Mobile Web Sites BDD Cucumber Capybara Gizmo

Have you ever thought about running Cucumber tests for Mobile Web Sites?

Background about my current role:

I have been working as a Mobile Developer. I build web page to run in mobile devices. They could be iPhone, iPad, T-Touch, T-Hub, Galaxy, Nokia, Motorola or any mobile device that can access internet via somehow.


First of all:

• what is a Mobile Web Site?

It is a site that runs on smart phones, tablets or handsets.

• what is NOT a Mobile Web Site (in this blog)?

I am not talking about iPhones or Android Apps. If you have one Nokia Mobile you can't install any apple app. 


More about Mobile Web Site here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Web 




The Funny Challenging

If we have a traditional Web Site we now already how to test it.
We could use Cucumber + Capybara + Gizmo + Selenium Web Driver and run this on the Continouns Integration Server (CI).

We could have in our CI, at least those three different virtual machines: One with in Firefox + Linux, other with Firefox + Windows and last with Windows + Internet Explorer. 

You could consider IE6, IE7, Vista, Windows Seven... anyway this is just an illustration.

How about Mobiles????????????????????????????

Can we run automatic Cucumber tests natively on a Mobile device???????

Additional information: In my work, there are one list of twenty mobile devices that we support. Those devices can be classified as the screen size such as tiny, small, medium, large, extra-large and maybe huge.

The application gives a different CSS configuration per device, but the content by itself is basically the same in most cases. Mobiles from a specific carrier (Eg.: Telstra) could have additional content available.  

Not enough, other devices don't accept cookies. Example of those are some dodge Nokias that surprisingly come up at the tip of the list, according to the corporate stats. This non-cookie devices we have to use URL rewriting .

Every time we have a release, QA guys have to test the application in many different devices. Regarding to mobile, we need to see the font size, if images are visible, text in the write place, etc. In other words, for 20 different devices, possibly 20 different pages.

I am not even talking about HTML5 neither Web Semantic - not also about table-less approach. All those issues would deserve another post and we surely take care of them in my workplace.

Despite of those issues, I think we still can test a lot of things automatically via Cucumber. Using a normal PC web browser, we can definitely test at least 70% of the application.

Certainly we could perform a complete functional test using Cucumber, and finally, by the time  that QA guys take the manual  tests using handset, there will be no more basic functional errors.


How can we emulate a mobile device using Firefox?

I figured it out a way to do this changing Firefox HTTP request headers. This way, the application will respond the request the same way it does for a real device.

I will assume that you have your Cucumber + Capybara environment up and running.

If not, follow these steps:

• Read this page https://github.com/icaruswings/gizmo
• git clone https://github.com/icaruswings/gizmo.git
• Now you have got a Cubumber + Capybara + Gizmo environment half way done.

Now you need to install all gems. I use bundle but if you want something quickly up and running, install the following gems:

• sudo gem install cucumber
• sudo gem install rspec
• sudo gem install gizmo
• sudo gem install capybara
• sudo gem install tilt

Now you can run:

• cucumber features/github_example.feature

This should start Firefox and successfully run the feature.


If you are on Linux Ubuntu 10.10 and see some problem like: spec/specification, run:

• sudo apt-get install librspec-ruby1.8

Finally The Cool Point of this Post

* Assuming that Cucumber + Capybara is up and running. 

Your env.rb has got a line like this:


Capybara.default_driver = :selenium


I will write my env.rb and how I override Firefox headers using a Firefox Profile. I removed this line and added:

Capybara.default_driver = :selenium_iphone
Capybara.register_driver :selenium_iphone do |app| 
  require 'selenium-webdriver'
  profile = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Profile.new

  profile['general.user

.override'] = "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7"
  profile['general.description.override'] = "Mozilla" # appCodeName
  profile['general.appname.override'] = "Netscape"
  profile['general.appversion.override'] = "5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7"
  profile['general.platform.override'] = "iPhone"
  profile['general.useragent.vendor'] = "Apple Computer, Inc."
  profile['general.useragent.vendorSub'] = ""

  Capybara::Driver::Selenium.new(app, :profile => profile)

end


This is my spike feature:

Feature:
    As a Mobile Developer
    In want to have a DRY, elegant and maintainable tests for all diferent devices
    So that I can to simulate mobile (hi-end and low-end) and desktop browsers 

    @iphone
    Scenario: It opens the test page and shows which browser is being simulated
        Given a user is on the user-agent-switcher homepage



This is the implementation of the one and only one step:

Given /^a user is on the user\-agent\-switcher homepage$/ do        
  visit "http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/features/test/" 
  sleep 15 # so that I can see the new values
end

At this point I would recommend you to take a look at the Firefox Plugin and web page User Agent Switcher: http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/features/test/



In addition, you can enable and disable cookies. Why? If some developer forget to use URL rewriting (JSTL: ), you can catch this in your tests. Disable cookies with this code:

  if ENV["disable_cookies"]  #or variable or whatever...
    puts "_________________ Cookies have been Disabled...."
    profile['network.cookie.cookieBehavior'] = 2 #0 enables, 2 disable all
  end


This is all spike code and you should get those snippets and fit in your test implementation.


I am happy to hear your experience! Feel free to write back with your thoughts and suggestions.

If you are a Mobile Dev and would like to say how you do integration tests or how you do Agile or whatever, leave a comment.


* Curiosities:

• Capybara creator jnicklas said that wasn't possible to change request headers via Capybara. I found a workaround and did via Selenium Profile. Then I asked him again and He told de me how to do it (Imagine if I had given up with the first answer...). He said that didn't know that was possible to do this workaround...  Thanks jnicklas!!!

• I almost forgot to sleep one night because the problem was quite interesting...
• I don't know how to format code in this blog, or how to add code block... shame on me...

cheers

Leonardo Correa

best vi vim macvim command reference

I have recently started using MacVim for my Ruby stuff I write for fun. It is amazing things you can do using this text editor combined with all those plugins.

I installed Janus version (https://github.com/carlhuda/janus) of MacVim and turned it to a proper IDE for ruby code.

I found this website that has absolutely everything about vi - best VI reference:
http://www.rayninfo.co.uk/vimtips.html

I use Janus on Linux as well and works perfectly as well.


cheers

Leonardo

Optus inefficiency sucks

Optus Systems Nightmare...


I have got an Optus mobile post-paid plan in Australia and I am very unhappy with the service provided by this company.

They are so bad, so inefficient that deserves one post so we can make all that shit public. Maybe they will care about it...

I set up an online account to check my plan, usage and payments. For some strange reason, the system "locked" my account and when I try to login I get the message:

"To protect the security of Optus customers, a limit is placed on the number of login attempts per session. Please verify your User Name and Password and try again later."

Then I call 1300 300 937, speak with some unprepared call centre people and after 35 minutes, the teller says:

- Yes, sir, your account has been "locked"
- We can't unlock because there is a problem in the system, so you'll have to create another on-line account.


This means I will lose all configurations because of their lack of capability to build systems and solve problems.

Other funny thing happens when I try to login via iPhone app. It says that my account has been temporarily locked. If they can't unlock, Why the fuck they say "temporarily"???


I went to the Optus website, clicked in "register" and set up a second on-line account, according to the bad advice from call centre people.

When I try to link "link billing account" and enter my Optus customer number, I got the following error message:

"This service has previously been added to another web profile. Please login to My Account using your other web profile. "

Now I am in a situation that I can't fix my first account and can't set up a second one.

For us that work in IT, it is just unbelievable hear such a huge bullshit. They said that the IT guys are working on it - bullshit again!

it is amazing how they can lock your account but they can not unlock it.

All these dodge situations occur specially when you use Internet services (on-line account or iPhone app). If you are an IT or tech person and want to take the most of technology AVOID Optus.


Other Problem to prove how bad and inefficient Optus is:

When I migrated from pre-paid to post-paid, my name and surname were wrong in the system. They said that they had to fix my name before start the post-paid contract.

The teller made a call and ask to change my name. But she changed my first name only. she called again and ask to change my surname. She got an answer back saying that is is not possible to change the name more then once a day because the system doesn't allow that. Change your name on Facebook and see the change straight away.

If you had any bad experience with Optus feel free to share. I will send this link to Optus and all my friends. I am stuck in a year contract...

I figured it out that I am not the only one pissed off with Optus:
http://bella2007.blogspot.com/2007/10/optus-sucksdont-ever-go-there.htm
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23162216637
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23162216637


cheers

Leonardo

Java Sun JDK 1.5 or 1.6 no Ubuntu 10.10 or 11.04 (updated: 01 Jun 2011)

As we know, Java 1.5 has not been maintained anymore and Java 6, has been hanging around for a while and Java 7 is coming soon. But it doesn't mean everybody has to move on to Java 1.6. The problem in Ubuntu is they force you to use OpenJDK. Worse yet, they don't let you downgrade to 1.5.

There are lots of legacy systems running on Java 5 and we can't forget that. It is also about freedom of choice. If you want to install Sun JDK 5 or 6 Ubuntu should not make your life difficult.

Ubuntu 10 and 11 don't allow us to natively (or easily) install Sun JDK's via apt-get.

It is so frustrate when we try to install it on Ubuntu 10.10 and have no luck:

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk (or sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk)

After installed, the JDK will go to this directory: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

You can see all JDK's installed running the following command:

sudo update-java-alternatives -l


After a while, finally got the solution for this:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse"

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse"

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk


Check it out just to confirm:

sudo update-java-alternatives -l


The commands above worked for me in Ubuntu 10 and 11, installing Sun JDK 1.5 and 1.6.
If it doesn't work, try to add the following repositories and repeat the process: (anonymous suggestion - thanks a lot):

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse"
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates multiverse"


Cheers

Leonardo

HP Officejet 6500 refill cartridge LX920 - hacky way

My girlfriend bought a printer HP Officejet 6500 short ago and we were pretty happy until the cartridge's ink finished.

I was really disappointed with the price of the new cartridge: AU $50.00. I decided to buy just the ink in order to refill the cartridge.

When I arrived at home and tried to refill the cartridge, I realized that there was no place to inject the ink.

I spent a few minutes looking to the fu%$^#g cartridge and conclude that there was no way to access the ink tank without making a hole at the top of the cartridge.

I will explain what I hacked this cartridge and put the ink inside.

This next two pictures show all you need:











































You will need a clip, 20ml ink and obviously the empty cartridge.


Step-by-step:

1 - Buy the ink (see image bellow). I didn't find HP ink then I bought Cannon ink: AU $5.00.

2 - Get a clip, put on the fire for a few seconds

3 - Using the hot clip, make a hole in the cartridge on the place appointed in the last picture bellow. You might have to repeat the process if the ink needle doesn't fit in the hole.

4 - Inject 20 ml of ink slowly

5 - Seal the hole with a tape

6 - Put it back in the printer

7 - It will not work straight away. You will have to use the functionality in the printer to clean up the print head. Press the button "Setup", choose "Tools", then select "Clean Printhead".
This could take up to 5 minutes.

8 - Sometimes the printer may complain about the cartridge. In this case just press ok and ignore those messages about the cartridge.


That is it!

If you are really wondering what this cartridge looks like inside, take a look at the following pictures:

Inside the cartridge. Tank on the left and the the sponge on the right side:





















See where you have to make the hole on the left side. On the right, there are three sponges and a little hole between the tank and the sponge compartment:



















I have done this twice and everything has been going fine.

Obviously this cartridge in the pictures is rubbish and can NOT be utilized anymore.

Stay clear from HP!


Leonardo Correa

Java2Word Microsoft Word Document Generator from Java code without any "special" components or libraries

I had a problem in my work a few weeks ago which was how to generate one Microsoft Word Document from Java code. Reports were composite by 40 pages around and over 30 database queries to bring data. It also had cover page, table of contents, header, footer and many tables.

We tried a lot of things but they were all crap solution. We had to delivery those "word" reports so the solution was pretty bad: Generate Jasper RTF and open as an Word Document.

When you open this rtf, the result is just horrible. You can't properly edit those dodge tables generated by jasper. Other problem is when you save this document as .doc, file size increased from 5 MB to 40 MB.

So... there were I again... playing around with the problem...

I decide to create an API in Java to generate Word documents from Java code. The Document generated HAS to be compatible with Microsoft Word and can't have any manipulation - so has to be ready for the end user!

I wrote two implementations: one for Word 97 - 2003 and another for Word 2004 +.

To be honest I spent more time in W2004 because this is the current standard.

I have created the java project and hosted in Google code:

http://code.google.com/p/java2word/

The philosophy is have something in Java and really easy like:

   IDocument myDoc = new Document2004();
   myDoc.getBody().addEle(new Heading1("Heading01"));
   myDoc.getBody().addEle(new Paragraph("This is a paragraph..."));



You are Java dev and deal with this API. You Don't need to worry about the implementation!

*Project has 97% of code test coverage.

** When I say no "special" components I mean not using any MS library.
In order to use the Java2Word you will need in your classpath xstream (if you use images) and log4j (for other than JBoss server).
Please refer to dependencies section in the project page. 

SQL Server performs very well on data warehouse

I personally don't like .net, ms office, windows and all this shit. Maybe because I love open source, Linux, Java, Mac.

In a data warehouse project, we utilized MySql as first option but the database was considerably slow with 90 Gigabytes database (We are using "star schema" for the data warehouse).

In order to solve this problem, the database was switched to SQL Server . After the initial historical loading, the SQL Server database has got 460 Gigabytes of data and I am very impressed with the response time.

Considering the amount of data processed, I have to admit that SQL Server is a great database for huge data warehouse projects.

It is difficult to sit on your hands when the SQL Server performs comfortably well in a 460 GB database.

Agile na veia: BDD e TDD.

Estou trabalhando em um projeto na Austrália onde o pessoal adota agile completo com SCRUM, XP, BDD (Business Driven Development) e TDD (Test Driven Development)

Vou escrever esse em portugues porque eu não sei se o pessoal esta usando as mesmas coisas no Brazil. E tambem quero praticar meu portugues já que não falo e nem escrevo em pt_br há bastante tempo.

Ferramentas utilizadas são:

Cucumber: Testes de integração automatizados escritos por QA (quality assurance). Testes são implementados em Ruby e JRuby.

Selenium + Webrat: End-to-end testes totalmente automatizados - acabou aquela época de o tester ficar igual a um macaquinho clicando em todos os links etc...

Agile: stand up meeting todo dia pela manha, Retro meetings no final de cada iteração para discutir o que ocorreu de bom e ruim. É tipo uma lavação de roupa suja por meia hora. Pair programming o tempo todo - eu disse o tempo todo. Nenhum codigo pode ser escrito sem "pair

JBoss ESB: Transformação dos dados e alimentaçao do FAST. A transformaçao é feita usando Smooks e gerando um XML através do Freemaker e entao fornecendo essa XML para armazenamento pelo FAST.

Liquibase: Melhora o controle de mudanças no banco de dados.

MySql: Base de dados de uns 90GB.

FAST ESP: Melhorar performance nas pesquisas e na indexação de documentos. Neste caso FAST e usado como um banco de dados com performance elevada. NÃO ache que documento é um .doc ou .xls. Na minha opinião FAST é um "Elefante branco".

Git: Controle de versoes - tipo SVN.

Hudson: Nosso CI (Continuous integration)

O que eu mais gostei:

Com o pair programming eu aprendi Ruby em um tempo muito reduzido. Tambem aprendi a escrever código curto e fácil de ser testado.

Achei o BDD legal. Outra regra no projeto é: Não se escreve código sem Cucumber test que o justifique. Cucumber testes são escritos no ponto de vista do usuário final e segem todos os critérios de aceitação para aquela implementação. Isso quer dizer que quando você desenvolvedor escreve seu codigo, voce já sabe exatamente o que tem que implementar.

Comunicação constante no stand-up sobre o que voce fez, vai fazer e problemas.
Qualquer pedaço de papel ou rabisco vira documentação.

Também acabou aquela palhaçada de o gerente do projeto ficar enchendo a porra do saco a cada 10 minutos perguntando sobre o andamento da tarefa - é só olhar o card board que está tudo lá (what the fuck???).

Refactoring o tempo todo. Voce se sente seguro em efetuar um refactoring porque o código esta todo coberto por testes unitários.

Trabalhei eu vários projetos onde existiam códigos cheios de gambiarra, ninguém sabia como funcionava e niguém podia alterar nada senao parava de funcionar - eu tinha até medo de tocar naquele código.

Com agile, o codigo fica mais maduro com o passar do tempo porque ele vai ser testado e refatorado centena de vezes.


Abraço a todos!

Leonardo