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.
Compatibility
Protractor 4 is compatible with nodejs v4 and newer. If you absolutely need to use nodjs at 0.12, use Protractor@2.
Protractor work with Angular versions greater than 1.0.6/1.1.4, and is compatible with Angular 2 applications. Note that for Angular 2 apps, the binding
and model
locators are not supported. We recommend using by.css
.
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), the Gitter chat room, 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
./bin/webdriver-manager update
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
. A selenium server can be started with webdriver-manager which is included in
bin/webdriver-manager.
webdriver-manager update
webdriver-manager start
Protractor's test suite runs against the included test application.
Install the test application dependencies with:
npm run install_testapp
Start that up with
npm start
Then run the tests with
npm test