Select item from chosen js select with Capybara-Webkit

chosen.rb

def select_from_chosen(item_text, options)
  field_id = find_field(options[:from])[:id]
  within "##{field_id}_chzn" do
    find('a.chzn-single').click
    input = find("div.chzn-search input")
    item_text.each_char do |char|
      input.base.invoke('keypress', false, false, false, false, char.ord, nil);
    end
    find('ul.chzn-results').click
    input.base.invoke('keypress', false, false, false, false, 40, nil); # down arrow
    input.base.invoke('keypress', false, false, false, false, 13, nil); # return
    within 'a.chzn-single' do
      page.should have_content item_text
    end
  end
end

def select_from_multi_chosen(item_text, options)
  field_id = find_field(options[:from])[:id]
  within "##{field_id}_chzn" do
    input = find("ul.chzn-choices input")
    item_text.each_char do |char|
      input.base.invoke('keypress', false, false, false, false, char.ord, nil);
    end
    input.base.invoke('keypress', false, false, false, false, 13, nil); # return
    within 'ul.chzn-choices' do
      page.should have_content item_text
    end
  end
end

I've experimented with several ways to accomplish this but the one that felt the least intrusive was:

def select_from_chosen(id, position)
  find(:css, "##{id}_chzn .search-field").click()
  find(:css, "##{id}_chzn_o_#{position}").click()
end

Since it doesn't force the execution of JS and it mimics the user behavior more closely. You could also do one where you click on the fields and then type to mimic the search, followed by an enter to select the currently highlighted choice

It's important to notice that the previous methods have a potentially bad bug. They all have race conditions, as they will return before all the JavaScript has been processed and the underlying hidden select elements have been updated. This will lead to incomplete requests and thus failing RSpec tests non-deterministically. The solution is easy enough: return the value of the of the modified fields at the end of the function.

Here's what I just started using, as I wanted to mimic the existing select syntax:

  def choose(val, from:)
    group = find 'div.select', text: from
    group.click
    within(group) do
      find('li', text: val).click
    end
  end

I'm using hoffmanc's solution and it's working ;)