automating gmail using watir

[shailesh]

I am a new user of Watir. I did not get the solution thread so posting
here:
This is a program to automate gmail to compose mail and check in the
sent item but it gives the following error :

>ruby autogmail.rb
Loaded suite autogmail
Started
E
Finished in 11.454 seconds.

1) Error:
test_gmaildemo(GmailDemo):
Watir::Exception::UnknownFrameException: Unable to locate a frame with
id canvas_frame
c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/frame.rb:
40:in `locate'
c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/frame.rb:
47:in `initialize'
c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/container.rb:
102:in `new'
c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/container.rb:
102:in `frame'
autogmail.rb:13:in `test_gmaildemo'

1 tests, 0 assertions, 0 failures, 1 errors
>Exit code: 1


The original code is available in watir simple examples :

require 'test/unit'
require 'watir'

class GmailDemo < Test::Unit::TestCase
def test_gmaildemo
ie = Watir::IE.new
ie.goto('mail.google.com')
ie.text_field(:name,'Email').set("em...@gmail.com")
ie.text_field(:name,'Passwd').set("password")
ie.button(:name,'signIn').click_no_wait

# We need the iframe with ID 'canvas_frame'. Store it in a var.
canvas_frame = ie.frame(:id, 'canvas_frame')

# Get the current user's email address. We'll be sending email to
it.
my_address = canvas_frame.div(:id, 'guser').text.slice(/^.*@gmail
\.com/)
mail_subject = 'Hello Watir world!'
mail_body_text = 'Hi.'

canvas_frame.span(:text, 'Compose Mail').click # Compose new mail
canvas_frame.text_field(:name, 'to').set(my_address)
canvas_frame.text_field(:name, 'subject').set(mail_subject)
# The mail body field is contained in its own iframe, which only
contains
# a body element. So, save the iframe in a var, then set the
innerText
# property of the iframe's body element.
mail_body_frame = canvas_frame.frame(:index, 1)
# TODO: there must be a friendlier way to do this, while still
avoiding
# hardcoding of any unfriendly identifiers. Does Watir need a body
method?
mail_body_frame.document.body.setproperty('innerText',
mail_body_text)

canvas_frame.button(:text, 'Send').click # Send the message
canvas_frame.link(:text, 'Sent Mail').click # Browse to sent mail
page
assert(canvas_frame.contains_text('Hello Watir world!'))
canvas_frame.link(:text, /Inbox/).click # Return to the inbox
page
ie.close
end
end

[Bill Agee]

Hi,

I notice you are using click_no_wait when submitting your gmail credentials.  Could it be that your script moves on to the next line (finding the iframe) before the browser has finished loading the main document after login?  What happens if you replace click_no_wait with click?

But even if that is fixed, you may find that the script fails when locating the 'Send' button.  (That is where it breaks down for me today.)  I found a post on a selenium mailing list in June where someone complained of the same problem.

I posted the original wiki page with this code, but since then it's become obvious that gmail is a moving target that is tough to hit.  :)  It seems to me that the gmail team is either actively trying to discourage casual automation, or at least has no interest in making it easy.

So I am considering removing the wiki page I wrote on this topic, mainly because the code doesn't work anymore - and even if it were made to work today, it would probably break again soon due to future gmail changes.  Any contrary opinions?

Thanks
Bill