How to verify error messages using Geb

Question

How do i capture the error messages generated on web page(for example an error message generated when a login button is pressed without inserting any username or password), how do i extract this error message "Username is required" using geb. im using geb groovy based automation

Answer 1

So you would first model your page, and get the locator for the error you want to assert has been displayed. Note that you want to set this to required: false as you would not expect it to be displayed when you first land on the page.

Page with example page error with ID of #pageError:

class MyPage extends Page
{
    static url = "/mypageurl"
    static at = {
        title == "My Page"
    }

    static content = {
        pageError (required: false) { $('#pageError') }
        submitButton { $('#mySubmitButton') }
    }

    def submitForm() {
      submitButton.click()
     }
}

Then you have your test:

def "If I try click Submit without filling out all form details show me an error message"()
{
    when: "I click Submit without completing all form fields"

        def myPage = to(MyPage)
        myPage.submitForm()

    then: "I am shown an error message on the same page"

        myPage.pageError.displayed
}

EDIT:

Noticed you mentioned getting the content of the error, you would call this instead to get the text:

myPage.pageError.text()