Cypress is a test automation tool that helps you to write tests for your web applications.
It is a powerful and easy-to-use tool that makes it easy to write tests for your web applications.
For instance, let's say you want to test a simple login form.
The Cypress way would be to:
1. Write a test script that navigates to the login page.
2. Enter the username and password into the form.
3. Submit the form.
4. Assert that the user is redirected to the home page.
You can use Cypress to test your web applications' UI, interactions, and data.
It has many features that make it a great tool for test automation, but there are some best practices that you should follow when using it.
In this blog, we'll cover everything you need to know about Cypress and 9 Cypress best practices for test automation:
1. Use the latest version of Cypress and login programmatically
2. Follow the conventions
3. Keep your tests small and focused
4. Write atomic tests
5. Don't use shared state in your tests
6. Structure your tests well
7. Use Page Objects Models (POM)
8. Use custom commands
9. Debug your tests
Let's dive in!
Cypress is a test automation tool that helps you to write effective test cases for your web applications. Cypress enables you to easily write tests for your web applications by providing a powerful and easy-to-use test runner.
It also has many features that make it a great tool for test automation, such as its support for page object models (POM), custom commands, and debugging tools.
When you are writing tests, it is important to keep your test data separate from your test code. This will make it easier to change and update your test data without having to modify your test code.
One way to do this is to store your test data in a JSON file. You can then load this file into Cypress using the `cy.fixture()` command.
For example, let's say you have a login form that requires a username and password. You could store the test data for this in a JSON file like this:
You can then load this data into Cypress using the `cy.fixture()` command:
This approach has several benefits. First, it keeps your test data separate from your test code, which makes it easier to change and update.
Second, using the `cy.fixture()` command ensures that your test data is loaded before your tests start running. This means that you won't have to wait for the data to be loaded before your tests start, which can save you time.
Writing tests in Cypress is similar to writing tests in other frameworks such as Selenium. However, there are some best practices that you should follow when using it.
Read on to learn 9 Cypress best practices for test automation.
Starting to work with Cypress may be a little bit daunting, but don’t worry because we have your back.
Prevent any failing tests in your future by following these Cypress best practices:
Cypress is constantly being updated with new features and bug fixes. It is important to use the latest version of Cypress so that you have access to the latest features and bug fixes.
To update to the latest version of Cypress, run the following command:
Once Cypress has been updated, you will need to login again. You can do this by running the following command:
When writing tests in Cypress, it is important to follow the conventions set out by the team. This will make it easier for others to read and understand your tests.
Some of the conventions that you should follow include using `cy.` before every command, chaining commands together, and using `cy.task()` to run asynchronous tasks.
It is important to keep your tests small and focused so that they are easy to understand and maintain. Try to break up your tests into smaller pieces that each test one specific thing.
For example, if you are testing a login feature, you could have one test that tests the positive scenario (i.e. the user enters the correct username and password) and another test that tests the negative scenario (i.e. the user enters an incorrect username and password).
Atomic tests are tests that can be run independently of each other. This means that if one test fails, the other tests will still be able to run.
One way to write atomic tests is to use the `cy.request()` command to make HTTP requests directly from your test. This means that your tests will not be dependent on the UI, which will make them more reliable.
A shared state is when two or more tests rely on each other to run. This can make your tests less reliable because if one test fails, the other tests may also fail.
To avoid using shared state in your tests, you can use the `cy.request()` command to make HTTP requests directly from your test. This means that your tests will not be dependent on the UI, which will make them more reliable.
It is important to structure your tests well so that they are easy to understand and maintain. A good way to do this is to use the `describe()` and `it()` commands to group your tests together.
The `describe()` command is used to group a set of related tests together, and the `it()` command is used to specify a single test.
You should also remember to add multiple assertions to your tests so that you can be confident that your tests are covering all the scenarios.
Assertions are used to check if a certain condition is true or not. If the condition is not true, then the assertion will fail. These assertions can be added using the `cy.should()` command.
Adding an assertion is not the same as running unit tests, but more like checking if the state of the application is as expected, which is an important part of writing Cypress tests.
Page objects are classes that contain methods for interacting with the page. Using page objects can make your tests more readable and maintainable because you can reuse the methods in multiple tests.
To create a page object, you first need to create a class with methods for interacting with the page. For example, if you are testing a login feature, you could have a method for entering the username and password and another method for submitting the form.
Once you have created your page object, you can then use it in your tests. This will make your tests more readable because you will not need to duplicate the code for interacting with the page.
Creating page objects can be difficult and time-consuming. However, there are a few tools that can help you to create page objects automatically.
One tool that you can use is the Cypress Test Recorder. Cypress Test Recorder is a Chrome extension that allows you to record your interactions with the page and generates the code for a page object automatically.
But, Cypress can sometimes lag and not kickstart the POM process right off the bat. That's where the Preflight testing tool can step up.
A single change in your UI shouldn't disrupt your entire test suite. But if you're using Cypress, even a small change can break all your tests.
Preflight luckily adapts to these changes and automatically generates new page objects for you.
With our testing tool, you just have to download the chrome extension, then you can record your actions and edit the generated code right in our interactive UI. This means that you can easily customize your page objects to match your needs.
Besides adapting to changes, Preflight can generate POMs from Cypress and speed up test generation 30 times faster. If you have multiple tests to run, this is a great way to save time.
Custom commands are methods that you can create to automate repetitive tasks.
For example, if you need to log in to your application before running each test, you could create a custom command for this.
Creating custom commands can make your tests more readable and maintainable because you will not need to duplicate the code to perform the task.
To create a custom command, you must first define it in the `commands.js` file. For example, if you wanted to create a command for logging in, you could add the following code:
After you have defined your custom command, you can then use it in your tests. This will make your tests more readable because you will not need to duplicate the code to perform the task.
Debugging your tests can be difficult because you need to identify which parts of the code are causing the issues.
There are a few tools that can help you to debug your tests. One tool is the `cypress-debug` module. This module allows you to log statements, errors, and warnings from your tests.
Another tool that can help you to debug your tests is the `cypress-failed-log` module. This module allows you to log the state of the application at the time when a test fails.
You can also use the `debugger` statement in your code to add breakpoints. This will allow you to pause the execution of your code and inspect the state of the application.
To use the `debugger` statement, you first need to add it to your code.
For example, if you wanted to add a breakpoint at the beginning of a test, you could add the following code:
After you have added the `debugger` statement, you can then run your tests in debugging mode. This will allow you to pause the execution of your code and inspect the state of the application.
You can also use the `cypress open` command to open the Cypress Test Runner. This will allow you to set breakpoints and debug your tests in the UI.
Cypress is a great tool for automating your tests. But there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when using it.
First, Cypress is not suitable for testing every type of application. For example, if you need to test an application that uses a lot of AJAX requests, Cypress might not be the best tool for this.
Second, Cypress is not suitable for testing applications that are not well-designed. If your application has a lot of bugs, Cypress might not be able to find all of them.
Third, Cypress is not suitable for testing applications that change frequently. If your application changes often, you might need to spend a lot of time maintaining your tests.
Fourth, Cypress is not suitable for testing applications that have a lot of dependencies. If your application has many dependencies, you might need to mock them in order to test your application.
So you can consider using other testing tools like Preflight, for instance, for automating your tests. It’s a great tool for automating your tests because:
You can use Preflight for automating your tests without having to worry about the drawbacks of Cypress!