This document describes the conventions used at GitLab for writing GUI tests using the GitLab QA project.
## `click_` versus `go_to_`
### When to use `click_`?
When clicking in a single link to navigate, use `click_`.
E.g.:
```ruby
defclick_ci_cd_pipelines
within_sidebardo
click_element:link_pipelines
end
end
```
From a testing perspective, if we want to check that clicking a link, or a button (a single interaction) is working as intended, we would want the test to read as:
- Click a certain element
- Verify the action took place
### When to use `go_to_`?
When interacting with multiple elements to go to a page, use `go_to_`.
E.g.:
```ruby
defgo_to_operations_environments
hover_operationsdo
within_submenudo
click_element(:operations_environments_link)
end
end
end
```
`go_to_` fits the definition of interacting with multiple elements very well given it's more of a meta-navigation action that includes multiple interactions.
Notice that in the above example, before clicking the `:operations_environments_link`, another element is hovered over.
> We can create these methods as helpers to abstrac multi-step navigation.