In the past, setting up an automation framework was something every tester underwent. It involved running end to end integration tests. For this Selenium installation, its wrapping, drivers, and assertion libraries for stubbing and reports marked a significant phase. However, this made the task hectic and complicated for the testers as they were required to configure such requirements and build up a framework to meet such needs. Nevertheless, with the rise of Cypress automation testing waived such challenges. In less time, Cypress automation testing turned its practice and surged from zero to hero.
Cypress automating testing is an all-rounder solution for web automation. Its updates and integration with new features made it zero to hero. According to the report of npm trends, Cypress is the most used web automation testing tool than Selenium which clearly indicates its firm position in the market.
From the below statistical information by nmp trends, Cypress ranks at 42k in just 9 years. It raised to meet the requirement of developers by frequent 767 updates and launching new versions. Thus, making Cypress web automation from zero to hero.
In the present blog, we will discuss how Cypress stood from zero to hero in the field of web automation. Let’s begin with introducing Cypress.
Covered Topics
What is Cypress?
Cypress is new in the field of web automation. It is relatively helpful in end-to-end testing of the modern web application based on JavaScript. Being a universal and practical framework for writing different types of tests. Unlike Selenium, Cypress is based on Chai syntax, and Mocha is highly common amongst JavaScript users. It is highly preferred by the developers due to the following reasons:
- Cypress supports the writing of end-to-end tests, unit tests, and integration.
- Cypress works directly in browsers with the use of the DOM manipulation method.
- It allows easy debugging of the web application.
- Offers fast execution of tests with less than 20MS responsive time.
- Cypress takes screenshots of the test run.
The evolution of Cypress stood day by day that made it from zero to hero. Now let’s see how it progressed to meet the requirement of the developers and software development.
Evolution of web and Cypress automation testing too
Web automation demands various aspects for easy working like easy setup and excellent debugging. On visiting Cypress’s homepage, features like the fast, easy, and consistent running of User Interface tests are noted. Such promising factors of Cypress made it highly popular among developers for web automation testing. However, the situation varies from the day Cypress came into existence.
Many companies use Selenium as part of their testing strategy. The most less interesting part for developers in web automation testing is writing UI tests. The reason is difficult to find the tool for its accomplishment. Selenium challenges like difficult set-up and indirect debugging ability made developers write tests leading to the slowing of the web automation testing. Cypress automation testing grows in less time to overcome such barriers; leading to the evolution of the testing process.
Things making Cypress automation testing from zero to hero
Cypress is popular among developers for web automation testing specifically for the modern web setting a benchmark through its ability. Cypress launched in the year 2017, and in just 5 years it met the need of the developers and became replaced their old favorites.
Specificness of Cypress automation testing
Cypress is not like other web automation frameworks. It offers some uniqueness in the testing of modern web applications and rising from zero to hero. Here are some points that help in explaining its uniqueness.
- Cypress is not based on Selenium
Cypress is a web automation testing tool built on an architecture able to listen and change the behavior of browsers by manipulating DOM and network request on the fly. As most of the end to end testing tools is relies on Selenium, so the issue faced while web automation is common. However, Cypress progressed in a manner which made it different from other tools.
- Cypress is a complete package
When you are into end to end testing, different tools are involved altogether. However, Cypress automation testing facilitates by integration of different tools into one. You do need not to install separate tools and libraries like Nightwatch, Protractor, and QUnit to initiate the test suite. It already includes all such tools integrated that ease the work.
- Cypress runs faster
Cypress architecture improvement made its web automation testing from zero to hero. It unlocked the ability to perform TDD with complete end to end tests. Allowing faster testing while driving complete dev process with the test due to:
- Ability to see your developed application.
- Have access to developer tools.
- Changes noted in real-time.
On using Cypress cloud, parallelization, and automation load balancing can accelerate the test speeds.
The above-explained uniqueness of Cypress is further understood by its improvement with every release of its new version. You should consider these changes made in Cypress for web automation testing and headed from zero to hero.
Progression and improvement on Cypress automation testing
On the launch of Cypress, it took some time to get into the market for web automation testing. A time before, Cypress experienced deprecation due to some challenges like limited browser accessibility and non-support on multiple languages. However, the developers undertook frequent changes and improvements leading it from zero to hero. Some of those changes are explained below:
Cross-browser enhancement
Cypress earned huge popularity after its launch, however, for many developers, it seems to hold with Cypress for web automation testing. Earlier, it only supported Chrome testing. With time, it added cross-browser testing for Electron and Edge. It attracted many developers to perform web automation testing. To run Cypress automation testing, LambdaTest is an automation testing platform that allows Cypress testing across 40+ browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Electron, WebKit on a cloud-based grid.
Cypress configuration
Cypress no longer supports Cypress.json configuration files. It is replaced with cypress.config.js, cypress.config.cjs, cypress.config.ts, or cypress.config.mjs file. Such improvement allows better flexibility and extensibility of configuration. You can witness an error if cypress.json file and cypress.config.{cjs,js,mjs,ts} file are noted.
cypress.config.js|ts|cjs|mjs configuration is added and allows refreshing on changes made.
To advance memory supervision in Chromium-based browsers experimentalMemoryManagement configuration option is added.
Component testing
Cypress now supports component testing. Here are some points on Component testing with Cypress:
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- Now, component testing is integrated into the main application. It gives options to choose the testing experience needed upon launching Cypress.
- Gives guides on how to install component testing dependencies and project setup required to get started with web automation testing. Earlier, this mandated manual setup and referencing the doc file.
- It allowed easy implementation of cy.mount() by shifting the following component testing plugins:
- @cypress/[email protected]
- @cypress/[email protected]
- @cypress/[email protected]
- @cypress/[email protected]
- It added an improvement to the Intelligent Code Completion through the addition of defineConfig() helper function. It allowed in-line documentation and auto-completion of configuration in the IDE.
Cypress API commands
Recently, Cypress made an update to API commands which attracted lots of developers. Some of its detail is given below:
- Improvement made to give a visual indication of nested commands and logs. To this, update of .within() command executed.
- cy.session() log is eliminated.
- Previously, for custom implementation, the developer used Cypress.Command.override() command. However, with the update, Cypress added custom cy.hover() and cy.mount() utilizing Cypress.Commands.add().
Cypress CLI
Recently, a new update on Cypress CLI removed some challenges of web automation testing. Some of these updates are explained below:
- To launch Cypress for a particular testing type, Cypress added –e2e and –component CLI flags to cypress run and cypress open.
- Automatic launch of the browser is done when the browser flag and testing type is passed to cypress open on the launch of a particular project.
The success of Cypress automation testing
Cypress automation testing from zero to hero is a witness to its true success. Developer’s favorite list includes Cypress automation testing is attributed to some of the below points:
- Cypress is easy to install and just takes 5 minutes. On its installation, only the launching of the application is required where the framework is set up.
- Matching the speed of the automation framework with the application is challenging. This requires an addition to waits to the framework for stability; however, could lead to code inefficiencies. Cypress offers auto-waits for retries and web elements finding for it if not noted.
- Automation testing with Cypress gives excellent documentation and community. It is understandable and simple, giving a comprehensive explanation of components and functions.
- To control and monitor function flows, Cypress does not depend on third-party libraries. It is auto bundled with functions for managing clocks and snooping network traffic.
- Most of the web automation framework needs commands and WebDriver for sharing test runners to implement steps in WebDriver. Cypress offers an integrated platform having a common place for test runners and web interface.
Conclusion
In the present blog, we discussed Cypress automation testing and its progression from zero to hero. The explanation will help you to understand the success of Cypress automation testing in recent times. It will help to comprehend and opt for Cypress automation testing.
