The application testing process is one of the important factors that help to ensure that developers can deliver high-quality web applications to their end users. With the advancement of technology and the increase in app complexities, automation testing has become a dominant testing trend. During the early years of test automation, Selenium was the only platform that developers could use to create test scripts. However, many new frameworks have started to come into the market. Some of the popular ones include Cypress and Playwright. With the help of Cypress automation, the developers can ensure the proper functioning of the web application in a few simple steps.
So, with the help of this article, we will discuss some of the simplest ways that developers can initiate automation testing with Cypress.
The Basics of Cypress
In simple terms, we can define Cypress to be a front-end testing tool that works on the JavaScript programming language. The primary role of this tool is to verify the proper functioning of all the elements that are present in a modern web application. Using this tool, the developers and quality assessment teams can address some of the common factors that are often overlooked during the application testing phase. Compared to all the test automation platforms that are currently available, Cypress is more developer friendly as it provides a unique DOM interface. This interface allows the developers to perform all the testing processes from the browser itself. It also helps to eliminate the hassle of downloading and installing any third-party application in the host system.
Many software experts believe that Cypress is the proper competition that was long required to break the one-sided domination of Selenium.
Advantages of Cypress Automation
Cypress has gained a lot of popularity in a short. This was possible due to the major advantages that this test automation tool provides. So let us take a quick look at some of the major advantages of using Cypress for performing automation testing of web applications:
- Cypress provides a more universal testing experience to the developers. This is because it is created with the help of JavaScript programming language. JavaScript is the driving factor for almost all the tools and platforms that are currently available in the application development industry.
- The setup process for Cypress automation is straightforward. The official website of Cypress also contains a lot of documentation to help the new developers during the setup process. This means that the application development companies can set up Cypress and begin the testing process within a few minutes.
- Cypress provides rich debugging properties during automation testing of web applications. Using this tool, the developers can monitor all the bugs and errors in real-time and also remove them as soon as they are detected.
- Cypress has a huge community of tech enthusiasts. These people are always working hard to improve the testing experience while using this tool. So, the new Cypress developers have the option to refer to this community whenever they are stuck with any feature or testing process.
Simple Ways to Run Automation Tests with Cypress
Automation testing of web applications is very simple while using Cypress. This is because Cypress provides various methods to verify the proper functioning of every component present on the web application. So, let us consider some of the simplest ways to run automation tests with Cypress:
1. Mocking the Server
Mocking a server is a process of replicating the real-world scenario that the application might have to face. In this testing process, the developers have to simulate the fluctuations in user rate, high traffic, and even certain unusual loads on the application. This process helps to analyze how the web application can handle these traffic variations without crashing. Grass prevention is one of the most important methods that help companies to maintain optimal user satisfaction. This is because the users will have a nightmare experience in case the application crashes during a vital financial transaction.
2. Time Travel and Flake Resistance
Time travel is the process of taking screenshots as the testing process begins to move on. Using this feature, the developers can maintain an activity log of all the tests that have been conducted on the application. It also helps to monitor the specific tests that might have crashed or generated an unexpected result. Depending on the severity of the error, the testers have the option to go back in time. Then, they can monitor the tests to debug the issue. It is a very important feature considering that you have to run multiple Cypress test cases on an application. Flake resistance on the other hand allows the test case to automatically wait for further commands and execute them accordingly. It is a very important process as it helps to save a lot of time in the application development process.
3. Spies, Stubs, and Clocks
Using all these elements of Cypress automation testing, the developers can verify the proper functioning of every component that is present in the application. These tools can also help the developers understand how the application reacts to different forms of user interactions. For instance, it can analyze the behavior of the application concerning double-clicking, left-clicking, right-clicking, and scrolling. Lastly, these functions are also useful for verifying the server response time in the web application. Server response time is the total time taken by the parent server to determine and execute every user action. High server times can often lead to lags in the user experience. It can crash the application in a worst-case scenario.
4. Real-Time Reloads
Real-time reloads are one of the most interactive ways to automate repetitive test cases. Using this feature, the developers can set the test cases in such a way that they will reload themselves automatically whenever a change is made in the web application. This feature is highly beneficial for certain applications that require to be updated daily. Using this feature, the developers can eliminate the hassle of rewriting the test script every time the application is updated. This feature is also beneficial as Cypress allows the developers to reuse a massive portion of the test script.
5. Checking the Visual Elements on an Application
Proper placement of visual elements of a web application is very important to appeal to the end users. However, due to differences in display size and screen resolution, there can be various misplacements of elements such as pictures and videos. So, the developers must create automated Cypress test cases that can help remove this issue. Cypress provides various features to perform visual testing on multiple web applications. However, many application development experts believe that it is a good practice to cross-check the automated visual test results by a human tester. Proper placements of visual elements are also important to reduce the bounce rates of a web application.
6. Initiating Automatic Waits
Various test cases in Cypress automation are dependent on each other. This means that it is important for the first case to finish executing so that the next one can begin. Improper timing of this testing process can lead to unwanted delays in the overall testing. However, with the help of Cypress automation, developers can add automatic waits after every test case. This feature helps to delay that test by a certain interval. Automatic waits are also crucial to eliminate all forms of human interaction from Cypress test automation. This means the application developing companies can effectively run the test cases for almost 24 hours around the clock.
7. Controlling the Network Traffic
Controlling the network traffic is a unique testing process. It helps the developers to understand how the application can deal with the rise in users. With the help of Cypress, the developers can automate their network analysis test cases. This is one of the crucial testing processes that help to ensure that the application remains functional at all times. Modern application development practices require minimal downtime to improve user engagement.
Role of Tools and Platforms in Cypress Automation
Although Cypress is a very simple tool and can be grasped very easily, many developers can find it confusing when using Cypress for the first time. However, there are certain tools and platforms available in the market that can help increase the simplicity of Cypress automation. However, the huge variety of tools can often confuse the developers regarding the perfect one according to their needs.
So, the developers need to consider various factors during the tool selection process. For instance, they must consider whether the referred tool supports the programming language with which they are most comfortable. They should also consider the licensing fee for the tool and whether it can deliver the final product within the stipulated time. For reference, we can consider LambdaTest to improve our understanding of this segment.
To begin with, LambdaTest is a cloud platform that helps developers to automate cross-browser test cases. In simple terms, cross browser testing is the process of ensuring that the application maintains its peak performance irrespective of core changes. These changes can be in terms of the operating system, device, and browser version.
LambdaTest helps developers to perform Cypress testing on multiple devices and browser versions. This platform also uses parallel testing to improve the efficiency of the test cases by almost 10 times. Parallel testing helps to execute multiple testing configurations side-by-side. Lastly, LambdaTest generates highly accurate test results. It combines reports from not only emulators and simulators but also hundreds of real devices.
The Conclusion
So, we can conclude that Cypress automation is one of the most interactive ways to improve the usefulness of the application testing process. Many market experts also believe that automation testing has an indirect role in improving the quality of the application. However, the developers must remember that the initial expenses of initiating automation testing are quite high. They should also consider that automation testing will continue to generate a high return on investment for the company in the long run. Considering all these factors, we can say that it is very important that companies should introduce automation testing after a proper planning session. It is also very important for the testers to realize that the choice of the perfect automation tool can help them to utilize the full potential of their development environment.
