Introduction to Cypress Test Automation Tool

With the increase in demand for modernized automation tools, it is becoming more important than ever to provide products to the market faster than ever. While Selenium is one of the most widely used tools for web automation testing, other open-source automation tools are becoming more popular in the market. One of those tools is cypress. It tries to solve the basic problems that modern web applications face.

Cypress is compatible with many of the modern applications that are built on react, angular, and so on. Often, people compare Cypress with automation tools like Selenium. There are a lot of opinions regarding which of the two tools [cypress and selenium] is better when it comes to automation.

What is Cypress Test Automation?

Cypress is a framework for modern automation that is based on the Nodejs platform, and it supports JavaScript and TypeScript as the programming language. However, it is still the most popular and easy-to-use tool in the automation world. And it is becoming a favourite among developers and testers, despite that it is not new. 

Cypress is completely free, so you do not need to purchase a license for it. This is a tool that allows us to create test cases while our application is being developed. So, you can use it best in a framework for testing and development. For testing purposes, the Cypress dashboard service is also available. 

Cypress is a tool which can be used to carry out varied tests like unit tests, integration test, API test etc. Its architecture makes it a popular choice for developers and QA s as adds a degree of efficiency to the process of development and testing. 

Cypress runs on real browsers and driver binaries are not required. One single platform is shared between the automated code and the application code and this provides complete access to the application which is being tested resulting in speed efficiency. 

Features of Cypress

- Controls All Network Traffic:

Cypress gives you all the access to control your network traffic and even you can easily customize your API calls as per your need.

- Click while you Test:

You can use time travel to capture snapshots of your application when the tests are running. If I was a test developer, I could hover over the command of the test runner and see what happens at each step.

- Your work is on Automation:

When you use Cypress, you do not need to put explicit waits or sleeps on your tests. It waits for commands and assertions before it starts executing.

- Runs of Continuous Integration Services:

Cypress is the popular new app which is built on top of an electron, which is the same as vscode and Spotify desktop apps. Cypress can be executed on any operating system, including Mac, Linux, and Windows. It is possible that a developer can install cypress using the standard “npm install –save-dev cypress” or “yarn add -d cypress” commands.

The same commands that I have used for installing and running on most systems CI work right out of the box and when I am using one of the cypress-provided docker images. 

- For visual testing across browsers:

In this age of digitalization, there is another important aspect of web application testing. That is, you should examine the look and feel of your app on all these platforms, different screen sizes, resolutions, and technologies. Cypress supports various kinds of visual tests, like screenshots and other types, and it integrates with tools like applitools, percy.io, happo.io, and others for visual testing at scale. 

It is important to understand the architecture of Cypress to gain insights into the backend action. 

This article discusses Cypress architecture in the later sections.

All about Cypress Dashboard

The Cypress dashboard service should be set up to ensure there is a link between the Cypress tests that are running in our system and the dashboard, which is hosted in the cloud.

Features of Cypress Dashboard

Below are some more details about what features of Cypress Dashboard are available.

• The detailed report that shows the total number of passed, failed, and skipped tests are provided by cypress.
• There is a stack to trace the tests, and there are all the screenshots of the failed tests.
• You can also watch the video of the tests that are being executed and implement them accordingly.
• The test data and frameworks that are used for testing are easily accessible.
• A data-oriented recent trend of the organization is provided to get the best results out of it.

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Basic components of Cypress

One of the most useful tools for analysing data is Cypress Test Runner. There are also two main components, namely Cypress Dashboard. I am running two of them. One of them is used to run our cypress test cases on a local machine, the other one tracks our runs and their progress from our automation suite.

- Test Status: ‍

The menu shows a summary of the tests that have been passed, failed, or in progress, and the amount of time it took to complete each test.

- URL Preview: ‍

This shows you the URL of your test. It also lets you track the URL of any URL.

- Test Runner: ‍

It runs tests in a unique interactive runner that allows you to see how the commands are executed, and also to see the application being tested. Below are some of the key subcomponents of the test runner that we should pay attention to while we execute our test cases.

- App Preview: ‍

you can see the test results while commands are being executed.

- Viewport Logs: ‍

This is the log of all the commands that are executed for each test.

- Dashboard:

The Cypress dashboard is a service that gives you access to your recorded tests. Normally you will access those tests when you run them from your CI provider. The dashboard will allow you to understand what happened when your tests run.

Cypress Architecture

Most of the automation testing tools, like Selenium, execute outside the browser and execute remote commands over the internet. Cypress is capable of doing different things.

Usually, tools that are used for testing are run on a server that is outside of the browser, and they execute commands over the network. Cypress can be run in a browser where the application is running. This way, you can quickly access all the main pages in your browser. 

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The node server is running on the opposite side of Cypress, on the client-side. Then, the node server and Cypress all interact with one another and accompany and carry out tasks to support the execution. Because the application has access to both the front and back of the application, it can be responsive to the user in real-time when it is executed. It can also perform tasks that need to be done outside of the browser.

Cypress can have access to both the front and the back of the application. It allows it to respond to all the real-time incidents on the application and perform some tasks outside of the browser that requires more privileges.

Cypress is also able to interact with the network layer and monitor and update the web traffic. This allows them to not only control the traffic that is coming into the browser but also update the code that handles browser automation.

Types of Automation Tests with Cypress

It is possible to use Cypress to write several different types of tests. This allows you to have more confidence that your application is working as expected.

1) End to End (E2E) ‍

Cypress was built from the ground up to run end-to-end (E2E) tests on anything that runs in a browser. A typical E2E test aims to visit the application in a browser and perform actions via the UI just like a real user would do.

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2) Components

You can also use Cypress to mount components that are part of Web frameworks and to execute component tests.

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3) API

Cypress can be used to perform arbitrary HTTPS calls, so you can use it for API testing.

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Benefits of Cypress

There are many reasons why you should use Cypress for web testing, either alone or in tandem with other web testing frameworks. These are some of the main benefits: 

- It is Universal!

• Cypress is more universal than other automation frameworks that are based on Mocha and Chai. When it is running in the browser, it also uses Node.js.

• Cypress is based on JavaScript, so one can easily get a huge JavaScript community, so it’s a win-win situation for anyone.

• When using Cypress, you can also run cross-browser testing. With Cypress, you can run tests on Firefox and other browsers that belong to the Chrome family, like Edge and electron.

• Majority of the tools used for end to end testing are based on Selenium which is not the case with cypress. In the case of Selenium, remote commands are executed via the network as against in Cypress which runs in the loop of the application itself. 

• Cypress specializes in writing end to end tests for web- based applications and this is what separates it from the category of general automation and unit testing framework. 

- Easy to Learn and Adapt

• It is easy to get started with Cypress automation and test your websites. If you have used the Selenium software, you know that you must select all the dependencies and libraries that you require to start testing. With Cypress, all these dependencies and libraries are set up automatically, with no configuration needed.

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• Then there is also the Chrome browser, with which Chrome comes bundled. When you are testing out Cypress, you are also permitted to use any other browser that is installed on your local machine. The flexible and simple setup of the product is much better than the Selenium setup, which requires the user to download the driver and set up a grid in order to start testing.

• Also, the USP about Cypress is that the tests are written only in JavaScript which enables the test code to be executed within the browser. This helps to keep any language or driver limitations at bay.  

• Cypress is capable of everything that runs in a web browser. Cypress architecture is sound enough to manage JavaScript framework easily. There are multiple projects which have capitalized the modern React, Angular and other such frameworks. 

• If this is not enough, Cypress is also a compilation of multiple tools which work in coordination for a smooth set up of the test suite. This helps to solve the problem of using many different tools. 

- Cypress Community is Growing

• Cypress is a free and open-source framework. It is built on a freemium model, so you can choose between the free version and the paid version. The version that is paid for has advanced features, such as a dashboard that contains interesting artifacts, like DOM snapshots, which helps with debugging, and video storage. 

• There is an active and growing community of people who are involved in Cypress on GitHub, Gitter, and stack overflow. Plus, Cypress also provides robust documentation.

• Cypress is an excellent solution for developers and people from the QA community while creating applications. It enables quick coding. 

- Efficiency of speed

• Owing to its architecture, Cypress has an edge in terms of its ability to execute an end to end test in the first go. Its unique design allows the process of design and testing together. The process of development can be run with the test thereby increasing efficiency. Developers have access to the tools and the application and any changes show up real-time. This results in increased and improved codes which will be fully tested.  

- The Power to Debug & fix!

• Cypress is a tool that lets you quickly debug your web apps. When tests fail, you are often given suggestions on how to fix the defects. From there, you can debug from within Chrome Developer Tools. Cypress provides support for capabilities like time travel and real-time reload, so developers can look at their website code while it is being tested and after the tests are complete.

• Similarly, because cypress has full access to all the objects, it simplifies and streamlines the error analysis. Cypress also allows users to see screenshots of test failures, which makes finding defects and debugging apps quick and simple.

How is Cypress different from Selenium?

This post aims to show that there are some important differences between the selenium and the cypress frameworks. So here is a short comparison.

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Limitations of Cypress Automatic Tool

• Cypress is presently the most effective support for the Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Electron browsers. As a result, Cypress is a much less preferred choice for cross-browser testing. 
• For the construction of taking a look at cases, it most effectively helps the JavaScript framework. 
• Cypress doesn`t help faraway execution.

Let us now understand test automation with Cypress with the help of a working example. 

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Frequently asked Questions (FAQs)

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Q1. Does Cypress support API automation testing as well?

 Ans: Yes, Cypress supports APIs for automating testing. XHR is now commonly known as the XML HTTP request. It is an API that is used to create objects. Its methods allow you to send data between a server and a browser. A server can provide an object that contains data in the form of a response.

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Q2. What is Cypress IO used for?

 Ans: Cypress is a complete testing framework for web test automation. It is a tool for front-end developers and test automation engineers to write automated web tests in JavaScript, the main programming language that people use to develop websites. Because JavaScript is used, Cypress automation makes particular sense to developers.

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Q3. Is Cypress better than selenium?

 Ans: Selenium is a well-known solution, but cypress is slowly being adopted. Cypress is compatible with JavaScript, and Selenium is compatible with many languages. Cypress allows you to do end-to-end testing. Selenium does this, and it also provides testing, including performance testing, mobile app testing, and unit testing.

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Q4.  How can I download the Cypress version for my operating system?

Ans: The Cypress commands that are opened, run, and verified will launch the binary that is provided. We recommend that you do not export the cypress run binary environment variable, because that will affect all Cypress modules that are installed on your file system. If you want to download a specific version of Cypress that is for a given platform (or operating system), you can get it from our CDN.

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Q5. Can we do API testing in Cypress?

 Ans: Cypress is designed for JavaScript front-end developers, and they can use it to quickly create their tests without adding any third-party dependencies or packages. This is a benefit that other tools, such as Selenium, do not provide.

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Q6.  Is Cypress TDD or BDD?

Ans: Cypress is a Java-based end-to-end testing framework that is built on top of mocha, which is a feature-rich JavaScript test framework that runs on and in the browser. It makes asynchronous testing simple and convenient. It also contains an assertion library to allow for BDD and TDD to be used together with a browser to pair with any JavaScript testing framework.

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Conclusion

Although we have experience in this field, we have had no good experience with automation testing. Thousands of dollars, time, and pain are spent to keep a small number of hard-to-maintain tests afloat in exchange for a few unsettling rewards. In our experience, automation testing has only ever been able to guarantee a long-term build.

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We, the developers, need to become more efficient at performing automated testing. I would say that we should write fewer tests, ones that are more useful. We've left some of the hardest parts of the code to write to one of the least experienced developers. What we have done is make manual testing obsolete, but, for my money, this is still the place where the real bugs are found.

It is important for us to be sensible about what automation testing can accomplish.

Cypress is very useful because it makes things synchronized. So, doing this will eliminate whole worlds of pain, and we are completely on board with it. So, this is not a green light for you to write thousands of cypress tests. Our unit tests make up the bulk of our tests, and we also have integration tests. And then, we have a few happy path automation tests. 

Master this tool with Uptut’s professional training course on Cypress and help your team stay ahead in the knowledge race.