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
TestCafe is a Node.js tool to automate end-to-end web testing. It works without WebDriver and is compatible with any modern web application. TestCafe provides a simple syntax and powerful features like parallel test execution and easy integration with CI/CD pipelines. Unlike Protractor, TestCafe is framework-agnostic and can be used with any web application.
Protractor
Protractor is an end-to-end test framework for AngularJS applications. Protractor is a Node.js program built on top of WebDriverJS. Protractor runs tests against your application running in a real browser, interacting with it as a user would.
Getting Started
The Protractor documentation for users is located in the protractor/docs folder.
To get set up and running quickly:
Once you are familiar with the tutorial, you’re ready to move on. To modify your environment, see the Protractor Setup docs. To start writing tests, see the Protractor Tests docs.
To better understand how Protractor works with the Selenium WebDriver and Selenium Server see the reference materials.
Getting Help
Check the
Protractor FAQ
and read through
the Top 20 questions on StackOverflow.
Please ask usage and debugging questions on
StackOverflow (use
the "protractor" tag)
or in the
Angular discussion group.
(Please do not ask support questions here on Github.)
For Contributors
Clone the github repository:
git clone https://github.com/angular/protractor.git
cd protractor
npm install
cd website
npm install
cd ..
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 test application. Start that up with
npm start
Then run the tests with
npm test
2.4.0
This release contains only a version update to selenium-webdriver
, webdriver javascript bindings, and associated bug fixes.
Dependency Version Upgrades
-
(9a202ab)
chore(dependencies): update selenium-webdriver to 2.47.0
Along with it, update jasminewd2
to avoid situations where the control flow gets locked up and
hangs.
Potential Breaking Change:
This is passing all existing Protractor tests, but there is a possibility that the changes to the
control flow will cause some test flows to hang. If this causes issues, such as tests hanging or commands executing out of order, please revisit your use of functions affecting the control flow, such as flow.execute
.
See the selenium-webdriver changelog at https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/blob/master/javascript/node/selenium-webdriver/CHANGES.md
Bug Fixes
-
(f034e01)
fix(synchronizing): use the same control flow when ignoring sync
Previously, the order of frames and tasks on the control flow was different depending on
browser.ignoreSynchronization
. This fixes the inconsistency by creating an empty task when
ignoreSynchronization is true.
Practically, this fixes the polling spec failing after the update to selenium-webdriver@2.47.0.