Introduction
Software testing is a very crucial part of the software development process. It is done to find and reduce any kind of error and issues in your software application. It is also used to perform the cross-device compatibility of software or websites. Several tools and frameworks can be utilized to perform software testing. The Playwright is an open-source framework that is widely used for this purpose.
There are various reasons why this framework is very popular among website testers and why it is the prior choice. In this article, you will see brief information about the Playwright framework and how you can install it in your system to perform website testing.
What is Playwright?
A Playwright is a library that is used to perform software testing for web applications. It is an open-source tool. Playwright framework is also used to perform single-page or multi-page application testing before making them live for the users.
Using Playwright to perform software testing allows the testing team to execute it on various types of operating systems such as macOS, Windows, Linux, etc. Also, Playwright has features to adapt across different types of operating systems. Hence, you do not need to write different code or modify the code according to the operating system. the framework can do all this adaptation by itself.
Apart from supporting various operating systems, this framework also supports different types of web browsers such as MS Edge, Chrome, Safari, etc. This compatibility across different web browsers allows the testing team to provide a seamless and smooth user experience for all types of users.
This tool provides you with the option to select all the elements of the web application individually and you can perform the software testing process over them by using the friendly API provided by the Playwright.
You can leverage LambdaTest for your Playwright testing, which allows you to run your Playwright test on 50+ environments including real devices. It speeds up the software testing and decreases deployment time to multiple folds. Because of that more than 10000+ enterprises and 2 million testers rely on lambdaTest for their testing needs.
There is also an option to integrate with the CI/CD pipeline in this framework that allows you to execute automated tests at various stages of the software testing process. Playwright also has the option to perform visual regression testing to enhance the visual experience of specific software.
It helps to get screenshots of each component at every stage of the testing process. Then you can make an analysis based on comparing them visually too. You can automate some real-time stuff for testing such as scrolling, clicking, etc.
Architecture of Playwright
The architecture of Playwright is designed to perform software testing across many operating systems and types of devices. It can run test-out-of-process. This framework performs the exchange of process requests between the client side and server side by using a single WebSocket connection only.
This makes this framework much better in comparison with other website testing tools such as Selenium HTTP Connection protocol. The WebSocket decreases the chances of errors and it helps to exchange the commands faster over the connection and user side.
Client:
It is part of Playwright where the testing team writes the code for the testing process. It can be written using various programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, etc.
Server:
The server is used to establish the connection between the client side and the server side. It helps in the exchange of server requests over the server. There are many protocols used in this layer of architecture such as browser protocols. There are different protocols for various types of web browsers available. For example, Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) to communicate with the Chromium browser.
WebSocket Protocol:
The process of sending a request to the server to start a WebSocket connection is known as a WebSocket handshake. Due to the open connection, WebSockets have considerably lower latency and send messages to their clients than complex polling, where the connection must be reestablished with each request.
As soon as feedback is received in real-time through WebSockets, it is forwarded. A full-duplex means of communication over a single TCP connection is provided by the WebSocket connection's use of the WebSocket communication protocol. A full-duplex system enables communication in both directions. This protocol is supported by any current browsers.
Client Server Communication:
By the time you start performing the test, and the testing process gets triggered, the testing codes are converted into a JSON format. After the format conversion, it is then sent to the server using the WebSocket server protocol. This protocol helps to ensure the safe and efficient traveling of codes. Every request is exchanged by the Playwright using a single web socket connection, which continues to exist for each step of all test execution.
Commands are quickly executed as they are sent over a single connection, which reduces the likelihood of test failure. According to Selenium, which uses the HTTP connection protocol and delivers each command such as opening the browser, clicking, sending keys, or shutting the browser as a distinct HTTP request, this design applies a single HTTP message.
Working as Playwright in Software Testing
As you know, Playwright is a very important and necessary part of the website testing process. As a software company, you can not restrict the users to use a specific type of web browser. Hence, the software or web application company has to do its project that can support various operating systems, web browsers, and various operating systems. Hence, Playwright is the most preferred choice to perform website testing.
The playwright makes it possible to test the website and makes sure that it should be compatible across various web browsers.
Using Playwright, the testers do not need to write the same testing code again and again. Playwright uses a virtual machine that is generally called an “instance” and tests the website using this virtual machine. It works in headless mode. I
t means that the tester can not see the browser windows, but the website gets tested against various types of web browsers virtually. After launching the web browser in the instance, it goes to a specific URL and then it performs several testing tasks such as scrolling, clicking, etc.
All these activities are performed to ensure the user experience of the website. Playwrights can be also. run in non-headless mode. Using Playwright in non-headless mode helps to do troubleshooting and debugging during the testing process.
Setting Up Playwright
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To perform software testing using the Playwright framework, you need to go through some steps. In the below section, you will see how you can install this framework for your system and use them. There are two ways to install this framework in your system. The first one is using the command line prompt and the second one is using the visual studio code. Let us see them one by one.
Command Line Prompt:
To install Playwright using the command line prompt, first, you need to open the command line prompt on your system. Then install Node.js first and it is not available in your system. You can download it from the official website of Node.js. Then open the terminal and run the command shown below to install the Playwright framework.
“ npm init playwright@latest tutorial ”
Then you are asked to do some configuration actions for your project. You can do this by using the array key and then selecting the options. Finally, your project gets initialized.
Visual Studio Code:
You can also install Playwright in your Visual Studio Code editor. To do this, first, you need to open the VS Code editor and then go to “Extensions''. Then search here by typing “Playwright ”. You will see an extension namely “Playwright Test for VSCode”. Make sure that you have downloaded the correct and authorized extension from Microsoft. The right extension looks like this as shown below for your reference.
Language Support for Playwright
Many programming languages are supported by the Playwright framework. This framework provides a wide range of language support which makes it flexible. The Tester can choose their preferred language to use this framework. The Various programming languages supported by Playwright are as follows:
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- Python
- .Net
- Java
Multi-language support of this framework allows you to write the test scripts in their preferred language and use the features of Playwright to enhance your testing process. This brings the best result out of the software because the testing individual and the testing team are not restricted to any specific programming language.
Advantages of Playwright for Your First Test
There are many benefits of using the Playwright framework to execute a website testing process. Given below are some of them:
Element Locator
Element locator is used to identify the various components of your website using various parameters such as CSS selectors, XPath, text content, and others. Element locators allow the testing team to make an easy interaction with all the elements separately on a page.
Assertions
Assertions are defined as the responses that are expected with the assertion methods. This also includes the element presence, attributes, and values of your testing website.
What other Reads?
Handling Wait Times
Wait time in the testing process using the Playwright is defined as the time that takes to respond and the changes are visible on the web pages after any activity is done. The wait time is handled by the built-in methods of the program. The wait time may be for different factors such as element visibility, selecting and typing, navigation of the elements in a page, scrolling, etc.
Interacting with Web Elements
Using Playwright and Java for regression testing also has advantages over other programming languages in terms of web interaction. It provides an easy and seamless interaction with all the elements of the web page. This is possible in this framework due to the intuitive API methods that are used for clicking, typing, selecting, and scrolling through the elements of the web page.
Summary
The playwright is a framework that is used to perform website testing. It helps the testing team to find errors and bugs in the website during the testing process. So, the testing team can rectify them before making the project live. Doing software testing ensures a good user experience and seamless performance of the website.
Various frameworks can be used to perform website testing against various types of operating systems and web browsers. To perform testing using the Playwright you need to install the framework on your system.
There are two ways to install this framework in your system. The first one is using the CLI (Command Line Interface) and the second one is using your Visual Studio Code IDE. Hope you have got an understanding of how you can install the Playwright framework in your system to perform website testing.
