Send Keys Released!

Send keys is a capybara extension that lets you send keystrokes to an element in the browser. It uses webdriver so must be used using the @javascript tag in your features.

Check it out at http://github.com/markgandolfo/send-keys and read about it at http://markgandolfo.com/pages/send-keys

How to use it

First make sure you use the @javascript tag, to force capybara to use the webdriver driver.

Then in your features you can send characters or modifier keys to an element, or an array of modifier keys and keys. You’ll need to use the css selectors to select an element.

For Example

    # Send the 'a' character to the input who's id is search (#search)
    And I send a to "input#search"
    
    # Send the 'a', 'b' and 'c' characters to the input who's id is search (#search)
    And I send abc to "input#search"
    
    # You can put them in quotes if you feel more comfortable
    And I send 'abc' to "input#search"
    
    # You can also send modifier/special key strokes to an element
    And I send arrow_left to "input#search"
    
    # You can even send a combination of modifier and characters
    # This will result in a the charcater 'A' being sent to the input
    And I send [shift, a] to "input#search"
    
    # Or maybe you just want to press enter
    And I send enter to "input#search"
 
    # How cool would it be to test the counter in a text area (say for a twitter app)
    And I send hello to "#message"
    And I should see "135" in "characters_left"
    And I send backspace to "#message"
    And I should see "135" in "characters_left"
    
    # We used it to test completion suggestions
    # The first suggested name was highlighted and responded to an enter keypress
    And I send "bo" to "input#username"
    And I should see "bob" within "username_suggestions"
    And I send enter to "input#username"

List of modifiers/special keys

There are a list of modifier and special keys which can be sent to an element

null, cancel, help, backspace, tab, clearreturn, enter, shift, left_shift, control, left_control alt, left_alt, pause, escape, spacepage_up, page_down, end, home, left, arrow_left, uparrow_up, right, arrow_rightdown, arrow_down, insert, delete, semicolon, equals, numpad0, numpad1, numpad2, numpad3, numpad4, numpad5, numpad6, numpad7, numpad8, numpad9, multiplyadd, separator, subtract, decimal, divide, f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6, f7, f8, f9, f10, f11, f12

Please note

Different OS’ have different ways of simulating modifier keys, as a result not all will work on MacOSX, for example tab will not work. When I have some time I’ll patch webdriver to support these keys.