Getting Started with Watir In One Minute Guide

Watir (Web Application Testing in Ruby) is a great functional testing framework for web applications. However, newcomers often have difficulties. If you do, you may find this useful.

Use TestWise RubyShell

TestWise Rubyshell is a pre-packaged Watir software on Windows platform.

1. Install TextWise RubyShell
   Download latest RubyShell installer, double click rubyshell-1.x.x-setup.exe to install, accept all default options.
   (Default to c:\rubyshell)
2. Try out: Watir
   You are ready to run Watir scripts. Start a Window command window,
   view source

   print?

   1.cd C:\rubyshell\samples\watir

   2.ruby google_watir.rb
3. Try out: Watir with RSpec + Reports
   Double click C:\rubyshell\samples\watir_rspec\demo.bat

Use RubyInstaller and install Watir manually

1. Install Ruby
   Install Ruby (recommending v1.8.7) using the one-click installer for Windows.
2. Install Watir
   Start a Windows command window (if you are unfamiliar with this, you'd better try TestWise IDE)

   gem install watir

   
   If you behind a firewall and need proxy to access Internet,

   gem install -p http://proxy_server:proxy_port watir
3. Create a sample Watir script file
   
   Open notepad, paste into the text below,
   view source

   print?

   1.require 'watir'

   2. 

   3.browser = Watir::IE.start("http://google.com")

   4.browser.text_field(:name, "q").set "Watir IDE"

   5.browser.button(:name, "btnG").click
   then save as c:\google_watir.rb
4. Run Watir script
   
   Start a Windows command window,
   view source

   print?

   1.cd C:\

   2.ruby c:\google_watir.rb
   to run the watir test script you just created, which will start an Internet Explorer window: doing a google search.

Use TestWise IDE

Create, edit, manage and run Watir/RWebSpec test scripts in single tool.

1. Install TestWise IDE
   Download free TestWise Community Edition installer, double click TestWise-1.x.x-setup.exe to install, accept all default options.
2. Startup TestWise IDE
   You may launch TestWise after the installation (default) 
   
   Or start up normally
   
3. Try it out
   TestWise will load the sample project if it is first time. 
   If not, close current project, click menu File -> Open Project, then choose c:\Program File\TestWise\samples\demo-watir\demo-watir.tprproject file.
   Select the file hello_world_watir.rb on the left, the test script will be opened in the editor.
   
   Right mouse click in the editor, select 'Run Ruby script'
   
   An Internet Explorer will be started to run the Watir script.