---
title: Form Filling is Formulaic
teaser: |
  Write less form-related code in your Capybara tests with
  our newly open-sourced library, Formulaic.
tags: news,web,rails,open source,formulaic
author: Caleb Hearth
published_on: 2014-02-28
---

You probably have more than a few Capybara tests that look a bit like this:

    fill_in ...
    fill_in ...
    fill_in ...
    fill_in ...
    select ...
    choose ...
    click_on 'Submit'

Filling out a form with [Capybara] can be very tedious. With [Formulaic], we aim to make the process less repetitive and more fun.

[Capybara]: http://zendodesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/capybara-wallpaper.jpg
[Formulaic]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/formulaic

```ruby
fill_form(:user, name: 'Caleb', age: 24, city: 'Boston')
fill_form(:user, FactoryBot.attributes_for(:user).slice(:name, :age, :city))
```

## Literate Example

```ruby
# The main entry point for Formulaic is the `fill_form` method.
fill_form(
  # Symbol representing the name of the class the form represents
  :dependent,

  # Pass a hash of attributes to be filled. Works great with
  # `FactoryBot.attributes_for(:dependent)`.
  {
    # The attribute to set and the value. In this case, Formulaic will
    # `fill_in` the "Name" input with "My dependent".
    name: 'My dependent',

    # If the value of an attribute is a hash, Formulaic will look up
    # translations for the correct model. This is
    # `t('simple_form.labels.profile.zip_code')`.
    profile: { zip_code: '12345' },

    # Works with dates, too!
    date_of_birth: 8.years.ago,

    # When passed an array, it will `check` each of the elements.
    ethnicity: [Profile::ETHNICITY_OPTIONS.first],
  }
)

# Formulaic provides a simple way to look up the translation for the
# submit helper for your model and action. The default is `:create`, so
# you can leave that off.
click_on submit(:dependent, :create)
```

Formulaic uses I18n conventions to find the text of labels and assumes that you
are using SimpleForm.

We hope that you enjoy using Formulaic as much as we do, and as always we encourage you to [report any problems] you might have and to [contribute] your improvements!

[report any problems]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/formulaic/issues
[contribute]: https://github.com/thoughtbot/formulaic/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md