Implementing Functional Testing in Test Automation Frameworks: Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright

Functional testing is crucial to ensuring the dependability and calibre of software programs. Automation testing frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright have become essential tools for developers and QA teams to speed up this process. This article explores building functional testing with these three widely used frameworks. We examine the subtleties of Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright, providing insights into their capabilities, advantages, and applicability for various testing scenarios, from configuring WebDriver to utilising sophisticated APIs.

What are Automation Testing Tools? 

Tools for automated testing are essential for effective, accurate, and economical software development. They ensure uniformity, facilitate ongoing integration, and assist in the early detection of problems. Their versatility and capacity to manage intricate situations render them essential for preserving superior software across its entire life cycle. While there are many tools for automated analysis, Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium are among the top choices. By eliminating the need for manual operations, these tools speed up testing, reduce human error, and save time. They make it easier to write, run, and maintain automated test scripts across a variety of environments and systems. 

The versatility of these tools, along with their full backing for desktop, mobile, online, and API testing, make them essential components in modern software development cycles which ensure the dependability and quality of software outputs. 

What is Cypress?

Cypress is an open-source, end-to-end testing framework for JavaScript that offers an integrated environment and improved development experience. It automates end-to-end browser testing and solves the configuration issues that testers experience. Rich features of the program include automatic waiting, time-travel debugging, and real-time reloading. In addition, Cypress provides automated waiting, which makes test execution more reliable and effective by doing away with the need for explicit timeouts and waits. 

Although Cypress offers an extensive dashboard for organizing test runs, evaluating test outcomes, and monitoring performance over time, it is a well-liked option for developers looking for ways to ensure the dependability and quality of online applications.

Advantages of Cypress

• Automatic scrolling: Automatic scrolling displays every element’s full view before executing a specific action.

• Browser-based: operates exclusively within the browser. Thus, there’s no need to install any further software.

• Captures a picture during each test phase. This allows for state checking at every stage of the test script. 

• It is not necessary to include wait commands, either explicit or implicit, to test scripts. It waits for prior instructions and statements. 

• Cypress includes excellent documentation.

Disadvantages

• It is not possible to run e2e tests combining multiple platforms because it runs directly in the browser.

• You must use only one browser at a time.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is a web app testing framework pioneer used extensively in the business for many years. It includes several tools (WebDriver, IDE, RC, and Selenium Grid) that can be utilized for different testing needs. It supports many browsers and programming languages, including Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, and Java, further increasing its adaptability.

 

Selenium Grid allows tests to run in parallel across different browsers and environments, extending WebDriver’s capabilities. Furthermore, the record-and-playback feature of the Selenium IDE allows you to create test scripts without writing any code, because of its many features, solid community backing, and ability to work with Continuous Integration (CI) systems. 

Advantages of Selenium

 

• The ability to select from various programming languages—Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and so on- is supported. 

• Supports a wide range of operating systems—no restrictions on operating systems. 

• Has a sizable internet community and a wealth of online resources.

• Compatibility and support for the majority of browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and IE. 
• Open source. 

Disadvantages

• Waiting time must be expressed explicitly in code; automated waiting is not supported. 
• Slow test development—creating test cases takes time.

What is a Playwright?

Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit are popular browsers that Playwright, a relatively new automation testing tool, supports. Their bindings support popular programming languages, including Java, Python, JavaScript & Typescript, and .Net. With capabilities like network interception, multiple tabs and frame support, and automated waiting, Playwright offers a quick and dependable testing experience.

Its adaptability encompasses a range of testing situations, such as performance, and end-to-end testing. Furthermore, Playwright’s resilience may be found in its ability to manage complex online programs, such as those containing asynchronous and dynamic content. All things considered, Playwright gives QA teams the tools they need to create reliable and efficient automation test suites, improving the effectiveness and quality of web application testing procedures.

Advantages of Playwright

• Step-by-step debugging, selector exploration, and the ability to log new tests are all included in this VS Code addon that allows for one-click test execution.

• It offers several debugging tools, including VSCode Debugger, Browser Developer Tools, Playwright Inspector, and Monitor Viewer Console Logs.

• It includes built-in reporters such as HTML Reporter, JSON, and JUnit. Playwright also allows you to generate personalized reports.
• Test scenarios with multiple tabs, users, and iframes are supported.

Disadvantages of Playwright

• The Playwright simulates a mobile device using a desktop browser rather than an actual device. 
• Playwright’s APIRequest function does not support disabling tracking redirection, even if it supports API auditing.

How To Choose The Right Automated Testing Tool  

Although online apps and native mobile apps can be tested using automated tools, specific guidelines apply to both, such as accessibility testing. Thus, it’s essential to do your research before selecting the appropriate tool:  

Cross-Browser Support:

Selenium is preferable if a project calls for testing across several browsers, especially Internet Explorer. Playwright and Cypress are better suited for projects that need testing on current browsers.

Performance and Stability: 

The Playwright leads, then Cypress and Selenium, to find a balance between stability and performance. The Playwright’s architecture and design enable it to handle modern web technologies efficiently.

Community Resources and Assistance:

Due to its length of time in the business, Selenium has the most significant community and resource base. Since Playwright and Cypress are new, their community might be smaller. It might be helpful to troubleshoot and get insights to select the appropriate tool by evaluating documentation, community assistance, and available resources.

Ease of Use and Setup: 

When choosing a testing framework, the simplicity and convenience of the configuration of its APIs are typically critical factors. Playwright and Cypress provide modern APIs and simplified settings to make testing easier. On the other hand, Selenium could take more time and effort to configure because of its extensive feature set and flexibility.

Selenium Vs. Cypress Vs. Playwright Comparison

Several standard solutions for browser automation include Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium; each has advantages and disadvantages of its own. An established option, Selenium supports various browsers and computer languages, making it flexible but occasionally tricky to set up and maintain. On the other hand, Cypress is perfect for quick and dependable testing of web apps because of its integrated testing framework and robust features, including automated waits. Cypress offers a more straightforward and more present approach. 

A more recent competitor, Playwright, offers a consistent API for automating WebKit, Firefox, and Chromium browsers, and more sophisticated features, including native mobile browser automation and automated retries. With its versatility and resilience, Playwright offers the best of both worlds—Cypress is only compatible with browsers built on Chrome, while Selenium might have a more demanding learning curve. The project needs, team knowledge, and desired level of browser functionality all play a role in selecting the appropriate solution.

Conclusion

To sum up, integrating functional testing with test automation frameworks like Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium provides a range of options for ensuring reliable product quality. Selenium is still the preferred option for web applications because of its extensive browser support and robust ecosystem. Cypress has a built-in feature set for adequate testing, an intuitive API, and exceptional speed and simplicity. Playwright is a formidable competitor, particularly for intricate scenarios and modern web applications, because of its robust automation features and seamless cross-browser integration. 

Each framework’s distinct characteristics cater to different project requirements and team preferences. Project complexity, team proficiency, and particular testing requirements influence the decision. LambdaTest, on the other hand, provides smooth integration with these frameworks through its AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform. This allows for effective parallel testing, cross-browser compatibility checks, automation testing and thorough reporting, improving the overall testing process and hastening the delivery of exceptional software.

FAQ’s

Q1. What distinguishes Playwright from Cypress most often? 

Cypress is renowned for its user-friendly syntax and built-in test runner, which make it perfect for comprehensive testing. Playwright distinguishes itself by its extensive API and compatibility with other programming languages, providing more extensive testing possibilities across various browsers.

Q2. Playwright: is it a framework or a tool?

Playwright is an automated and web-testing framework. It makes testing WebKit, Firefox, and Chromium possible using a single API. Playwright makes cross-browser online automation evergreen, competent, dependable, and quickly attainable. Every browser on every platform supports headless execution.

Q3. Which is quicker, Cypress or Selenium?

Developers can view test results while coding with Cypress thanks to a unique feature called real-time reloading. Debugging becomes significantly quicker and more effective as a result. On the other hand, Selenium takes longer to set up and run tests and does not offer real-time reloading.

Q4. Which language does Cypress use?

Teams using different programming languages may find Cypress less helpful, as it only supports JavaScript. A drawback for projects requiring these functionalities would be Cypress’s need for more support for mobile devices, including its restricted cross-browser testing capabilities.

Q5. What are the Playwright’s limitations?

Restricted Support for Browser-Specific Protocols: Playwright is limited to supporting HTTP/HTTPS and browser-specific protocols like data. and blob File downloads, FTP, and other non-browser protocols are not supported. Restricted Ad Support: Playwright does not support addons for web pages.

Q6. How can a test automation framework be made better?

Any development team needs to have a solid test automation framework in place. It should offer a reliable and stable basis for highly effective software testing. To ensure effectiveness and dependability, test automation frameworks must meet some requirements. These specifications include interoperability with various platforms, devices, and operating systems, portability, documentation, scalability, and usability.

Q7. Which framework is most widely used for automated tests?

Numerous frameworks for test automation exist, including Selenium, Cypress, Appium, and others. Nonetheless, Selenium is a popular framework. Optimising code readability may increase test productivity and efficiency, test more quickly, and develop better software.

Q8. What is the test automation framework?

A set of guidelines for running tests and producing thorough reports on the results is what makes up a test automation framework. Some essential elements of a practical test automation framework are equipment, protocols, scripts, tools, and, most importantly, experienced test automation engineers.