Java Extreme Programming Cookbook

Submitting Form Data

Problem

You want to write a test that submits your HTML forms and verifies the forms functionality.

Solution

Set parameters on the WebForm using its setParameter( ) method. Then simulate clicking a button by asking for one of the form’s buttons and submitting it using the WebConversation instance.

Discussion

You fill in form field values using the setParameter( ) method on a WebForm instance. This simulates what the user would do if he was filling out a form in a web browser. You then ask the form for a WebRequest object, passing in the name of one of the submit buttons. All of this is shown in Example 5-9.

Example 5-9. Submitting a form

public void testSubmitSubscriptionWithoutRequiredField(  )
        throws Exception {
    WebForm form = getBlankSubscriptionForm(  );
    form.setParameter("nameField", "Eric Burke");
    WebRequest request = form.getRequest("subscribeBtn");
    // Submit the page. The web app should return us right back to
    // the subscription page because the Email address is not specified
    WebResponse response = this.webConversation.getResponse(request);

    // make sure the user is warned about the missing field
    String pageText = response.getText(  );
    assertTrue("Required fields warning is not present",
            pageText.indexOf("Email address is required") > -1);

    // make sure the nameField has the original text
    form = response.getFormWithID("subscriptionForm");
    assertEquals("Name field should be pre-filled",
            "Eric Burke", form.getParameterValue("nameField"));
}

The comments in Example ...