The demand for modernized test automation frameworks has risen dramatically in response to the need to bring products to market faster. A reason for this is using frameworks such as React, Angular, and Vue to build contemporary online apps.
Despite Selenium being one of the most widely used tools for web automation testing, other open-source test automation alternatives are gaining popularity.
Cypress is one such approach that aims to address the fundamental problems that modern internet apps face. These technologies improve the consistency and efficiency of testing.
Cypress test automation framework is fundamentally and architecturally different from the Selenium test automation framework. The developer community is embracing it in droves.
Cypress Test Automation Framework: Quick Overview
Cypress is a ground-breaking front-end testing framework that makes writing robust and adaptive web application tests simple. It includes comprehensive testing capabilities for unit and integration tests, speedy test authoring, straightforward reporting, and a user-friendly interface.
Cypress is written in JavaScript, the most commonly used front-end programming language that gives it a particular advantage. Since it was openly released to the community, it has a large following (about 32K GitHub stars) of developers and QA engineers.
Cypress is a good choice for automation, so why?
Let’s look into the architectural differences between Cypress and Selenium and how Cypress approaches modern online application testing.
Selenium Framework For Test Automation
Selenium WebDriver is a powerful development tool for automating browser testing. It is considered among the Cypress alternatives for web application testing.
A Selenium server conducts your tests. A browser driver corresponds to the browser in this architecture (under test) and an arbitrary number of clients who communicate with the server, usually using the Selenium framework’s supported language.
Knowing How to Use the Cypress Test Automation Framework
Cypress is an open-source web application testing tool based on JavaScript. Unlike Selenium, Cypress works totally in the browser and requires no driver binaries. The automation and the application code operate on the same platform, giving you complete control over the test app.
Cypress is based on the NodeJS server, which connects with the test runner (Browser). Cypress uses the same event loop to run the application (one of the iframes) and the test code (another iframe). Cypress is an open-source web application testing tool based on JavaScript. Unlike Selenium, Cypress works totally in the browser and requires no driver binaries. The automation and the application code operate on the same platform, giving you complete control over the test app.
Cypress Automation Setup
Although the Cypress testing framework allows you to run tests in parallel, attaining optimal browser coverage on a local configuration is impossible. Upgrade your test infrastructure to a Grid-based system for better browser coverage. Cypress UI testing may be run on various browsers and operating systems using the Cypress framework. Because Cypress is distributed as an NPM package, you have to install it from the repository and configure it to use Cypress.
1st Step: Find the folder you want. Demonstrate Cypress (Cypress Demo).
2nd Step: Inside the cypressdemo folder, open a terminal or command prompt.
3rd Step: Use the command npm install Cypress –save-dev.
4th Step: After the installation is complete, run the following command: open cypress npx
Understanding Cypress Folder Structures
By default, Cypress has a folder structure. The primary folder is Cypress, which has subfolders within it.
- Integration: The test scripts are maintained in this folder.
- Fixtures: You can organize it in the Fixtures folder if you’re utilizing external data in your tests.
- Plugins: The Plugins folder contains individual files that can be used to run code before the project loading. Include any pre-processors your project needs in this subdirectory and configure them appropriately. The index.js file is located in the plugins folder by default, and it can be changed to create your tasks.
- Support: Utilities, global commands, frequently used codes, and other items can be found under the Support folder.
- Assets: Screenshots, videos, and other media will be generated in a folder named downloads after the test run has been completed.
Benefits Of Cypress Testing
Cypress can be used instead of or in addition to other web testing frameworks for various reasons. Some benefits of Cypress are listed here:
- It is quite easy to install the Cypress framework.
- The wait for requests feature in Cypress eliminates the need for further delays.
- Cypress does not require any driver binaries, and it runs entirely in the browser.
- The test code can access application JS objects because it runs in the same browser as the application.
- It supports detailed reporting with a dashboard.
- You can do parallel testing.
- Cypress tests are less unstable because the framework includes auto-wait features.
1. Cypress Has More Varieties
Because it is created with JavaScript and is based on Mocha and Chai, Cypress is more frequently used than other automation frameworks. Because JavaScript is the primary language used by web developers, the fact that Cypress is based on it is essential. Cypress tests are written in a language familiar to developers, making the tool even more user-friendly. You can get the option of performing cross-browser testing using Cypress. Cypress may be used to perform tests on Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Electron.
2. Setup Is Simple
If you’ve ever used Selenium before, you’ll know that you must choose all of the dependencies and libraries you’ll need before starting testing. No additional settings are required because Cypress has already installed these dependencies and libraries. Furthermore, because Cypress contains the Chrome browser, there is no need to set up a sophisticated infrastructure. You can also test Cypress with any other browser installed on your local PC.
3. Cypress Is Capable Of Debugging.
With Cypress, you can rapidly debug your web projects. If a test fails, you’ll be advised to resolve the problem. Debugging using Chrome DevTools is possible from there. Cypress also has time travel and real-time reloading, allowing developers to examine their website code during and after testing. Because Cypress has access to every item, error analysis is streamlined and simplified. Cypress may offer photos of test failures, making troubleshooting apps and detecting errors much easier.
4. Fast Test Execution With Cypress Automation
Cypress is recognized for its quick test execution, which takes less than 20 milliseconds. The Cypress framework provides automated waiting, so you don’t have to create any implicit or explicit waits.
In addition, after the first test is completed, the framework automatically executes the following tests. This reduces downtime and eliminates the need to begin the next test manually.
Using a cloud testing platform like LambdaTest is another popular method for leveraging a secure and fast testing experience. LambdaTest is cloud-based test orchestration and execution platform that allows you to perform Cypress testing across 40+ browser versions on cloud. You can also reduce operational costs and accelerate your test execution time by performing Cypress parallel testing on cloud.
5. The Cypress Community Is Thriving.
Cypress is a completely free, open-source framework. A dashboard with artifacts like DOM snapshots, which are essential for debugging, and video storage is included in the commercial edition. Thanks to active communities on GitHub, Gitter, and StackOverflow, Cypress is growing in popularity. Cypress also comes with extensive documentation.
Tips and Tricks: Cypress
They are simple and effective; they do not necessitate any additional effort, and they are usually only used once at the start.
- Separate and categorize your tests to make them easier to manage.
Be prepared to take a lot of tests for a single application. If you toss them all into one folder without thinking, it might create a lot of havoc, even if you haven’t already taken care of the proper name. After a month off, it will take some time for you to get back into it. So, best of luck!
That is why it is critical to maintain the tree’s cleanliness. First, use evocative names. It’s all about understanding what this test performs without looking at the code.
Don’t be scared to take it further and create folders to organize your data better. If you’re testing from the perspective of different users with different levels of access to the program, separate the tests into appropriate folders, such as ‘admin’ and regular-user.’ You can also divide tests into categories, such as login and registration tests in the ‘user’ folder and buying process tests in the shopping folder.
- Create your tests
You won’t have to worry about creating tests after figuring out how to maintain your tree clean and legible. So make a bunch of them – ideally one for each feature. To cover as many things as possible at once, avoid writing extensive code. Don’t try changing your password simultaneously if you’re testing the login process. This is its feature. Logging in and changing the password might both succeed, but if you put them both in one test, you’ll get one failure. Here you lose half of the information. A better strategy is to build two tests, one that succeeds and the other that fails. Then you’ll know where to seek for the issue.
- Create a basic URL
It’s critical to keep things straightforward. Set the base URL in the ‘cypress.json’ file instead of repeating the lines with web addresses in each test. You won’t have to provide the address every time you use the cy. visit() command because of this. cy.visit (‘/ account’) gives you easier access to the subpages.
Concluding Thought
Cypress E2E testing is a new web testing framework on the block. This expanding online automation testing solution complements Selenium, which has long been the de facto framework for web automation. Cypress excels in providing a comprehensive end-to-end testing platform as a test automation framework. There are built-in capabilities like an assertion library, mocking, stubbing, and a visual testing experience.
