In WatiN, how to verify a table's column headers and rows? - html

Question

Consider this HTML table:
<table id="build-table">
<tr>
<th>Build ID</th>
<th>Build Time</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
5.1
</td>
<td>02.06.2011 13:33:03</td>
</tr>
</table>
How would I verify in WatiN that the table has the correct headers (Build ID and Build Time), and the correct content (in this case, one row containing the given hyperlink and date string)?

Answer 1

Sorry, we created a custom TableHandler, using the basic table building blocks: Here is the sample code:
public TableController(Regex tableControlId)
{ InitializeMembers(Find.ById(tableControlId), true); }
private void InitializeMembers(WatiN.Core.Constraints.AttributeConstraint tableControlId, bool hasColumnHeaders)
{
if (tableControlId == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("tableControlId", "'tableControlId' passed in should not be null.");
}
WatiN.Core.Constraints.AttributeConstraint newTableControlId = tableControlId;
Assert.IsTrue(IE.Table(newTableControlId).Exists, "Table with id '" + newTableControlId.ToString() + "' does not exist on this page.");
_controlId = tableControlId;
_hasColumnHeaders = hasColumnHeaders;
_columnHeaders = (hasColumnHeaders) ? GetTableColumnHeaders() : null;
_totalRows = Table.TableRows.Count;
_totalColumns = GetAllColumnDataFromRow((TableRow)Table.TableRows[0], hasColumnHeaders).Count;
}
private StringCollection GetTableColumnHeaders()
{
return GetAllColumnDataFromRow((TableRow)Table.TableRows[0], true);
}
private StringCollection GetAllColumnDataFromRow(TableRow tableRow, bool isTableHeaderRow)
{
StringCollection RowValues = new StringCollection();
if (tableRow == null)
{
for (int colCounter = 0; colCounter < this.TotalColumns; colCounter++) RowValues.Add(String.Empty);
}
if (isTableHeaderRow)
{
foreach (Element e in tableRow.Elements)
{
if (e.TagName == "TH")
{
RowValues.Add(e.Text);
}
}
}
else
{
foreach (TableCell tc in tableRow.TableCells)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(tc.Text))
{
RowValues.Add(String.Empty);
}
else
{
RowValues.Add(tc.Text);
}
}
}
//fill up for the missing cells, if any, with blanks
int actualCellsInRow = tableRow.TableCells.Count;
int expectedCellsInRow = this.TotalColumns;
for (int colCounter = actualCellsInRow; colCounter < expectedCellsInRow; colCounter++)
{
RowValues.Add(String.Empty);
}
return RowValues;
}
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

There are at least three ways to do this:
I think Watin provides a tablehandler / tablecontroller related methods using which you can retrieve this information. You might want to search on that topic if you want to take this approach.
Using Xpath query (XML). Since you have the id of the table, you can use a XPath query to reach the node where your header is and verify that using a static string "Build ID" in your code. Same with the other pieces of information.
Regex - Using Regular Expressions, you can check if that text exists on the control / page.
If you view the source of your page, you will know the pattern that you should look for on the page. In fact, a simple Assert.AreEqual(true, new Regex("Build ID")Match.Success) should do the trick. However, this is a check that is purely done to see if the text exists on the page. You will not be looking at anything beyond that. Also, if you have multiple occurrences of the text then you should be considering the array of matches you get before you say, "yep, found it".
Note: You may have to checkout the syntax for using a Regex. The above information is just an abstract of what it would look like.
Cheers.