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Updating and improve README (Bryan Helmkamp / Mike Gaffney)
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== Description

Webrat lets you quickly write robust and thorough acceptance tests for a Ruby
web application. By leveraging the DOM, it can run tests similarly to an
in-browser testing solution without the associated performance hit (and
browser dependency). The result is tests that are less fragile and more
effective at verifying that the app will respond properly to users.
Webrat lets you quickly write expressive and robust acceptance tests for a Ruby
web application.

When comparing Webrat with an in-browser testing solution like Watir or
Selenium, the primary consideration should be how much JavaScript the
application uses. In-browser testing is currently the only way to test JS, and
that may make it a requirement for your project. If JavaScript is not central
to your application, Webrat is a simpler, effective solution that will let you
run your tests much faster and more frequently.
== Features

Initial development was sponsored by EastMedia[http://www.eastmedia.com].
* Browser Simulator for expressive, high level acceptance testing without the
performance hit and browser dependency of Selenium or Watir (See Webrat::Session)
* Use the same API for Browser Simulator and real Selenium tests using
Webrat::SeleniumSession when necessary (eg. for testing AJAX interactions)
* Supports multiple Ruby web frameworks: Rails, Merb and Sinatra
* Supports popular test frameworks: RSpec, Cucumber, Test::Unit and Shoulda
* Webrat::Matchers API for verifying rendered HTML using CSS, XPath, etc.

== Synopsis
== Example

def test_sign_up
visit "/"
class SignupTest < ActionController::IntegrationTest

def test_trial_account_sign_up
visit home_path
click_link "Sign up"
fill_in "Email", :with => "good@example.com"
select "Free account"
click_button "Register"
...
end

Behind the scenes, this will perform the following work:

1. Verify that loading the home page is successful
2. Verify that a "Sign up" link exists on the home page
3. Verify that loading the URL pointed to by the "Sign up" link leads to a
successful page
4. Verify that there is an "Email" input field on the Sign Up page
5. Verify that there is an select field on the Sign Up page with an option for
"Free account"
6. Verify that there is a "Register" submit button on the page
7. Verify that submitting the Sign Up form with the values "good@example.com"
and "Free account" leads to a successful page

Take special note of the things _not_ specified in that test, that might cause
tests to break unnecessarily as your application evolves:

- The input field IDs or names (e.g. "user_email" or "user[email]"), which
could change if you rename a model
- The ID of the form element (Webrat can do a good job of guessing, even if
there are multiple forms on the page.)
- The URLs of links followed
- The URL the form submission should be sent to, which could change if you
adjust your routes or controllers
- The HTTP method for the login request

A test written with Webrat can handle these changes to these without any modifications.

== Merb
To avoid losing sessions, you need this in environments/test.rb:

Merb::Config.use do |c|
c[:session_store] = 'memory'

end

Behind the scenes, Webrat will ensure:

== Install
* If a link, form field or button is missing, the test will fail.
* If a URL is invalid, the test will fail.
* If a page load or form submission is unsuccessful, the test will fail.

To install the latest release:
== Install for Rails

sudo gem install webrat
To install the latest release as a gem:

In your stories/helper.rb:
sudo gem install webrat

require "webrat"
To install the latest code as a plugin: (_Note:_ This may be less stable than using a released version)

script/plugin install git://github.com/brynary/webrat.git

In your test_helper.rb, spec_helper.rb, or env.rb (for Cucumber) add:

require "webrat/rails"

You could also unpack the gem into vendor/plugins.
== Install with Merb

Merb 1.0 has built-in, seamless Webrat support. Just start using
methods from Webrat::Session in your specs.

== Authors

- Maintained by {Bryan Helmkamp}[mailto:bryan@brynary.com]
- Original code written by {Seth Fitzsimmons}[mailto:seth@mojodna.net]
- Initial development was sponsored by EastMedia[http://www.eastmedia.com]
- Many other contributors. See attributions in History.txt

== License

Copyright (c) 2007 Bryan Helmkamp, Seth Fitzsimmons.
See MIT-LICENSE.txt in this directory.
Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Bryan Helmkamp, Seth Fitzsimmons.
See MIT-LICENSE.txt in this directory.

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