@applitools/eyes-storybook

Eyes-Storybook

Applitools Eyes SDK for Storybook.

Installation

Install npm package

Install Eyes-Storybook as a local dev dependency in your tested project:

npm install --save-dev @applitools/eyes-storybook

Applitools API key

In order to authenticate via the Applitools server, you need to supply the Eyes-Storybook SDK with the API key you got from Applitools. Read more about how to obtain the API key here.

To to this, set the environment variable APPLITOOLS_API_KEY to the API key before running your tests. For example, on Linux/Mac:

export APPLITOOLS_API_KEY=<your_key>

And on Windows:

set APPLITOOLS_API_KEY=<your_key>

Usage

After completing the installation and defining the API key, you will be able to run Eyes-Storybook from the command line and let it take screenshots of all your stories.

If your project is using the default storybook config folder (i.e. <project_folder>/.storybook), then run the following command:

npx eyes-storybook

Configuring local storybook server

Normally, Eyes-Storybook starts a storybook dev server in an available port between 9000-9010 for the duration of the tests. It's possible to pass arguments to Eyes-Storybook to configure the local storybook server:

• --storybook-port OR -p: Port to run storybook (passed as -p to start-storybook).
• --storybook-host OR -h: Host to run storybook (passed as -h to start-storybook).
• --storybook-config-dir OR -c: Directory where to load Storybook configurations from (passed as -c to start-storybook)
• --storybook-static-dir OR -s: Directory where to load static files from, comma-separated list (passed as -s to start-storybook)

Standalone server

As noted in the previous section, Eyes-Storybook starts a storybook dev server. If you wish to start the server outside of Eyes-Storybook, or test a production build that's available at a certain URL, then just specify the URL for the storybook in the command line (or in the configuration file, see Advanced configuration below).

For example:

npx eyes-storybook -u http://localhost:6006

Or for a production storybook:

npx eyes-storybook -u http://react.carbondesignsystem.com/

Command line arguments

The full list of command line arguments can be viewed by running npx eyes-storybook --help:

Usage: eyes-storybook.js [options]

Options:
  --help                                            Show help                                                      [boolean]
  --version, -v                                     Show the version number                                        [boolean]
  --conf, -f                                        Path to applitools.config.js config file                        [string]
  --storybook-url, -u                               URL to storybook                                                [string]
  --storybookPort, -p, --storybook-port             Port to run Storybook                                           [number]
  --storybookHost, -h, --storybook-host             Host to run Storybook                                           [string]
  --storybookConfigDir, -c, --storybook-config-dir  Path to Storybook's config folder (defaults to .storybook)      [string]
  --storybookStaticDir, --storybook-static-dir      Path to Storybook's static files folder                         [string]
  --showStorybookOutput, --show-storybook-output    Whether or not you want to see Storybook output                [boolean]
  --exitcode, -e                                    If tests failed close with non-zero exit code                  [boolean]

Concurrency

The default level of concurrency for free accounts is 10. This means that only up to 10 visual tests can run in parallel, and therefore the execution might be slow. If your account does support a higher level of concurrency, it's possible to pass a different value by specifying it in the property concurrency in the applitools.config.js file (see Advanced configuration section below).

If you are interested in speeding up your visual tests, contact [e-mail] to get a trial account and faster tests with more concurrency.

Advanced configuration

In addition to command-line arguments, it's possible to define the following configuration for tests:

Property name	Default value	Description
storybookUrl	undefined	URL to storybook (also available as command-line argument).
storybookPort	9000	Port to run Storybook (also available as command-line argument).
storybookHost	localhost	Host to run Storybook (also available as command-line argument).
storybookConfigDir	.storybook	Path to Storybook's config folder (also available as command-line argument).
storybookStaticDir	undefined	Path to Storybook's static files folder (also available as command-line argument).
showStorybookOutput	undefined	Whether or not you want to see Storybook output (also available as command-line argument).
exitcode	false	If tests failed close with non-zero exit code (also available as command-line argument).
browser	{ width: 800, height: 600, name: 'chrome' }	The size and browser of the generated screenshots. Currently, firefox, chrome, edge, ie10 and ie11 are supported. For more info, see the browser section below.
showLogs	false	Whether or not you want to see logs of the Eyes-Storybook plugin.
saveDebugData	false	Whether to save troubleshooting data. See the troubleshooting section of this doc for more info.
batchId	random	Provides ability to group tests into batches. Read more about batches here.
batchName	undefined	Provides a name to the batch.
batchSequenceName	undefined	Name for managing batch statistics.
baselineEnvName	undefined	The name of the environment of the baseline.
envName	undefined	A name for the environment in which the application under test is running.
ignoreCaret	false	Whether to ignore or the blinking caret or not when comparing images.
matchLevel	undefined	The test-wide match level to use when checking application screenshot with the expected output. Possible values are Strict, Exact, Layout and Content. Read more about match levels here.
branchName	undefined	The name of the branch.
baselineBranchName	undefined	The name of the baseline branch.
parentBranchName	undefined	Sets the branch under which new branches are created.
proxy	undefined	Sets the proxy settings to be used in network requests to Eyes server.
saveFailedTests	false	Set whether or not failed tests are saved by default (saved as baseline).
saveNewTests	false	Set whether or not new tests are saved by default (saved as baseline).
serverUrl	Default Eyes server URL	The URL of Eyes server
compareWithParentBranch	false
ignoreBaseline	false
runInDocker	false	If you are having issues running the SDK in docker, set this flag to true. See more info below
puppeteerOptions	undefined	Options to send to puppeteer.launch. This is a low-level configuration and should be used with great care.
tapFilePath	undefined	Directory path of a results file. If set, then a TAP file is created in this directory, the file is created with the name eyes.tap and contains the Eyes test results.
waitBeforeScreenshots	undefined	Selector, function or timeout. If waitBeforeScreenshots is a number then the argument is treated as time in milliseconds to wait before each screenshot is taken. If waitBeforeScreenshots is a string then the argument is treated as a selector or xpath, (depending on whether or not it starts with '//') for an element to wait for before each screenshot is taken. If waitBeforeScreenshots is a function, then the argument is treated as a predicate to wait for before each screenshot is taken.
include	true	Specifies which stories should be visually tested. Visual baselines will be created only for the components specified. For more information, see per component configuration - include.
variations	undefined	Specifies additional variations for all or some of the stories. For example, RTL. For more information, see per component configuration - variations.

There are 2 ways to specify test configuration:

1. Environment variables
2. The applitools.config.js file

The list above is also the order of precedence, which means that if you specify a property as an environment variable, it will override the value defined for the same property in the applitools.config.js file.

Method 1: Environment variables

The name of the corresponding environment variable is in uppercase, with the APPLITOOLS_ prefix, and separating underscores instead of camel case:

APPLITOOLS_APP_NAME
APPLITOOLS_SHOW_LOGS
APPLITOOLS_BATCH_ID
APPLITOOLS_BATCH_NAME
APPLITOOLS_BATCH_SEQUENCE_NAME
...
// all other configuration variables apply

Method 2: The applitools.config.js file

It's possible to have a file called applitools.config.js at the current working directory (the directory you are at when running the eyes-storybook script). In this file specify the desired configuration, as an exported CommonJS module. For example:

module.exports = {
  appName: 'My app',
  showLogs: true,
  batchName: 'My batch'
  ...
  // all other configuration variables apply
}

Configuring the browser

Eyes-Storybook will take a screenshot of the page as specified in the browser configuration parameter.

It's also possible to send an array of browsers, for example in the applitools.config.js file:

module.exports = {
  browser: [
    {width: 800, height: 600, name: 'firefox'},
    {width: 1024, height: 768, name: 'chrome'},
    {width: 1024, height: 768, name: 'ie11'}
  ]
}

Device emulation

To enable chrome's device emulation, it's possible to send a device name and screen orientation, for example:

module.exports = {
  browser: {
    deviceName: 'iPhone X',
    screenOrientation: 'landscape',
    name: 'chrome' // optional, just to make it explicit this is browser emulation and not a real device. Only chrome is supported for device emulation.
  }
}

Possible values for screen orientation are landscape and portrait, and if no value is specified, the default is portrait.

The list of device names is taken from chrome devtools predefined devices, and can be obtained by running the following command in a unix-based shell (installing jq might be needed):

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chromium/chromium/0aee4434a4dba42a42abaea9bfbc0cd196a63bc1/third_party/blink/renderer/devtools/front_end/emulated_devices/module.json | jq '.extensions[].device.title'

In addition, it's possible to use chrome's device emulation with custom viewport sizes, pixel density and mobile mode, by passing deviceScaleFactor and mobile in addition to width and height. For example:

module.exports = {
  browser: {
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    deviceScaleFactor: 3,
    mobile: true,
    name: 'chrome' // optional, just to make it explicit this is browser emulation and not a real device. Only chrome is supported for device emulation.
  }
}

Per component configuration

There are two ways to provide configuration for a specific story, or a group of stories.

1. As an argument to the story - It's possible to pass a third argument to storybook's .add function, to customize each story. An eyes property on the parameters object can be specified with configuration properties.

2. In the global configuration file, applitools.config.js - If a function is specified for one of the properties below, it will be called for each story, and will be passed the story's metadata, of the structure {name, kind, parameters}, where name is the name of the component, kind is the string built by storybook for the category, e.g. Forms|Input/Text, and parameters are the third argument to storybook's .add function. The function should return the configuration value for the specific property+story.

Specifying a value locally in the story takes precedence over the global config value.

For example, for the config property include (described below), here's how to specify the value for a group of stories in the applitools.config.js file:

// Exclude all stories with a name that start with [SKIP]
module.exports = {
  include: ({name, kind, parameters}) => {
    return !/^\[SKIP\]/.test(name)
  }
}

The following properties are supported:

include

When false, the component will not be visually tested. For example:

// This story will not be tested visually
storiesOf('Some kind', module)
  .add(
    'Some story',
    () => <div>I am visually perfect!</div>,
    {eyes: {include: false}}
  )

variations

An array of string values, which specifies which variations to add for this story. For each value, an additional visual test will be executed for the component. It will have the same name only with a [<variation name>] suffix, and when the component is loaded, the URL will have an additional param: eyes-variation=<variation name>.

This can accommodate many use cases, for example RTL (right to left). It's now possible for the component to render its variation version when the relevant URL param is present. For Example, here's a storybook that handles an RTL variation:

const isRTL = new URL(window.location).searchParams.get('eyes-variation') === 'RTL';

if (isRTL) {
  document.documentElement.setAttribute('dir', 'rtl')
}

// 2 visual tests will be created - one for LTR and one for RTL
storiesOf('Components that support RTL', module)
  .add(
    'Some story',
    () => <div>
      <span>I am visually perfect!<span>
      <span>{isRTL ? ' and rendered right to left as well :)' : ''}</span>
    </div>,
    {eyes: {variations: ['RTL']}}
  )

ignore

A single or an array of regions to ignore when checking for visual differences. For example:

storiesOf('Components with ignored region', module)
  .add(
    'Some story',
    () => <div>
      <span>I am visually perfect!<span>
      <span className="ignore-this">this should be ignored</span>
    </div>,
    {eyes: {
      ignore: [{selector: '.ignore-this'}]
    }}
  )
});

Running Eyes-Storybook in Docker

When running the SDK in docker, there might be issues related to properly launching the internal chrome browser via puppeteer. If you seem to have such issues, set runInDocker: true in your config file. This will pass the internal chrome browser special arguments, as described here.

If you still have issues, you might need to follow the instructions to use your own chromium browser in the docker container, and point that to the SDK's puppeteer. Follow the instructions here and set the executablePath via the puppeteerOptions. For example, applitools.config.js:

module.exports = {
  puppeteerOptions: {
    executablePath: '/usr/bin/chromium-browser'
  }
}

Dealing with dynamic data

Sometimes components render dynamic data, such as dates, or random data. This creates a challenge when testing these components. The way we recommend to address this issue is to insert code into your storybook which normalizes the data (uses fixed dates, or a specific seed), when it is being run in an automated environment.

Eyes storybook makes it possible for components to be aware that they are being tested. There will be a specific query parameter on the URL of the story's iframe: ?eyes-storybook=true.

This way it's possible to write a story like this:

const isBeingTested =
    new URL(window.location).searchParams.get('eyes-storybook')

const SOME_FIXED_DATE = 354060000000

const date = new Date(isBeingTested ? SOME_FIXED_DATE : undefined)

storiesOf('Some kind', module).add('Date', () => <div>{date}</div>)

Troubleshooting

If issues occur, the saveDebugData config property can be set to true in order to save helpful information. The information will be saved under a folder named .applitools in the current working directory. This could be then used for getting support on your issue.