geb: RequiredPageContentNotPresent after login request - geb

Question

I have the following setup:
class LoginPage extends Page {
def login() { //fill user/pass, click "login"}
}
class IndexPage extends Page {
static content = {
sideTabs { module SideTabs }
}
}
class TabAPage extends Page {
//...
}
class SideTabs extends Module {
static content = {
tabA(to: TabAPage) { $(".sidetab-label", text: "tab A") }
}
}
class TabALoginSpec extends GebReportingSpec {
def setup() {
to LoginPage
}
def "test foo"() { /* ... */ }
def "test bar"() {
when:
login()
// report "after login"
at IndexPage
sideTabs.tabA.click()
//...
then:
// ...
}
}
When I execute "test bar", I get:
geb.error.RequiredPageContentNotPresent: The required page content 'IndexPage -> sideTabs: SideTabs -> tabA: geb.navigator.EmptyNavigator' is not present
When I execute "test bar" and uncomment the report line, test passes.
So I'm guessing the problem lies in "at IndexPage" returning before the page has finished loading. I don't think login() should wait on any content, because if the login fails, then there's no content loading issue, and if login succeeds - the page transitions to Index. I've attempted adding wait:true to tabA's content definition, to no avail.
Funnily, on the screenshots geb produces in the wake of "test bar"'s failure, I can actually spot the tabA element...
Help appreciated.
Update:
adding
void onLoad(Page previousPage) {
waitFor { sideTabs.tabA }
}
to IndexPage seems to iron-out the problem so-far. I'm unclear why adding wait:true to the content definition did not yield the same result.

Answer 1

Adding a required:false should work but placed here:
class SideTabs extends Module {
static content = {
tabA(required:false, to: TabAPage) { $(".sidetab-label", text: "tab A") }
}
}

Answer 2

If you don't want to wait for all of the content to load before interacting with the page then use required: false when defining your content.
e.g.
class IndexPage extends Page {
static content = {
sideTabs(required: false) { module SideTabs }
}
}
The intended use of the required statement is for hidden content that can be made visible after page interaction. But it should help in this scenario.

Answer 3

Good practice is to add the at in the IndexPage class, check documentation here.
Your class should look like:
class IndexPage extends Page {
static at = {...}
static content = {
sideTabs { module SideTabs }
}
}
I think that using the report slows down the test, causing the page to render correctly.