How to Setup Playwright End to End Test Automation Framework

This article explains setting up Playwright with NodeJS in detail.

Step by Step Guide to Setup Playwright End to End Test Automation Framework using Page Object Model from Scratch

Pre-Requisite

1. Install NodeJS
2. Install Visual Studio Code

Step 1: Create a New Folder

Navigate to desired drive in your computer and create a new folder for Playwright (ex: PlaywrightFramework)

Step 2: Open newly created folder in Visual Studio Code IDE

From Visual Studio Code, Navigate to File> Open > Choose the newly created folder (PlaywrightFramework)

Step 3: Create a package.json file

The package.json file helps to keep track of all node modules installed and it also helps to create shortcuts to run Playwright tests

From your Visual Studio Code > Open Terminal

Execute below command

npm init

Once you execute the above command it asks you set of questions just answer them or Press Enter until package.json gets created.

Step 4: Install Playwright Tests npm package

The playwright has its own test runner for end-to-end tests, we call it the Playwright Test.

From your Visual Studio Code > Open Terminal

Execute below command

npm i -D @playwright/test

Step 5: Install Playwright npm package

Unlike Playwright Library, Playwright Test does not bundle browsers by default, so you need to install them explicitly

From your Visual Studio Code > Open Terminal

Execute below Command

npm install --save-dev playwright

Step 6: Create src Folder inside your Project Folder

Src folder holds all your tests and page objects, it helps us to manage tests in an easy way.

Create New Folder called src inside Project Folder (Ex: PlaywrightFramework)

Step 7: Create Folders for Tests and Page Object

Inside your src folder created in the above step create two more folders namely specs and pages

your directory structure should look like below

PlaywrightFramework
-src
--tests
--pages

tests folder contains all your Playwright test files

pages folder contains all your Playwright page object files

Step 8: Create First Page Object File with Playwright

Inside your pages folder create a file name it as example.page.ts

In this tutorial, we are going to write two simple test cases.

1. Navigate to google.com and Verify
2. Search for keyword Playwright and verify search results

Copy and Paste the below code into your newly created file example.page.ts

//example.page.ts
import type { Page } from  '@playwright/test';
export class ExampleClass{
    readonly page: Page
    constructor(page:Page){
        this.page=page
    }
    async typeSearchText(){
       await this.page.type('input[name="q"]',"Playwright")
    }
    async pressEnter(){
       await this.page.keyboard.press('Enter');
    }
    async searchResult(){
       return this.page.innerText('//h3[contains(text(),"Playwright:")]')
    }
}

Step 9: Create First Test /Spec File with Playwright

Inside your specs folder create a file name it as example.spec.ts

The example.spec.ts contains your actual test script or specs which you create using Playwright libraries.

Copy and Paste the below code into your newly created example.spec.ts

//example.spec.ts
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
import { ExampleClass } from '../pages/example.page';
test('Navigate to Google', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://google.com/');
  const url = await page.url();
  expect(url).toContain('google');
});
test('Search for Playwright', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://google.com/');
  let exampletest = new ExampleClass(page);
  await exampletest.typeSearchText();
  await exampletest.pressEnter();
  const text = await exampletest.searchResult();
  await console.log(text);
  expect(text).toContain('Playwright: Fast and reliable');
});

Step 10: Execute or Run your First Test with Playwright

The playwright provides options to execute your test in both headed mode and headless mode. Let's try headed mode execution with chrome browser

From your Visual Studio Code Terminal Execute the below command

npx playwright test --headed

Once your tests are executed Playwright shows the results in the command line or Visual Studio Terminal.

Bouns:

Configure PlaywrightFramework behavior with Playwright Global configuration File

The playwright provides the option to create the configuration file, where you can specify values such as browser name, baseUrl, width, height.

Create playwright.config.ts file in your Project Folder (root level)

From your Visual Studio Code, Create a new file name as playwright.config.ts, This file must be created inside your Project Folder (ex: PlaywrightFramework) at the root level

The sample configuration file for Playwright looks like below

//playwright.config.ts
import { PlaywrightTestConfig } from '@playwright/test';
const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {
  use: {
    baseURL: 'http://google.com/',
    browserName: 'chrome',
    headless: false,
  },
};
export default config;

The above is a sample file there are many options that Playwright configuration supports. Read the details here

Playwright Supported Reporters

Currently, Playwright Supports Reporters

1. Dot Reporter
2. Line Reporter
3. JUnit Reporter
4. JSON Reporter
5. List Reporter

Playwright allows us to configure multiple reporters as well, Playwright reporters can be mentioned via command line while execution test or we can set them in the global configuration file.

Example of the global configuration file for Playwright Reporter

// playwright.config.ts
import { PlaywrightTestConfig } from '@playwright/test';
const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {
  reporter: [ ['junit', { outputFile: 'results.xml' }] ],
};
export default config;

Generating HTML Reporter with Playwright Test Automation Tool

The playwright doesn’t support HTML reports for tests by default, but it supports JUnit XML files, However, using JUnit reporter and third-party npm packages such as XUnit Viewer we can generate the HTML reporter.

Playwright supports allure report as well but as of now, it’s an experimental feature.

Reference: https://playwright.dev/

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