A Detailed Guide to API Testing and UI Automation with Cypress

Almost all web applications and solutions today are run by frameworks present on JavaScript. These solutions include both backend and frontend development solutions. In a bid to make their workflow easier and smoother, development pros need QA automation frameworks that can perform both UI and API tests at the same time. The testing process is necessary to check and authenticate the flow of your system, and to ensure that everything meets the requirements.

Testing frontend quality is an important part of API and UI development. The testing process should ensure the quality of the workflow, and should meet the requirements of the end user.

Testing APIs and UI in one place requires several frameworks and tools, including Postman, Selenium, Nightwatch, and Ketalan to name a few. However, we predominantly focus on Cypress here, and the feasibility that it provides to users.

In this article, we take a look at the feasibility of QA testing, and how Cypress can help with it. We look at QA testing through the combined lens of UI automation and API formulation. Stay with us for more.

Understanding Cypress

Before we move any further, let us understand how Cypress functions. Cypress is an open-source Test Runner that is locally installed to work as a Dashboard Service and record your tests for you. The solution is meant to automate next-generation applications and create web apps that stay connected and active for longer.

Cypress is necessary for developers working on web apps programmed in Vue.js, Node.js, and some other popular technologies. Cypress runs on a Node.js server, and works concurrently with your app development process.

While most testing solutions work outside the browsers, Cypress is the opposite. Cypress can take routine snaps of the development process, eventually enabling you to travel back in time when the command was running.

Important Components of Cypress:

Cypress is known for some of its novel features and key components. These features include:

• Cypress can create a mock version of the server, which can respond and test different cases at once.
• Cypress can take snapshots during different test runs and help you time travel and test different scenarios across multiple situations. This is by far the most comprehensive and improved component over others in the market. Cypress can create screenshots along the development journey and can present them for use later.
• Cypress can control how different servers respond and function.
• Cypress gives consistent results that are easy to track.
• Easily control and test cases without server involvement.
• View all screenshots at one time to automate failure detection.

API Testing with Cypress

API testing through Cypress involved end 2 end UI tests as well. The end-to-end tests can be necessary to stabilize the API and to prepare data for interacting with all third-party servers.

Cypress gives applications an opportunity to make HTTP requests.

A coding example to follow for  testing is:

describe(“Testing API Endpoints Using Cypress”, () => {
 

       it(“Test GET Request”, () => {
             cy.request(“http://localhost:3000/api/posts/1”)
                  .then((response) => {
                         expect(response.body).to.have.property('code', 200);
             })
       })
 

       it(“Test POST Request”, () => {
             cy.request({
                  method: ‘POST’,
                  url: ‘http://localhost:3000/api/posts’,
                  body: {
                      “id” : 2,
                      “title”:“Automation”
                  }
             }).then((response) => { 
                     expect(response.body).has.property(“title”,“Automation”); 
             })
       })
 

       it(“Test PUT Request”, () => {
             cy.request({
                     method: ‘PUT’,
                     url: ‘http://localhost:3000/api/posts/2’,
                     body: { 
                        “id”: 2,
                        “title” : “Test Automation”
                     }
             }).then((response) => { 
                     expect(response.body).has.property(“title”,“ Test Automation”); 
             })          
       })        
 

       it(“Test DELETE Request”, () => {
             cy.request({
                       method : ‘DELETE’,
                       url: ‘http://localhost:3000/api/post/2’
                       }).then((response) => {
                         expect(response.body).to.be.empty;
             }) 
       })
    
  })

Writing UI Tests with Cypress

Having studied examples of API testing with Cypress, we now look at some workable examples of UI testing with the help of Cypress. These examples include:

describe('Testing Google Search', () => {
 

      // To Pass the Test Case 1 
 

      it('I can search for Valid Content on Google', () => {
 

           cy.visit('https://www.google.com');
           cy.get("input[title='Search']").type('Cypress').type(‘{enter}’);
           cy.contains('https://www.cypress.io'); 
 

      });
 

      // To Fail the Test Case 2
 

      it('I can navigate to Wrong URL’', () => {
 

           cy.visit('http://localhost:8080');
           cy.get("input[title='Search']").type('Cypress').type(‘{enter}’);
           cy.contains('https://www.cypress.io'); 
 

      });
 
 });

Additional Possibilities of Cypress

Having looked at the testing and UI automation possibilities of Cypress, we now look at some of the additional benefits that developers can extract through the solution:

• Ability to run retries and test each new retry. The ability to retry will be documented and recorded.
• Continuous integration with Jenkins and continuous deployment across the board for all-rounded results.
• Behavior-driven development or BDD that is managed through the comprehensive solution of Cucumber.
• Custom commands that are easy to run on all systems and frameworks.
• Environmental variables.
• Plugins to perform new operations and add new components to the mix.
• Visual testing tools to determine the efficacy of a visual interface.
• Stock integration mechanism.
• GraphQL testing mechanism for API testing

Cypress Limitations

Besides the plethora of benefits and components associated with Cypress, there are a few limitations associated with it as well.

Cypress has great community support and is being used as a full-stack communication tool for the market.

Some of the limitations associated with Cypress include:

• Cypress cannot run on multiple browsers at one time
• Cypress does not offer support for multiple tabs at a given time
• Cypress does not provide additional support for iFrames. The provided support is limited in use.
• Cypress only supports full-stack JavaScript language frameworks.
• Cypress doesn’t work on IE and Safari

Cypress is one of the most popular testing tools. The features and debugging techniques can make QA automation easier, giving developers a chance to develop new code and run tests. We hope this guide is conclusive in nature and gives you an idea of Cypress.