From: Kev Jackson <kevin.jackson@...>
Date: 2006-03-29T12:05:52+09:00
Subject: Can anyone see the obvious msitake I've made?

Hi,

I'm hacking up some scripts and I have a lot of repetitive code ie:

#corporate name
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['corp_nm_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['corp_nm']
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['corp_nm_kn_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['corp_nm_kn']
#rep name
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['rep_j_pos_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['rep_j_pos']
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['rep_nm_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['rep_nm']
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['rep_nm_kn_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['rep_nm_kn']
#telephone
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_1_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_1']
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_2_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_2']
...

It looks like a perfect place to use a macro to write out the call to 
ie.text_field at run-time (especially because of the duplicated variables)

I've written a method_missing method in my base class and tried to 
implement something like
@@ie.text_field(:id, 
@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_1_fld']).value=@test_data['pg_401']['tel_no_1'] 
=> text :id, :pg_401, :tel_no_1

This would dramatically reduce the amount of typing (and it'll reduce 
the training time for the qc team who ultimately have to write these 
scripts), and may allow me to refactor further so that the entire test 
script could be constructed from a yml file on the fly - which would 
save a *lot* of hassle.

Now I've changed @@ie to $ie as it makes more sense (watir and I only 
want to be driving one ie window at once, so make it a global)

in my method_missing definition I have

when /text/=~m.id2name
      #works
      $ie.text_field(:id, 
eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}_fld']").to_s).set(eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}']"))
      #doesn't work args[0] = id
      $ie.text_field("#{args[0].to_sym}", 
eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}_fld']")).set(eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}']"))

What I want to do is to create a call to $ie.text_field with the correct 
params - as you can see if I specify the symbol :id, it works perfectly 
(not sure eval is the correct thing to use but it works), however if I 
try to get the symbol from the args[] and then to_sym before executing, 
I always get

testScenario(NewApplicationTest):
Watir::Exception::UnknownObjectException: Unable to locate object, using 
id and
form:address1

However I've just tried (as I was typing this email)
$ie.text_field(eval("args[0].to_sym"), 
eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}_fld']")).set(eval("$test_data['#{args[1].to_s}']['#{args[2]}']"))

And it works! :(

Can anyone explain why #{args[0].to_sym} is not actually evaluating to 
the :id symbol, but eval(args[0].to_sym) does?  Especially as the error 
produced from watir is exactly the same as if I'd have typed:

$ie.text_field(:id, 'a_field_that_doesn't_exist')

Also if there is a better way to do this without using three eval calls 
per method that I want to add (seems a little overkill to me)

Thanks
Kev