httpunit

Following up to myself and looking at the code, how about something like
this:

/**
* Returns the contents of all the table cells with a given ID
* @return TableCell[] with given ID.
**/
public TableCell[] getTableCellsWithID( String id ) {
Vector vec = new Vector();
if (_cells == null) readTable();
String idToCompare;
for (int i = 0; i < getRowCount(); i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < getColumnCount(); j++) {
if (_cells[i][j]!=null) {
idToCompare = NodeUtils.getNodeAttribute( _cells[i][j].getOriginalDOM(),
"id" );
if (HttpUnitOptions.getMatchesIgnoreCase())
if (id.equalsIgnoreCase(idToCompare))
vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
else if (id.equals(idToCompare))
vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
}
}
}
TableCell[] cells = new TableCell[vec.size()];
for (int k=0;k<vec.size();k++) {
cells[k] = (TableCell)(vec.elementAt(k));
}
return cells;
}

CHEERS> SAM

Sam Joseph wrote:

>Merry Christmas all,
>
>I was just doing some work with WebForm, and I was using the
>getTableCellWithID() method, and I notice that when I have a table with
>many cells with the same ID, I just seem to get back the first cell. Is
>there some way for me to get back an array or vector of all the table
>cells with the same id?
>
>Is this kind of method something that we might want to add?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>CHEERS> SAM
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------
>This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek
>Welcome to geek heaven.
>http://thinkgeek.com/sf
>_______________________________________________
>Httpunit-develop mailing list
>Httpunit-develop@...
>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/httpunit-develop
>
>
>  
>

On Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 12:42  AM, Sam Joseph wrote:

> Merry Christmas all,
>
> I was just doing some work with WebForm, and I was using the
> getTableCellWithID() method, and I notice that when I have a table with
> many cells with the same ID, I just seem to get back the first cell. Is
> there some way for me to get back an array or vector of all the table
> cells with the same id?
>
> Is this kind of method something that we might want to add?

Excuse me while I scream in frustration. Please show your HTML coders 
the following information from the specification:
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#adef-id> which reads in 
part:

id = name [CS]
This attribute assigns a name to an element. This name must be unique 
in a document.

You are not supposed to *have* many cells with the same ID. It defeats 
the whole purpose of the ID attribute.

Pardon me for not hving read the HTML spec in detail.  I don't have any 
html coders except myself.  I wasn't aware that people had to be 
familiar with every aspect of the HTML spec in order to use it.  I'm 
sure that it's use would not be as widespread as it is if everyone had 
to know the spec off by heart.

Personally I am trying to write some code that automates the creation of 
test cases and support classes directly from html templates.  You can 
read about it in a previous mail to this list.

A problem that I have, along with others, is that changes in html layout 
break our tests, forcing re-writes of tests whenever the GUI changes - 
very inefficient.  Excuse me while I scream in frustration at the fact 
that I must specify the row and column location of something in a table, 
when all I want to do is get the set of cells that correspond to the 
results of a query made during the submission of the form.  

I am currently using a system that queries RDF triples.  I get back 
lists of subjects, predicates and objects.  If I am testing a query 
where I ask for all the triples where the subject is "John" it would be 
very helpful to be able to confirm that all the triples displayed 
include the subject "John".  Thus setting id="SUBJECT" on every cell 
that is displaying a subject allows me to check that the result is 
correct without having to rewrite my test every time I, or some html 
designer, changes the layout of my table.

I would be very interested if you had any suggestions about how to 
achieve this without setting the id in multiple cells to the same value.

CHEERS> SAM

Russell Gold wrote:

> On Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 12:42 AM, Sam Joseph wrote:
>
> Excuse me while I scream in frustration. Please show your HTML coders 
> the following information from the specification:
> <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#adef-id> which reads in 
> part:
> *
> id = /_name_/ _[CS]_
> *This attribute assigns a name to an element. This name must be unique 
> in a document.
>
> You are not supposed to *have* many cells with the same ID. It defeats 
> the whole purpose of the ID attribute.
>

Well actually I have a suggestion myself.

how about a getTableCellWithClass method then?


    /**
     * Returns the contents of all the table cells with a given class
     * @return TableCell[] with given class.
     **/
    public TableCell[] getTableCellsWithClass( String class ) {
        Vector vec = new Vector();
        if (_cells == null) readTable();
        String classToCompare;
        for (int i = 0; i < getRowCount(); i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < getColumnCount(); j++) {
                if (_cells[i][j]!=null) {
                    classToCompare = NodeUtils.getNodeAttribute( 
_cells[i][j].getOriginalDOM(), "class" );
                    if (HttpUnitOptions.getMatchesIgnoreCase())
                        if (class.equalsIgnoreCase(classToCompare))
                            vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
                        else if (class.equals(classToCompare))
                            vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
                }
            }
        }
        TableCell[] cells = new TableCell[vec.size()];
        for (int k=0;k<vec.size();k++) {
             cells[k] = (TableCell)(vec.elementAt(k));  
        }       
        return cells;
    }

CHEERS> SAM

Sam Joseph wrote:

> I would be very interested if you had any suggestions about how to 
> achieve this without setting the id in multiple cells to the same value.
>
> CHEERS> SAM
>
> Russell Gold wrote:
>
>> On Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 12:42 AM, Sam Joseph wrote:
>>
>> Excuse me while I scream in frustration. Please show your HTML coders 
>> the following information from the specification:
>> <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#adef-id> which reads 
>> in part:
>> *
>> id = /_name_/ _[CS]_
>> *This attribute assigns a name to an element. This name must be 
>> unique in a document.
>>
>> You are not supposed to *have* many cells with the same ID. It 
>> defeats the whole purpose of the ID attribute.
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek
> Welcome to geek heaven.
> http://thinkgeek.com/sf
> _______________________________________________
> Httpunit-develop mailing list
> Httpunit-develop@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/httpunit-develop
>
>

On Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 02:34  AM, Sam Joseph wrote:

> Pardon me for not hving read the HTML spec in detail.  I don't have 
> any html coders except myself.  I wasn't aware that people had to be 
> familiar with every aspect of the HTML spec in order to use it.  I'm 
> sure that it's use would not be as widespread as it is if everyone had 
> to know the spec off by heart.

Obviously you don't. browsers tend to ignore the ID settings except 
when you try to use JavaScript. Then you run into problems when the IDs 
are not unique.

>
> Personally I am trying to write some code that automates the creation 
> of test cases and support classes directly from html templates.  You 
> can read about it in a previous mail to this list.
>
> A problem that I have, along with others, is that changes in html 
> layout break our tests, forcing re-writes of tests whenever the GUI 
> changes - very inefficient.  Excuse me while I scream in frustration 
> at the fact that I must specify the row and column location of 
> something in a table, when all I want to do is get the set of cells 
> that correspond to the results of a query made during the submission 
> of the form.

I understand the problem. What I have done in such cases is to rely on 
column positions, which tend not to change much after you ignore the 
blank cells. In fact, the bulk of the early work on HttpUnit was 
intended to make exactly this kind of testing easy.

> I am currently using a system that queries RDF triples.  I get back 
> lists of subjects, predicates and objects.  If I am testing a query 
> where I ask for all the triples where the subject is "John" it would 
> be very helpful to be able to confirm that all the triples displayed 
> include the subject "John".  Thus setting id="SUBJECT" on every cell 
> that is displaying a subject allows me to check that the result is 
> correct without having to rewrite my test every time I, or some html 
> designer, changes the layout of my table.
>
> I would be very interested if you had any suggestions about how to 
> achieve this without setting the id in multiple cells to the same 
> value.

The simplest way is to have each result in a separate row, with the 
order (non-blank column number) fixed. If you call 
WebTable.purgeEmptyCells and then WebTable.asText you will get a two 
dimensional array which is easy to check, and which will not be broken 
when people add &nbsp cells for formatting purposes (a very common 
practice). Among the problems with the approach you are suggesting is 
that of identifying which cells constitute a triple. Guaranteeing that 
they are in the same row (or same column, if you prefer) solves this 
and makes the page a lot more readable.

Now there is a way to designate a class of similar cells in HTML. You 
use the "class" attribute. At present this is not supported by 
HttpUnit, but is on the list of upcoming features.

On Wednesday, December 25, 2002, at 02:40  AM, Sam Joseph wrote:

> Well actually I have a suggestion myself.
>
> how about a getTableCellWithClass method then?
>
>
>    /**
>     * Returns the contents of all the table cells with a given class
>     * @return TableCell[] with given class.
>     **/
>    public TableCell[] getTableCellsWithClass( String class ) {
>        Vector vec = new Vector();
>        if (_cells == null) readTable();
>        String classToCompare;
>        for (int i = 0; i < getRowCount(); i++) {
>            for (int j = 0; j < getColumnCount(); j++) {
>                if (_cells[i][j]!=null) {
>                    classToCompare = NodeUtils.getNodeAttribute( 
> _cells[i][j].getOriginalDOM(), "class" );
>                    if (HttpUnitOptions.getMatchesIgnoreCase())
>                        if (class.equalsIgnoreCase(classToCompare))
>                            vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
>                        else if (class.equals(classToCompare))
>                            vec.addElement(_cells[i][j]);
>                }
>            }
>        }
>        TableCell[] cells = new TableCell[vec.size()];
>        for (int k=0;k<vec.size();k++) {
>             cells[k] = (TableCell)(vec.elementAt(k));         }        
>       return cells;
>    }

Very reasonable; however, I will probably want to generalize this 
somewhat to avoid API creep. I still think that this might not be the 
best approach, but the final code should provide the same results, even 
if the syntax winds up being a tad different.