Cucumber + Capybara HTML table comparison from http://railscasts.com/episodes/186-pickle-with-cucumber

common_steps.rb

Then(/^I should see (.+) table$/) do |table_id, expected_table|
  html_table = table_at("##{table_id.parameterize.tableize}").to_a
  html_table.map! { |r| r.map! { |c| c.gsub(/<.+?>/, '').gsub(/[\n\t\r]/, '') } }
  expected_table.diff!(html_table)
end

example_table.feature

  Scenario: Adding a promo code
    Given an administrator exists with email: "[email protected]", password: "testing"
    And I am logged in as "[email protected]" with password "testing"
    Given I am on path "/admin/promo_codes"
    When I follow "+ Add code"
    Then I should see "Create Promo Code"
    When I fill in the following:
      | Code           | 50OFF      |
      | Percentage off | 50         |
    And I select "2015-01-01" as the "Expire at" date    
    And I press "Create"
    Then I should see "Promo Code '50OFF' has been added."
    And I should see promo codes table
      | Code  | Expire at              | Percentage off | Actions |
      | 50OFF | January 01, 2015 00:00 | 50%            | Delete  |

selectors.rb

module HtmlSelectorsHelpers
  
  #....

  def table_at(selector) # see https://gist.github.com/1149139
    Nokogiri::HTML(page.body).css(selector).map do |table|
      table.css('tr').map do |tr|
        tr.css('th, td').map { |td| td.text }
      end
    end[0].reject(&:empty?)
  end
end

In case this is useful to anyone, this is still in use, but needs some changes to be used in capybara 2.6.0

module JavascriptHelpers
  def show_header
    if page.driver.class == Capybara::Poltergeist::Driver
      page.execute_script 'document.querySelector("#header").style.display = "block"'
    end
  end

  #see https://gist.github.com/denmarkin/1334262
  def table_at(selector) # see https://gist.github.com/1149139
    Nokogiri::HTML(page.body).css(selector).map do |table|
      table.css('tr').map do |tr|
        tr.css('th, td').map { |td| td.text }
      end
    end[0].reject(&:empty?)
  end

  def check_simple_table_data(table_data, options = {})
    options.reverse_merge!(:headers => true)
    table_selector = "table"
    table = page.all(table_selector).last
    expect(table).to be

    within(table) do
      if !options[:headers]
        header_map = (0...table_data.rows.first.length).to_a
        row_count = table_data.raw.length
        table_rows = table_data.raw
      else
        header_map = []
        row_count = table_data.raw.length - 1

        first_tr = page.all("tr").first
        within(first_tr) do
          columns = all("th").collect{ |column| column.text.downcase.strip }
          columns.size.should >= table_data.headers.size

          table_data.headers.each_with_index do |header, index|
            column = columns.index(header.downcase.strip)
            column.should_not be_nil
            header_map << column
          end
        end
        table_rows = table_data.raw[1...table_data.raw.length]
      end

      within("tbody") do
        all("tr").size.should == row_count

        xpath_base = './/tr[%i]/td[%i]';
        table_rows.each_with_index do |row, index|
          row.each_with_index do |value, column|
            find(:xpath, xpath_base % [index + 1, header_map[column] + 1]).should have_content(value)
          end
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

World JavascriptHelpers