Cypress is one of the most popular and widely used automated testing frameworks in the developer and QA communities. Besides, it offers a wide range of features that make it easy to write and run tests.
A big part of Cypress’s appeal is the fact that it’s based on JavaScript, a programming language that is familiar to developers.
1. Create a Test Suite
A test suite is a collection of several tests that are executed to validate the functionality of software applications. A test suite can include integration, unit, and performance tests. A test suite is important because it helps to ensure that software applications are functional and reliable.
A good test suite should be fast and complete. This will allow you to quickly identify errors in your application and provide feedback quickly.
Tests should also be written to be scalable and reliable, so you can replicate real user scenarios as closely as possible. In addition, you should write your tests using Cypress best practices to avoid introducing unnecessary errors and failures.
If you don’t follow these best practices, your Cypress tests will be slow and prone to errors. They can even be difficult to maintain and fix in the future, which can make your test automation process tedious and expensive.
To create a test suite, you must first define your backlog of requirements and the tests that need to be performed. You can do this by creating a test plan, which is an outline of the test cases that will be run to verify your requirements.
The test plan should contain information about the name, priority, expected outcome, and pre-conditions for the testing. These are all important to the testing process, and help you keep your team on the same page about the requirements that will be tested and how to achieve them.
Once you have a test plan, you can add or remove test suites based on the requirements. In addition to adding and removing test cases, you can modify the properties of a test suite, including the name, description, report script, and parameters.
In addition to these, you can add tags to a test suite to group specific test cases together and exclude them from a test run. These tags are always alphanumeric and can be edited in the Project editor.
In order to execute a test suite, you must have Manage test suites permission set to Allow under the corresponding Area Path. You can also change a test suite hierarchy (move a test suite) by modifying the suite name and the test suite tags in the ATTRIBUTES line of a test control file.
2. Create a Test Plan
A test plan is a document that defines the scope, schedule and strategy of the testing process. Usually, it is created by a QA team lead or manager, with input from other QA and non-QA team members. This offers transparency into QA activities so that all stakeholders know how the software will be tested.
Writing a test plan might seem daunting at first, but it will eventually become natural to you. The more test plans you write, the better you will get at it.
The test plan should be organized and concise. Use numbered sections, tables, and bullet points to keep it easy to navigate. Having good test plan templates or standards also helps, as you can refer to these and make changes easily when necessary.
When preparing a test plan, remember that it is a living document that will need to be updated as project needs change. Extreme levels of detail in a plan can lead to it being more difficult to update, so be sure to keep your test plans as simple and straightforward as possible.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when creating a test plan is to ensure that it is written with the audience in mind. This means that the test plan should be simple enough to be understood by anyone, not just people who understand the specifics of software development and testing.
Another important thing to do is to follow the Cypress best practices when writing your tests. This will help you to create tests that run faster and more efficiently, while avoiding errors and flaky code.
This will also save you time and effort in debugging. It is especially helpful if you are using a web-based testing platform like Sauce Labs that supports Cypress in concurrency.
Lastly, you should always use the state of previous tests when starting new ones. This will allow your tests to run more quickly and perform better than ever before. This is because Cypress is the only automation tool that lets you go back in time and see what happened before you ran the command.
3. Create a Test Environment
For a smooth automated Cypress testing process, it’s essential to have the right test environment. A test environment is an isolated set of hardware and software that can be used for testing different components and systems. It helps QAs and developers test applications without affecting real-time data or settings.
The main purpose of a test environment is to ensure that an application runs as expected. It also gives QAs the opportunity to run tests that are difficult or impossible to replicate in production.
It also enables them to create realistic scenarios for their applications and test them on real browsers, devices, and OS combinations. This helps them determine the quality of a new feature or update, and makes it easier to track progress through development and testing.
A test environment can be created manually, or a team can use a tool to automate the process. However, it’s important to have a plan for test environments before implementing them.
This is because it can help teams save time and money by avoiding unnecessary testing expenses and ensuring that they have the right resources available for running tests. It can also improve team productivity by eliminating the need for manual testing.
Another benefit of having a test environment is that it can make debugging easier. This means that it’s easy to catch errors when they occur, allowing QAs to quickly identify and resolve them.
Having a test environment can also be useful when determining which features of an application are most problematic or causing errors. This can enable a team to prioritize and focus on the most troublesome areas of an app, which ultimately reduces costs and time spent.
A good test environment also allows QAs to run multiple tests simultaneously, which can increase the speed and efficiency of the overall testing process. This can be especially beneficial when a large number of users need to access the same application.
Creating a test environment isn’t a complicated task; it can be done in a few simple steps. To get started, you’ll need to have a server that can host an instance of Cypress. This will allow you to run your test scripts and see the results in a browser dashboard.
4. Run Tests
Cypress is an open-source JavaScript framework that can be used to write unit tests, functional UI tests, and end-to-end tests. The framework runs right in the browser alongside web apps to make automation easier and faster.
A great way to speed up your Cypress testing is to use parallel test execution. This enables you to run multiple tests simultaneously on different browsers in order to ensure that your website is working as expected.
However, this method has its drawbacks. First, it can take a long time to run several test cases in parallel. Additionally, it may not work on all platforms and browsers.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to run your tests locally instead of using a cloud-based testing platform. It’s also a good idea to use a debugger during your tests, so that you can inspect the variables and step through your code.
The best way to do this is by using a tool like Applitools Ultrafast Test Cloud, which supports Cypress visual testing. The tool lets you capture snapshots of a webpage and render them on various browser configurations to test your application’s cross-browser functionality.
With visual testing, you’ll be able to compare baseline snapshots against the latest checkpoint snapshot to identify changes. This will help you to identify issues with your application’s performance and security, as well as find any bugs that might be hiding in plain sight.
In addition, you’ll be able to view the comparison reports in your test runner and Cypress Cloud dashboards for easy debugging. You can also receive instant notifications of changes in the status of your test suite.
Alternatively, you can surface test results directly in your GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket repositories with pull request comments that include test run statistics, specific failure details, and deep links to the results in Cypress Cloud for fast debugging. You’ll also be able to keep failing code out of your GitHub and GitLab repositories with status checks that prevent commits from being merged until the Cypress tests are successful.
Lastly, Cypress can be used to write end-to-end tests that cover all of your website’s user interface. This means that you can test a wide range of features, including mobile web, iOS, and Android.
