protractor

What is protractor?

Protractor is an end-to-end test framework for Angular and AngularJS applications. It runs tests against your application running in a real browser, interacting with it as a user would.

What are protractor's main functionalities?

End-to-End Testing

Protractor allows you to write end-to-end tests for your Angular applications. The code sample demonstrates navigating to an AngularJS website, selecting elements, and making assertions about their state.

const { browser, element, by } = require('protractor');

browser.get('http://www.angularjs.org');

const todoList = element.all(by.repeater('todo in todoList.todos'));
expect(todoList.count()).toEqual(2);
expect(todoList.get(1).getText()).toEqual('build an AngularJS app');

Automatic Waiting

Protractor automatically waits for Angular to finish rendering and for any outstanding $http calls to be completed before performing the next action. This reduces the need for explicit waits in your tests.

const { browser, element, by } = require('protractor');

browser.get('http://www.angularjs.org');

const addButton = element(by.css('[value="add"]'));
addButton.click();

const todoList = element.all(by.repeater('todo in todoList.todos'));
expect(todoList.count()).toEqual(3);

Integration with Jasmine

Protractor integrates seamlessly with the Jasmine testing framework, allowing you to write tests in a behavior-driven development (BDD) style. The code sample shows a Jasmine test suite that adds a new todo item and verifies its presence.

describe('angularjs homepage todo list', function() {
  it('should add a todo', function() {
    browser.get('http://www.angularjs.org');

    element(by.model('todoList.todoText')).sendKeys('write a protractor test');
    element(by.css('[value="add"]')).click();

    const todoList = element.all(by.repeater('todo in todoList.todos'));
    expect(todoList.count()).toEqual(3);
    expect(todoList.get(2).getText()).toEqual('write a protractor test');
  });
});

Other packages similar to protractor

cypress

Cypress is a next-generation front-end testing tool built for the modern web. It offers a more developer-friendly experience with features like time travel, real-time reloads, and automatic waiting. Unlike Protractor, Cypress does not require WebDriver and runs directly in the browser.

webdriverio

WebdriverIO is a popular testing framework that allows you to run tests based on the WebDriver protocol and Appium. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous commands and can be used for both web and mobile applications. WebdriverIO is more versatile compared to Protractor, which is specifically designed for Angular applications.

testcafe

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README

Protractor

Protractor is an end to end test framework for AngularJS applications built on top of WebDriverJS. Protractor runs tests against your application running in a real browser, interacting with it as a user would.

Protractor can be run as a standalone binary, or included into your tests as a library. Use Protractor as a library if you would like to manage WebDriver and your test setup yourself.

For more information, read the docs, or head over to the FAQ.

To run the sample tests

Install protractor with.

npm install -g protractor

Start up a selenium server (See the appendix below for help with this). By default, the tests expect the selenium server to be running at http://localhost:4444/wd/hub.

The node module's example folder contains a simple test suite which runs against angularjs.org. Run with:

protractor example/conf.js

Using the Protractor runner

The Protractor runner is a binary which accepts a config file. Install protractor with

npm install -g protractor
# Run the line below to see command line options
protractor

You will need a configuration file containing setup info and test files containing the actual test scripts. The config file specifies how the runner should start webdriver, where your test files are, and global setup options. The test files use Jasmine framework by default (read about using mocha instead).

Create a configuration file - an example with detailed comments is shown in node_modules/protractor/referenceConf.js. Edit the configuration file to point to your test files.

// myConf.js
exports.config = {
  seleniumAddress: 'http://localhost:4444/wd/hub',
  specs: ['myTest.js', 'myTestFolder/*Test.js']
}

The configuration file must specify a way to connection to webdriver. This can be

• seleniumAddress: The address of a running selenium standalone server.
• seleniumServerJar: The location of the selenium standalone .jar file on your machine. Protractor will use this to start up the selenium server.
• sauceUser and sauceKey: The username and key for a SauceLabs account. Protractor will use this to run tests on SauceLabs.

The runner exposes global variables browser, by and element. Check out getting started docs to learn how to write a test.

// myTest.js
describe('angularjs homepage', function() {
  it('should greet the named user', function() {
    browser.get('http://www.angularjs.org');

    element(by.model('yourName')).sendKeys('Julie');

    var greeting = element(by.binding('yourName'));

    expect(greeting.getText()).toEqual('Hello Julie!');
  });
});

Run with

protractor myConf.js

Cloning and running Protractor's own tests

Clone the github repository.

git clone https://github.com/angular/protractor.git
cd protractor
npm install

Start up a selenium server. By default, the tests expect the selenium server to be running at http://localhost:4444/wd/hub.

Protractor's test suite runs against the included testapp. Start that up with

cd testapp
./scripts/web-server.js

Then run the tests with

npm test

Appendix A: Setting up a standalone selenium server

WebdriverJS does not natively include the selenium server - you must start a standalone selenium server. All you need is the latest selenium-server-standalone.. To drive individual browsers, you may need to install separate driver binaries.

To use with chrome browsers, download chromedriver. More information about chromedriver

The webdriver-manager script is included in the npm package to manage downloads for you. To see the options, run

npm install -g protractor
webdriver-manager

Download and start the selenium server with

webdriver-manager update
webdriver-manager start

For alternate ways to download and start the selenium standalone, see the webdriver docs.