Unreliable/Flakey Capybara/AngularJS Integration Tests With Timing Issues

Question

How do I make these tests reliably pass?

Currently these tests are flakey.
Sometimes they pass. Sometimes they fail.
Below is the setup, code and output demons

Answer 1

The Issue

Problems arose when the test was using capybara's fill_in DSL. In some test runs the fields would be populated correctly and the form would be submitted. In the other scenario the form would be filled in correctly but the submit button would be hit too quickly. The result here is that a record was created but input fields of name and description were not persisted.

1. When filling in forms, ensure AngularJS bindings are complete and Capybara waiting methods are used

AngularJS' ng-if statements needed to be used not to show form fields until they are ready.
This needed to be done in conjunction with the use of Capybara waiting methods to ensure fill_in field are only submitted once form load has completed.

index.html.erb or equivalent:

<div  ng-if="tableParams.data">
  <table id="costings_table ng-table="tableParams" class="table">
    <td id="field1">{{table.field1}}</td>
    <td id="field2">{{table.field2}}</td>
   </table>
</div>

2. Updated the command line version of PhantomJS to the latest (2.1.1)

This seemed to enable tests to run without as many Capybara waiting methods in order to achieve reliable tests.

Updated Test Code
show_costing_spec.rb

require "rails_helper"

RSpec.describe "Show a new costing in the listing,", :type => :feature do

  before :each do
    admin_sign_in
    create_costing("test1")
  end

  it "shows the costing after creation" do
    within "#costings_table" do
      expect(page.find("#code2")).to have_content("2")
      expect(page.find("#name2")).to have_content("test1")
    end
  end

  it "shows the details of the new costing after creation" do
    within "#costings_table" do
      click_on "show2"
    end

    expect(page.find("#page_title")).to have_content("Costing Details")
    expect(page.find("#code")).to have_content("2")
    expect(page.find("#name")).to have_content("test1") 
    expect(page.find("#description")).to have_content("test description")
  end
end

rails_helper.rb

# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)

# Add library functions here so we can test them.
require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../lib/general")

require 'rspec/rails'
require 'devise'

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) do
    # Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc,
    # in spec/support/ and its subdirectories.
    require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/support/blueprints")
    Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}

    # Setup Devise before it is used in rails_helper
    config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller
    Devise.stretches = 1 # Improves speed.
end

config.include Capybara::DSL, :type => :feature
  config.mock_with :rspec

# Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"

# Allow a 'focus' tag so that we can run just a few tests which we are currently working on
config.filter_run focus: true
config.run_all_when_everything_filtered = true
config.filter_run_excluding :slow unless ENV["SLOW_SPECS"]

# Defer Garbage Collection
config.before(:all) { DeferredGarbageCollection.start }
config.after(:all)  { DeferredGarbageCollection.reconsider }

# Integration Testing
require 'capybara/rspec'
require 'capybara/poltergeist'

Capybara.register_driver :poltergeist_debug do |app|
  Capybara::Poltergeist::Driver.new(app, {:inspector => true, js_errors: false })  
end

Capybara.javascript_driver = :poltergeist_debug
Capybara.default_driver = :poltergeist_debug

# Debugging tools
def debugit
  puts current_url
  require 'pry'
  binding.pry
end

# If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
# examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
# instead of true.
config.use_transactional_fixtures = false

#Show Deprications As Errors with full backtracing
config.raise_errors_for_deprecations!

#rest of the file....
# Final part of Configure Database Cleaner

Capybara.default_max_wait_time = 5
config.use_transactional_fixtures = false

config.before(:suite) do
  if config.use_transactional_fixtures?
    raise(<<-MSG)
      Delete line `config.use_transactional_fixtures = true` from
      rails_helper.rb (or set it to false) to prevent uncommitted
      transactions being used in JavaScript-dependent specs. During 
      testing, the app-under-test that the browser driver connects to 
      uses a different database connection to the database connection 
      used by the spec. The app's database connection would not be 
      able to access uncommitted transaction data setup over the 
      spec's database connection.
     MSG
  end
  DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation)
end  

config.before(:each) do
  DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction
end

config.before(:each, type: :feature) do
  # :rack_test driver's Rack app under test shares database connection
  # with the specs, so continue to use transaction strategy for speed.
  driver_shares_db_connection_with_specs = Capybara.current_driver == :rack_test

    if !driver_shares_db_connection_with_specs
      # Driver is probably for an external browser with an app
      # under test that does *not* share a database connection with the
      # specs, so use truncation strategy.
      DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :truncation
    end
  end

  config.before(:each) do
    DatabaseCleaner.start
  end

  config.append_after(:each) do
    DatabaseCleaner.clean
  end
end


def admin_sign_in
  visit "/login"

  #Create staff member in database
  Staff.make!(:admin)

  #Log In
  fill_in "staff_username", with: "adminstaff"
  fill_in "staff_password", with: "password"
  click_button "login"

  expect(page).to have_text('Logout')
end

def create_costing(item)
  @item = item
  visit "/api#/costings"

  expect(page).to have_selector("#new_btn")
  click_on "new_btn"

  expect(page).to have_text("New Costing")
  within "#form_costing" do
    fill_in "name", with: "#{@item}"
    fill_in "description", with: "test description"
    fill_in "from_date1", with: "15/02/2015" 
    fill_in "cost_hourly_cents1", with: "12.00"

    expect(page).to have_selector("#create_btn")
    click_on "create_btn"
  end
  expect(page.find("#page_title")).to have_content("Costings")
end

Answer 2

The immediate thing that jumps out is that your admin_sign_in doesn't actually wait for the sign_in to complete. This means that your call to create_costing can occur without the session cookie having been set in your browser. The last line in your admin_sign_in method should be something like

expect(page).to have_text('You are signed in') # whatever message is shown upon sign in

or

expect(page).to have_current_path('/') # whatever path an admin is redirected to upon signing in

That will make sure the login has actually completed and therefore the session cookies have been set in your browser.

Also your database cleaner config should use an append_after block rather than after - see https://github.com/DatabaseCleaner/database_cleaner#rspec-with-capybara-example