Watir: Passing dynamic selector

Question

Is there a way to pass a dynamic set of options to a textarea element in browser?

options = {
    :type     => 'textarea',
    :selector => ':id',
    :field    => 'id_of_textarea_field',
    :value    => 'Joe Salesperson'
}    

browser.textarea(options[:selector] => options[:field]).set ''

Error received:

invalid attribute: ":id"

A similar thread is listed here (selecting elements using variables in ruby /watir) but no answer.

Answer 1

options = {
    :type     => 'textarea',
    :selector => :id,
    :field    => 'id_of_textarea_field',
    :value    => 'Joe Salesperson'
}

You can just pass the identifier, no need for quotes.

---

2017-01-03, Updating with a use case. Here is the declaration of the method I'm using and the call. The actual code is much more verbose and contains different validations than what I've pasted here. In the example, you'll notice a simple switch block which sets the appropriate information based on the element type passed (specifically text areas, text fields, and select elements).

def validateInput(options = {})
    success   = true

    begin
        case options[:type]
            when 'textarea', 'text_field'
                Watir::Wait.until{$browser.textarea(options[:selector] => options[:field]).present?}

                $browser.textarea(options[:selector] => options[:field]).set options[:value]
            when 'select'
                $browser.select_list(options[:selector] => options[:field]).select_value options[:value]
            else
                puts "in else"
            end
        end
    rescue => e
        $message.push("Failed to validate '#{options[:field]}' field. #{e}")
        success = false
    end

    return success
end


validateInput({
    :type     => 'textarea',
    :selector => :id,
    :field    => 'order_approval_comment_name',
    :value    => 'Joe Salesperson'
})