Feature: Choose javascript database strategy When running a scenario with the @javascript tag, Capybara will fire up a web server in the same process in a separate thread to your cukes. By default, this means ActiveRecord will give it a separate database connection, which in turn means data you put into your database from Cucumber step definitions (e.g. using FactoryGirl) won't be visible to the web server until the database transaction is committed. So if you use a transaction strategy for cleaning up your database at the end of a scenario, it won't work for javascript scenarios by default. There are two ways around this. One is to switch to a truncation strategy for javascript scenarios. This is slower, but more reliable. The alternative is to patch ActiveRecord to share a single database connection between threads. This means you still get the speed benefits of using a transaction to roll back your database, but you run the risk of the two threads stomping on one another as they talk to the database. Right now, the default behavior is to use truncation, but you can override this by telling cucumber-rails which strategy to use for javascript scenarios. The deletion strategy can be quicker for situations where truncation causes locks which has been reported by some Oracle users. Background: Given I have created a new Rails app and installed cucumber-rails And I have a "Widget" ActiveRecord model object Scenario: Set the strategy to truncation and run a javascript scenario. Given I append to "features/env.rb" with: """ DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction Cucumber::Rails::Database.javascript_strategy = :truncation """ And I write to "features/widgets.feature" with: """ Feature: Background: Given I have created 2 widgets @javascript Scenario: Then the DatabaseCleaner strategy should be truncation When I create 3 widgets Then I should have 5 widgets @javascript Scenario: Then the DatabaseCleaner strategy should be truncation And I should have 2 widgets Scenario: Then the DatabaseCleaner strategy should be transaction And I should have 2 widgets """ And I write to "features/step_definitions/widget_steps.rb" with: """ Given /created? (\d) widgets/ do |num| num.to_i.times { Widget.create! } end Then /should have (\d) widgets/ do |num| Widget.count.should == num.to_i end Then /^the DatabaseCleaner strategy should be (\w+)$/ do |strategy_name| DatabaseCleaner.connections.first.strategy.to_s.should =~ /#{strategy_name}/i end """ When I run the cukes Then the feature run should pass with: """ 3 scenarios (3 passed) 10 steps (10 passed) """ Scenario: Set the strategy to deletion and run a javascript scenario. Given I append to "features/env.rb" with: """ Cucumber::Rails::Database.javascript_strategy = :deletion """ And I write to "features/widgets.feature" with: """ @javascript Feature: Background: Given I have created 2 widgets Scenario: When I create 3 widgets Then I should have 5 widgets Scenario: Then I should have 2 widgets """ And I write to "features/step_definitions/widget_steps.rb" with: """ Given /created? (\d) widgets/ do |num| num.to_i.times { Widget.create! } end Then /should have (\d) widgets/ do |num| Widget.count.should == num.to_i end """ When I run the cukes Then the feature run should pass with: """ 2 scenarios (2 passed) 5 steps (5 passed) """ Scenario: Set the strategy to truncation with an except option and run a javascript scenario. Given I append to "features/env.rb" with: """ Cucumber::Rails::Database.javascript_strategy = :truncation, {:except=>%w[widgets]} """ And I write to "features/widgets.feature" with: """ @javascript Feature: Scenario: When I create 3 widgets Then I should have 3 widgets Scenario: Then I should have 3 widgets """ And I write to "features/step_definitions/widget_steps.rb" with: """ Given /created? (\d) widgets/ do |num| num.to_i.times { Widget.create! } end Then /should have (\d) widgets/ do |num| Widget.count.should == num.to_i end """ When I run the cukes Then the feature run should pass with: """ 2 scenarios (2 passed) 3 steps (3 passed) """