This is an open note to all Watir users, despite my personalization. The older one click installers had this checked on by default I believe. It's not common on other systems - Linux, Mac - and the new installer from what I recall as my systems are going down, doesn't explicitly set that value. There are arguments against pulling rubygems in, you can take a look on google for the rationale for and against.
Possibly it's time to update some of the examples or docs with that information. Feel free to put it on the wiki or get involved with documentation if you have the time. Once I get my machines back online and settled up, I should have some free nights or weekends to work on Watir and updating docs. Watir is a community supported effort, I'm sorry you feel the documentation is lacking, while the core members and others use it in our day jobs, we're all volunteers on pushing Watir forward, so we do what we can and what we know. I work with a lot of modal_dialogs, most people don't, so I've been a champion of that as well as my general work on Watir, some people deal with file download dialogs, I don't, so it's less of a priority for me and therefore harder to work on. As opposed to criticizing, I would love to have positive feedback and involvement. This is a community of people who are trying to push forward from some of the traditional heavyweight tooling around test automation. There are a lot of blogs that go into detail about various things you can do with Watir and we certainly try to incorporate that into the documentation. That being said, if there's some lack of documentation, that you can provide, there are several if not more people who can help you out in writing that or modifying our existing documentation. Contact the core members if you want to get involved, post on the list if you have questions or answers. We're more than happy to have additional volunteers, and will help you out to get started. As an open source project we're always looking for volunteers, testing on various systems, documentation, coding, answering questions, graphics, presenting at your local user group, etc. Charley Baker Lead Developer, Watir, http://watir.com QA Architect, Gap Inc Direct On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Bill Agee <billa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Thought I would mention something related to this problem: > > On Windows systems, the Ruby one-click installer attempts to set up your > environment so that explicitly requiring rubygems in scripts is unnecessary. > > The one-click installer does this by trying to set the RUBYOPT environment > variable to the value "-rubygems". > > So, many (most?) folks never have to require 'rubygems' when using Watir. > > But as you discovered, in some scenarios RUBYOPT is not set by the > one-click installer (not sure of the specific reasons why - maybe account > permission issues?). At least one co-worker of mine has run into this, but > I'm not sure which specific OS and account type he was using. > > Anyway, just pointing out that docs are a little sparse on this issue > because many Watir users never have to deal with it. > > A side note - my info applies to: > > - installing on a WinXP Pro machine as an administrator > - using the "ruby186-26.exe" installer found here: > http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=167 > > I'm not sure if the newer versions of the one-click installer behave the > same way. > > Other info: > > You can see the option for enabling RubyGems support in the initial Ruby > installer dialog. It's the "Enable RubyGems" checkbox. > > Once Ruby is installed, you can "echo %RUBYOPT%" to check if the env var > was set properly. > > > On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 8:41 PM, John Williams <jwil...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Solution: In Ruby 1.8.4 or later, you need to preceed the "require >> 'watir'" command with "require 'rubygems'". >> >> How frustrating that this is not pointed out in the Watir >> documentation or examples. I found the solution in another discussion >> forum. >> >> In general I'm very disappointed with the sorry state of Watir >> installation documentation, all of which seems ad hoc, poorly >> integrated and universalized, and taking for granted big steps (e.g. >> using IRB, creating scripts in .rb files, executing .rb files, etc). >> Curiously, nearly all Watir documentation jumps right from installing >> the gems to using the Watir API, ignoring such critical steps as >> opening a Command Prompt with Ruby, opening IRB, requiring rubygems, >> editing and executing a .rb file, etc. Of course the Watir >> documentation shouldn't have to explain Ruby, IRB, or any other >> integrated technology in detail, but it should give the necessary >> steps in order to successfully complete a basic Watir command for >> someone like me who wasn't familiar with Ruby or IRB and certainly has >> no clue about which gems need to be required. >> >> Cheers, >> John >> >> >> On Apr 7, 7:56 pm, John Williams <jwil...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > I couldn't get FireWatir to work on Mac, so I'm trying a more basic >> > installation (I hope) of Watir with IE for Windows XP. After >> > successfully installing the latest Ruby, RubyGems, and Watir 1.6.5, >> > every Watir script I run chokes on the "require" command with the >> > error "no such file to load". This occurs whether I am executing a >> > Ruby script or typing "require 'watir'" in the IRB command line. >> > Clearly Ruby can't find "watir". >> > >> > Since Watir installed successfully, do I need to use "require" >> > commands from any particular directory? >> > >> > Any suggestions appreciated! >> > >> > Thanks, >> > John >> >> -- >> Before posting, please read http://watir.com/support. In short: search >> before you ask, be nice. >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to >> http://groups.google.com/group/watir-general >> To post: watir-general@googlegroups.com >> >> To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject. >> > > -- > Before posting, please read http://watir.com/support. In short: search > before you ask, be nice. > > You received this message because you are subscribed to > http://groups.google.com/group/watir-general > To post: watir-general@googlegroups.com > -- Before posting, please read http://watir.com/support. In short: search before you ask, be nice. You received this message because you are subscribed to http://groups.google.com/group/watir-general To post: watir-general@googlegroups.com
