Integration Tests: Cucumber vs. RSpec

I’ve recently started writing integration tests in RSpec instead of Cucumber and I have been LOVING IT. It’s taken much less time and a lot less terrible code. Here is what I need for a test using Cucumber:

features/show_inventory.feature

Background:
    And I am signed in as a user
    And an inventory "I" exists

Scenario: I can view the inventory page from the inventory list page
    Given I am on the inventories page
    When I click on the inventory row for that inventory "I"
    Then I should be on inventory "I"'s page

features/inventory_steps.rb

Given %r{^I am signed in as an? #{capture_model}$} do |model_name|
  user = create_model model_name
  login_with(user.email, user.password)
  @current_user = user
end

When %r{^I click on the inventory row for #{capture_model}$} do |model_name|
  inventory = find_model model_name
  App.inventories_index.list.find_inventory(inventory).click
end

The steps that aren’t covered manually are covered using a tool called pickle. Pretty useful, but can also be sorta frustrating. We also use SitePrism for both styles of tests and if you aren’t using it, you should reconsider.

So what does an RSpec integration test look like? If I was covering the same simple problem, here’s what I would do:

spec/features/user_inventory_spec.rb

require 'rails_helper'

RSpec.feature 'load inventory as user', :js do
  let(:user) { create :user }
  before do
    3.times do
      create :inventory
    end
  end
  
  scenario 'select inventory and view the page' do
    Sessions::SessionsNew.sign_in user.email, 'my_test_pass'
    inventory = Inventory.first
    
    Inventories::InventoriesIndex.new.tap do |page|
      page.load
      page.list.find_inventory(inventory).click
    end
    
    Inventories::InventoriesShow.new.tap do |page|
      page.displayed?
    end
  end
end

And that’s it. I just have to have the SitePrism pages for Sessions::SessionsNew, Inventories::InventoriesIndex, and Inventories::InventoriesShow designed correctly as well. But those I will use multiple times in other tests, so after the inital setup, I save a lot of time. In this case, I had already set the pages up while we were using Cucumber, so I didn’t have to do anything new to start writing tests in RSpec.

TL;DR unless you have a PM that is actually writing your Cucumber tests, just do them in RSpec. You’ll save yourself many a headache.