorful output for several linux command line tools: grc
Adds colorized terminal output to common Linux commands, making logs and status output easier to scan in the shell.
RSpec: Change the type of a spec regardless of the folder it lives in
Rails specs can get controller, model, or request helpers from directory-based inference; :type forces the desired context even when a file lives elsewhere.
Using the full power of have_css
Capybara has_css? can assert selector counts and text content, including substring matches; exact text requires finding the element and comparing it directly.
JavaScript: How to check if an object is NaN
NaN is difficult to compare in JavaScript because it never equals itself. Object.is() works in ES6; ES5 needs a number type check plus isNaN().
How to enable Rails' file_fixture helper in FactoryBot
FactoryBot factories do not get Rails' file_fixture helper by default; including RSpec Rails file fixture support makes file_fixture available and sets the fixture path.
shoulda-matcher methods not found in Rails 4.1
allow_value and other shoulda-matchers methods can disappear under Rails 4.1 with Spring, causing NoMethodError despite the gem being listed.