Search code examples
codeception

Codeception ->see("String") fails but ->seeInSource("String") succeeds

Something is wrong with the AcceptanceTester->see() method for me. It can't see things that are plainly there in the source, as shown by the AcceptanceTester->seeInSource() method.

Here's my test, which runs in PHPBrowser within the WP-Browser implementation of Codeception:

    public function testAfricaIsVisible(AcceptanceTester $I) {
        $I->amOnPage('/');
        $I->seeResponseCodeIs(200);
        $I->seeInSource('Africa');
        $I->see('Africa');
    }

Here's the result I get:

screenshot of results, showing the ->see() test failing

As you can see, ->SeeInSource("Africa") works, but ->see("Africa") fails.

I understand that ->SeeInSource() sometimes "sees" things that ->see() doesn't, but in this case, the word "Africa" is link text that should be clearly visible with or without strip_tags() applied.

In this case, when I open up the Html link the word "Africa" is clearly visible:

screenshot showing how "africa" is on the page as the text of an a tag

Anyone have any idea why Codeception doesn't ->see() this text?

Solution

  • I figured it out. For anyone with a similar problem, the underlying issue was malformed HTML that was glossed over by Chrome/Firefox but screwed up the site as seen by Phpbrowser. I bet if I was using the WebDriver module instead, it would work.

    The solution: Use an HTML validation tool and fix the reported syntax errors.

    In this case it was a title tag with a single-quote in it, e.g. title='doesn't'