Automation testing is a critical part of developing web applications. It’s time-consuming and tiresome to run hundreds of tests manually on various browsers and devices. That is where Cypress testing comes into the picture.
It’s a Java-based end-to-end testing framework designed to reduce the testing efforts of web applications. It helps front-end developers to perform various testing types such as integration, unit, and end-to-end. Its ability to scale makes it a sensible choice for interacting with web applications and browsers.
If your company is developing web applications, they have to be bug-free at any cost. Cypress framework reads and modifies the website traffic in real-time by altering the code that interfaces with the browser to automate it. Therefore, it will be no surprise that it’s also one of the more popular options among Java-based front-end developers.
Here are seven benefits of Cypress that you must know.
- It’s a modern and innovative tool.
Unlike software testing, web testing needs to be faster and more reliable. Hence it wouldn’t make sense to use the same tools and practices used for testing software to test web applications developed in real-time.
Cypress is a universal tool coded in Javascript. It is based on Mocha and Chai and utilizes Node.js to run in the browser, making it a reliable tool for testing web applications written in different languages, not just JavaScript.
It enables you to run the test code directly in the browser itself. That way, no matter which language is used for building the website, it is compiled to Javascript.
In contrast to other testing networks that run test commands from outside the network, the Cypress framework operates on the network layer of the tests running in the browser using the same run loop as your web application. It makes it capable of testing any module or app that runs in the browser.
- It offers an easier and faster setup.
If you’ve worked on Selenium before, you must have had difficulty installing the correct libraries needed for a specific project. You don’t need to go through that headache to install Cypress on your system, primarily if you have worked with JavaScript.
You just need to run an npm command with install cypress, and you are good to go. The standard installation procedure has all the required libraries or dependencies in one place. You don’t have to find and select them manually.
You also do not need additional servers, testing engines, drivers, wrappers, or libraries. You also have the freedom to add different libraries whenever you want.
- Faster Debugging
Cypress E2E testing is one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of QA engineers. Like many other testing tools, the domain-precise language is easily comprehensible and not an adulterated version of JS. It allows you to develop your function with JS and yet share them across the network.
Moreover, as constructive feedback is a critical part of debugging, it offers straightforward and insightful errors code and suggestions to fix the bugs. The snapshots of the test errors further help you locate and fix the error, reducing debugging time.
- Active community on Github, Stackoverflow, and Gitter
Every debugging tool requires months of use and support to unleash its potential fully. That’s why the user community plays a vital role in the popularity of any tensing framework—no need to worry about that with Cypress.
Numerous developer groups, forums, and discussion rooms on platforms like Stackoverflow, GitHub, and Gitter will provide the essential libraries and support to make the best use of the framework. These also offer ample documentation helpful in finding solutions to any problems during installation, usage, or upgrading.
- Lightning-fast test execution
Web testing tools are often required to wait for the DOMs. But that isn’t the case with Cypress. You don’t have to demonstrate any internal or external waits as it voluntarily waits for the DOM extra elements like animation, loading, and other elements. Cypress implementation requires only 20 milliseconds to implement the procedure.
Furthermore, you don’t have to launch the subsequent tests manually; the framework automatically implements the tests. It significantly reduces the idle time of the system. As Cypress tests are run in the browser itself, you don’t experience any network lag while testing various apps.
Whether you are testing an input form or drag and drop function, you don’t experience any system lag that can affect your testing time and output. It uses test assertions for creating a required state of your web app. You don’t have to start each test manually. Once the results are saved, it triggers the next operation in the browser, saving you time.
- Merges API checking with functional testing
Though Cypress allows for writing various types of tests, it may not be a suitable tool to write a kind of test exclusively. Combining the powers of these models gives absolute power to the Cypress framework.
Similar to unit testing, Cypress allows you to control the function behavior and server responses. You don’t have to combine other libraries to test the API. You can send and verify backend requests, making it perfect for using it in end-to-end unit testing.
Consider this example to understand it better. Cypress allows you to save time by developing a function to auto-login with a request before testing the app after the login. It doesn’t stop at that.
You can also use stubs and mocks to modify DOM elements by imitating the backend behavior. It further shortens the running spec time and restricts test rules to align with the real purpose of the test conditions.
- Time travel
It’s not time travel like the Back To The Future movie. ‘Time travel’ in the world of software development is different. As you keep developing the test cases, the Cypress framework takes snapshots or pictures of the tests to capture their unique properties. If any inconsistency arises, you can ‘time travel’ to the last functioning module to access it.
Cypress testing is no less than a blessing for front-end developers. It gives the much-needed, energetic push to web testing as traditional testing tools became irrelevant and couldn’t even compete. No wonder hundreds and thousands of web developers use it as an alternative to Selenium.
How to perform Cypress testing?
Once you install the LambdaTest-Cypress CLI package, you can run individual Cypress tests on an online automation cloud while cross browser testing simultaneously. LambdaTest allows you to run your tests across more than 3000 browsers, devices, and OSs. Its versatile functionality will enable you to perform visual UI tests and manual tests as well.
Apart from that, developers and testers can run their Selenium tests faster with the secure and scalable cloud-based Selenium grid. The Cypress CLI on LambdaTest exponentially scales your testing range by allowing you to run a test on more than 40 browser versions of Windows and Mac platforms. That’s how LambdaTest allows the developers and testers to run Cypress test automation of their web apps in real-time at a scale.
