Using Watir to check for bad links

Question

I have an unordered list of links that I save off to the side, and I want to click each link and make sure it goes to a real page and doesnt 404, 500, etc.

The issue

Answer 1

There's a bit of a philosophical debate on whether watir or watir-webdriver should provide HTTP return code information. The premise being that an ordinary 'user' which is what Watir is simulating on the DOM is ignorant of HTTP return codes. I don't necessarily agree with this, as I have a slightly different use case perhaps to the main (performance testing etc)... but it is what it is. This thread expresses some opinions about the distinction => http://groups.google.com/group/watir-general/browse_thread/thread/26486904e89340b7

At present there's no easy way to determine HTTP response codes from Watir without using supplementary tools like proxies/Fiddler/HTTPWatch/TCPdump, or downgrading to a net/http level of scripting mid test... I personally like using firebug with the netexport plugin to keep a retrospective look at tests.