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A new Automation tool is being embraced
The IT industry is constantly evolving, and learning new technologies or adopting new tools is essential to stay relevant. Without embracing these advancements, we risk falling behind. Up skilling and staying current are key to thriving in our careers.
Every day, numerous new technologies emerge. Some become widely adopted, others fade away, and many disappear altogether. Identifying the right tools and languages is like finding treasure in an ocean of possibilities.
In this blog, we will explore Playwright: what it is, why we should choose it, and whether it is an efficient tool for end-to-end test automation. Additionally, we will cover some other vital details about Playwright.
What is PlayWright?
Playwright is a Node.JS library backed by Microsoft, designed for browser automation. It is an open-source automation testing tool tailored for end-to-end testing of modern web applications, APIs, and mobile applications. It supports both headed and headless modes, offering flexibility in testing environments.
With Playwright, you can achieve comprehensive end-to-end tests, API tests, and mobile tests, while also ensuring tests are not flaky.
Playwright excels in handling complex test scenarios that span multiple tabs, multiple origins, and multiple users. Its selectors can penetrate the shadow DOM and seamlessly enter frames, making it highly versatile. For each test, Playwright creates a browser context, enabling fast execution.
Additionally, Playwright comes with powerful tooling such as code generation (codegen), Playwright Inspector, and Trace Viewer, which enhance the development and debugging process.
Advantages
Auto Wait (Flaky Test Prevention): Playwright automatically waits for elements and page loads, eliminating the need for explicit wait statements in scripts, which reduces flaky tests and ensures stability and reliability.
Tracing: Provides detailed insights into each step of the test, including responses and requests.
Reporting: Offers built-in reporting capabilities, along with support for custom reports.
Dynamic Wait Assertions: Includes built-in assertions that wait dynamically.
Faster & Reliable: Generally faster and more reliable compared to Selenium and Cypress.
Powerful Tooling:
Codegen: Generates tests by recording actions and saves them in any language.
Playwright Inspector: Inspects pages, generates selectors, and debugs.
Trace Viewer: Allows viewing detailed traces of test execution.
Comprehensive Testing: Supports functional, API, and accessibility testing (using third-party tools).
Multi-Tab and Multi-Window Support: Simplifies testing across multiple tabs and windows without the need for different switching commands as in Selenium.
Frames and Shadow DOM: Easily handles frames and shadow DOM elements.
Test Parameterization: Supports parameterized testing for enhanced flexibility.
Other Advantages: Record videos, intercept network calls, emulate devices.
Disadvantages
Less Community Support: The community around Playwright is still growing and may be smaller compared to more established tools.
Limited Mobile Testing: It is not possible to test on real mobile devices directly, but emulators can be used.
Playwright's advantages over other tools
Speed Of Execution:
A WebSocket Protocol connection is used in Playwright to speed up test runs in contrast to HTTP, which requires every request to be handshaken. WebSockets are a long-lived protocol. WebSocket connections in Playwright remain active until all tests are completed, reducing the need for repetitive connection establishment and termination. WebSocket communication and isolated browser contexts make Playwright faster and more reliable.
InBuilt Waits:
Unlike many other automation tools, Playwright automatically waits for the necessary conditions to be met before performing actions. This feature helps eliminate flaky tests and reduces the need for explicit wait statements in scripts.
Auto-waiting for Elements: Playwright waits for the button to be actionable (visible, enabled, and stable) before executing the click action
Playwright waits for navigation to complete when actions like page.goto(url), This includes waiting for the page to load, the DOM content to be fully rendered, and other network activities to finish
Auto Waiting for selectors, When using selectors, Playwright waits for the selector to match an element on the page.For example, await page.waitForSelector('div#content') waits until the element with id content is present in the DOM.
Easy to code: In Playwright, taking a screenshot, recording videos are as simple as one liner, frames can be managed with simple, one-line commands, making it much easier than any other automation tools. The native auto-wait mechanism reduces the codes
Playwright’s developer tools, Playwright directly interacts with the browser using the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), allowing more comprehensive control over browser features beyond just the console tab. Playwright can intercept and modify network requests and responses, and even abort specific network calls or API calls. Including CodeGen, Playwright Inspector, and Trace Viewer, provide a robust framework for creating, debugging, and optimizing automated tests.
API Integration: Playwright enables API testing by creating and managing payloads, eliminating framework. We can integrate both api and ui frameworks.
Architecture of PlayWright
Client Libraries: Playwright provides client libraries for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, .NET, and Java.
Protocol: Playwright uses the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) for Chromium-based browsers(which are Chrome, Opera, Edge) and for other supported browsers (WebKit and Firefox).
Browser Contexts: Playwright creates isolated browser contexts for each test, which emulate incognito sessions. This ensures tests are independent and can be parallelized.
Communication Flow
Test scripts are written using Playwright client libraries.
Then, Playwright client libraries directly communicate with the browser via the Chrome DevTools Protocol(CDP)
CDP allows Playwright to control the browser comprehensively, including network activities, performance metrics, and other developer tools features.
Advantages
Direct Control: More direct control over browser features and developer tools.
Network Interception: Intercept and modify network requests and responses. Abort specific network calls.
Frame Handling: Simplified handling of frames and shadow DOM elements.
WebSocket Protocol: Uses WebSocket for a more efficient, persistent connection.
Built-in Tools: Includes powerful debugging and inspection tools like Playwright Inspector and Trace Viewer.
Isolation and Speed: Browser contexts isolate tests, enabling faster and more reliable execution.
Additional Features
Native Parallel Execution: Playwright has native parallel execution support; all tests run in worker processes (unlike Selenium, which requires extensive configuration and coding to achieve this).
Persistent Browser Contexts: Playwright starts the browser only once at the beginning of the suite and uses contexts, similar to incognito mode, which are completely independent of the normal mode.
Shadow DOM Piercing: Easily handle elements within shadow DOMs.
Video Recording: Record videos of your tests for better analysis.
Reuse Authentication State: Save the state of the browser after login to reuse it in subsequent tests, avoiding repetitive login steps.
Custom Selector Engine: Use custom selector engines for more precise element selection.
Integrated Visual Debugger: Debug tests visually with the integrated visual debugger.
Conclusion
In summary, Playwright is a major step forward in automation testing, providing a strong, effective, and developer-friendly solution to assist teams in delivering high-quality software faster and more consistently.
Deciding on the appropriate tool involves considering factors like setup, team composition, experience, application type, programming languages, and migration costs.
Thanks for reading! Happy Learning!!