Form Population Engine

Form Population Engine#

ArgoBEAST includes a robust Form Engine designed to handle complex forms with minimal boilerplate code. Instead of writing unique logic for every form, you map the fields once and use a generic engine to drive the interactions.

The Workflow#

Populating a form requires four components working in harmony:

  1. The Feature: Defines What data to enter.

  2. The Step: Passes the data to the Action layer.

  3. The Action: Selects the correct Map and calls the generic engine.

  4. The Page: Defines the Map (Locators & Input Types).

1. The Feature File (The Tester)#

Testers define the data using a vertical Data Table. You do not need to specify how to fill the field (e.g., dropdown vs text), only the value.

Scenario: Create a new user
  Given I am on the registration page
  When I populate the registration form with:
    | Name           | Alice Bobson |
    | Role           | Administrator|
    | Active         | True         |
    | Gender         | Female       |
  And I click save

2. The Step Definition (The Router)#

The step definition is extremely thin. It simply passes the raw Behave table to the specific action wrapper.

@when("I populate the registration form with")
def step_impl(context):
    # Pass the generic Behave table directly to the action
    context.app.user_actions.populate_registration(context.table)

3. The Action Wrapper (The Configuration)#

The Action class binds the Data (from the step) to the Map (from the page). It uses the populate_generic_form method available in BaseAction.

class UserActions(BaseAction):

    def populate_registration(self, table_data):
        # 1. Select the specific map for this form
        target_map = self.page.REGISTRATION_MAP

        # 2. Call the generic engine
        self.populate_generic_form(target_map, table_data)

4. The Page Object (The Map)#

This is where the magic happens. The developer defines a dictionary mapping the “English Name” of the field to its Locator and Input Type.

Syntax: "Field Name": (Locator, InputType)

class UserPage(BasePage):

    # Locators
    NAME_LOC = (By.ID, "user_name")
    ROLE_LOC = (By.ID, "role_select")
    ACTIVE_LOC = (By.ID, "is_active")
    GENDER_CONTAINER = (By.ID, "gender_options")

    # The Form Map
    REGISTRATION_MAP = {
        "Name":   (NAME_LOC, "text"),          # Standard Text
        "Role":   (ROLE_LOC, "select"),        # Dropdown
        "Active": (ACTIVE_LOC, "checkbox"),    # Checkbox (True/False)
        "Gender": (GENDER_CONTAINER, "radio_group") # Radio Group
    }

Supported Input Types#

The generic engine supports the following input types:

  • "text" (Default): Clears the field and types the value.

  • "select": Selects from a standard dropdown by visible text (falls back to value).

  • "checkbox": Toggles the box to match the boolean string (e.g., “True”, “Yes”, “On”).

  • "radio": Clicks the specific element defined in the locator.

  • "radio_group": Searches inside the container for a label or value matching the input string.

  • "combobox": Handles Autocomplete/Streamlit inputs (Clear -> Type -> Enter)