How to make Capybara do a DELETE request in a Cucumber feature?

Question

I am using Cucumber and Capybara. I need to make an HTTP DELETE request. Previously the features used webrat, so a simple statement like

visit "/comment/" + comment_id, :delete

worked, but now I am using Capybara.

The way to do a GET request is simply:

get 'path'

And to do a post request:

page.driver.post 'path'

But how can I simulate a DELETE request?

I found out that the driver Capybara is using is Capybara::RackTest::Driver, if that is any help.

I have also tried:

Capybara.current_session.driver.delete "/comments/" + comment_id

But that does not work.

Is there not a link or a button on your webpage that will trigger the deletion? Cucumber features are supposed to be a full-stack acceptance test. Your feature steps should take you through a happy flow of the application. You should follow links and press buttons and fill in data, etc, and then you could trigger that deletion simply by doing that. — MrDanA, Feb 10 '12 at 14:20
what you are suggesting would be a preferred way to do so when i write new tests, but currently i am migrating from webrat to capybara. i dont want to modify the 30 or so tests by rewriting them, i want to first make them work using capybara, and then may be rewrite those later as needed. — umar, Feb 10 '12 at 14:27
really weird, because those methods are included in tha RackTest driver: https://github.com/jnicklas/capybara/blob/master/lib/capybara/rack_test/driver.rb#L78 — apneadiving, Feb 10 '12 at 15:22

score 30 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '12 at 01:41

30

page.driver.submit :delete, "/comments/#{comment_id}", {}

Documentation at: http://rubydoc.info/gems/capybara/1.1.2/Capybara/RackTest/Browser:submit

answered Jul 23 '12 at 01:41

1000 Needles

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7

It's worth mentioning that this method is unique to the RackTest driver, so this won't work in Selenium or Capybara-webkit. – 1000 Needles Jul 23 '12 at 01:43
2

This works just fine for capybara-webkit (and I suspect it does for selenium, as well). – Brad Werth Aug 06 '13 at 22:27
+1 thank god for this. It's certainly not a technique that you need when testing "happy paths", but this is making it miles easier for me to test access control & ensure my before filters are working properly. – Topher Hunt Feb 09 '14 at 01:03

mrmrf · Answer 2 · 2013-10-08T10:14:31.223

6

In case you are using a driver that doesn't support custom HTTP requests (e.g. Capybara-webkit, see closed issue and current driver), you could just temporary switch to RackTest driver to submit your request.

For example:

# Submit an HTTP delete request, using rack_test driver
def http_delete path
  current_driver = Capybara.current_driver
  Capybara.current_driver = :rack_test
  page.driver.submit :delete, path, {}
  Capybara.current_driver = current_driver
end

edited Oct 08 '13 at 10:14

answered Oct 08 '13 at 10:02

mrmrf

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This solution is much better. Who knows what driver you'll use in future. – Anton Chikin Apr 28 '14 at 14:35
1

This solution has one (potentially) big problem: It will not retain any session or cookie information from previous requests. So, e.g., if you need to make a `DELETE` request as an authenticated user, this code will probably not work (unless you're already using the `:rack_test` driver). See [my proposed solution](https://stackoverflow.com/a/36580783/119363) for a method that will retain session info. – Chris W. Apr 12 '16 at 18:03

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 07 '15 at 02:25

2

page.driver.delete("/comments/#{comment_id}")

Use delete works fine. No need to use the lower level submit method for this.

PS: tested with capybara-webkit 1.6.0 and capybara 2.4.4

answered Nov 07 '15 at 02:25

Olivier Lacan

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 12 '16 at 18:00

If you need a solution that will retain session information (e.g., if you need your DELETE request to be issued as an authenticated user), and that will work with both the :rack_test driver and the :webkit driver (assuming you have jQuery available in your app), try something like this:

def manual_http_request(method, path)
  if Capybara.current_driver == :rack_test
    page.driver.submit method, path, {}
  else
    page.execute_script("$.ajax({url: '#{path}', data: {}, type: '#{method}'});")
    # Wait for the request to finish executing...
    Timeout.timeout(10) { loop until page.evaluate_script('jQuery.active').zero? }
  end
end

I suspect this will also work with the :selenium driver but have not tested it. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

This is nice! I did not need the timeout with selenium and chromedriver — HarlemSquirrel, Aug 30 '17 at 15:54

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 24 '15 at 21:05

This works in selenium. It's assuming you have a logout button/link on any page it is called on

Instead of:

visit '/logout'

Do:

def logout_user
  logout_link = page.first('#my_css_selector')
  logout_link.click if logout_link
end

#... elsewhere in a step
logout_user

How to make Capybara do a DELETE request in a Cucumber feature?

5 Answers5