#selenium

it just becomes the root of the new page

I suppose I could re-return the driver though

its a little bit strange though

anyone else want to offer advice here

marmotworks: you seemd to have some idea?

I'm not sure I really grasp what's going on, if you want to pastebin some more code or do a gist I might be able to help more

also, not much of a python guy

so yeah

okay I'll do a pastebin

this is basically what I was saying

the confusing part is anything after line 9, since I'm on page y instead of page x

have you heard of Page Object Pattern??

the thing to mention is that the test function automatically does that is in the fixture code automatically based on the argument in the test

this might be your missing peice here

I think I do but please humor me

def needs a page object

go on please

umm how do I explain that...

so create objects to represent your page

I have a driver defined once and for all, basepage class to sum up all the interactions, and lots of children classes for each page

let me type out a paste, and hopefully pseudo pythonize you're stuff to give you a good idea

basepage class has a method which inits the page of needed type

so any method defined in any page can return any other page type

octomeow: what I think you're all talking about is a class that has all the appropriate css and helper methods to do something on a page

man, I can't write python, would you be able to understand it if I did it in Java?

to make this possible: page = ((BasePage)page).OpenSignInForm().ValidLogin(PRSettings.Username, PRSettings.Password1);

D3M0S: yes

octomeow: you're talking about java too right

C#

oh yikes

sorry going to lunch

okay thanks

can probably pastebin some code after

D3M0S: let me know when you have an example

LocusAsaf, will do, just working on it now

Things I've learned writing tests with pytest and selenium: Page objects are good. Providing a function that gives you a webdriver instance is good, so you don't need the test framework to get a browser.

Baking navigation into fixtures is no fun, because it makes interactive development much harder, versus just having a navigate('destination') function.

smyers: so you would favor just having the same boilerplate in every single function?

Dear god no

like "login(driver); navigate('destination', driver);"

if you don't let the fixture do it then what will do it?

you need to call those two functions somewhere

And, ideally, that place would be your page object: login_page_instance.login(username, password)

In the test, that would be followed by an assertion

Outside of the test, you'd have a webdriver instance that you can poke at for prototyping tests

smyers: I don't really see the benefit of creating a page object other than storing some css

where instead I can just have a login function which is much leaner and easier to understand than a page object

although you're all trying to convince me now I'm just kind of visual so I'm probably not seeing the full picture you're trying to describe

I expect you will come to see the benefit in time, unless the thing you're testing never changes and isn't in any way complex.

smyers: if I single login method it's as simple as changing some content in that method, whats the difference if its a method or a class?

That's sorta like asking about the benefits of object-oriented programming, no?

functions are as object-oriented as classes are

how is a function not object oriented

what's object-oriented programming?

LocusAsaf, http://pastebin.com/2VxjCvFK

I'm not trying to be snarky, forget what I said

let me create an example and you tell me what's better

LocusAsaf, did you see my example for your situation using Page Objects in java

will look in just one second

there's ofc better ways than just passing the driver around in constructors

but I'll leave those up to you.

lukeis: let's do eet

I'm out next week, but I'll send you an email so we can start planning

sounds good :)

smyers: see http://pastebin.com/UJkjd5C8

is that a good example, am I missing anything, do you see anything better about the object vs. the function?

D3M0S: looking now

D3M0S: okay so your trick is that you have well defined routes from one page (or object) to another and you return the next page that contains the same driver

not my trick, this is page object pattern

fair enough but what i said is true

yep

as you can see, the advantages are in maintainability and readability in the actual test

this is what I was kind of mentioning before too

which are like..the 2 most important things

it definitely makes a lot more sense in java I'm not totally sold on doing page objects in python though

I'm curious what smyers has to say though

or anyone else that is familiar with python and wants to look at my bpaste

pastebin rather

This really is a discussion of the merits of OO design, which are intrisic to the value of the page object model.

(even in python)

smyers: I totally agree and I'm totally fine if you say that I'm wrong

was my example sound though?

yeah, page object model is shite with terrible OOD

was I missing anything there?

and your ability to take OOD principals and design patterns and efficiently put them into effect is really what makes page object model strong or mediocre

I just want to know specifically why because I just don't see it right now

I can't really answer that for you. All I can do is suggest that you separate your concerns wherever possible because things change, your assumptions will be challenged, and refactors will happen.

separate what concerns?

smyers, +1

don't stick your hand in fire, why?

because you'll get burned, whats a burn?

Again, I can't really answer that for you. Or, in this case, shouldn't. You clearly need to be concerned with how to havigate to a page. Also locating elements is important, right? Filling forms, I assume?

yes of course

My apologies, those were rhetorical questions. I don't know what your concerns are, so I don't know how to separate them.

okay well it feels like I'm reading a forunte from a cookie right now

let me continue

LocusAsaf, they're pretty common programming principals

I can create a file called "login_page.py", "x_page.py" and I can put two different styles of things in there

one style would be putting in classes, see the pastebin I example

another style would be putting in functions, again see example

when page X changes some css, I go into said file, change some constants and I'm done

LocusAsaf, yeah, that's separation of concerns

you're telling me follow OO, stuff will change

either if I put classes or functions, they are still objects and you can consider both "page objects"

so unless you can convince me that my functions should be methods in classes, I'm not going to write extra code

if you can convince me that it's good, I'll gladly put the code in

It's not my job to convince you of anything

LocusAsaf, I can only say this, I've been doing this for 5 years, and this is the way I do things...there are plenty other developers out there and in this channel that feel the exact same as I do

Follow good design principals, lest there be dragons.

D3M0S: absolutely

and I agree with you

and I apologize

I don't mean to be argumentative. I know i'm not perfect and I know there is more to learn, that is why I come here to ask questions. I'm delighted when someone tells me I'm doing it wrong and shows me a better way

and "writing extra code" you saw my simple java example right?

in java there's load of "extra code"

I think the point I'm trying to make is that my code is just as OO as your example

the question I was asking smyers is a bit language specific though

as in, there are many ways to skin the cat

sometimes one is better, sometimes they are the same

I was asking, which way do you think is better and why, or are they the same?

D3M0S: what you code did illustrate is that in my page objects I can have well defined routes to another page and have it return the same driver

it's a little bit contrived in the way I'm defining my page objects since the driver is not really being mutated

but I think it's a reasonable way to solve my problem

The biggest reason I can give you is that going with page objects and other reasonable abstractions will save your ass down the line when refactoring is necessary.