Automation testing is the new standard of ensuring the best end-user experience for customers. This is because, with the help of test automation, the application developers can individually verify the stability of all the elements present in a modern app. Moreover, test automation ensures that all the web elements work in close coordination, ensuring a stable infrastructure. While we’re on the concept of test automation, we can easily consider the example of the Playwright. This is one of the new additions to the market that aims to elevate the standards of the testing process. While using Playwright, the developers can easily integrate Java to improve the test case creation and execution process. Playwright is also useful for improving the simplicity of the application test cases.
So, with this article, we’re going to understand how application developers can create automation test cases with Java while using Playwright-based automation testing. We also guide through some of the best practices, including tools and platforms that can massively benefit this process.
Understanding Automation Testing
To properly implement Playwright with Java, the application developers must have a clear concept of automation testing practices. In simple terms, it is an efficient effort toward the removal of human involvement in the testing process. As a substitute, the system will use a text file containing all the required parameters and datasets. These text files will allow the system to emulate human interactions and communicate with the application undergoing the development project. Based on these interactions, the system will generate a detailed report showing the stability, usability, and user interactivity of the app undergoing the development project. The app testers and developers can later go through this report to understand whether the app is fit to be forwarded to the production phase.
It is also easy to make significant changes in the text file to customize the app’s requirements. The application developers can also store a huge section of the existing automation test data and reuse it in future app projects. However, we would like to caution the application developers against the steep investment that comes with automation testing. This is because test automation requires various plugins, tools, and libraries that are critical for the proper execution of the automation test cases. So, app development companies need to have enough revenue resources and investments to justify this investment and transition.
The Integration of Playwright with Java
The playwright is a simple and efficient framework to execute end-to-end testing on modern web applications. End-to-end testing is the process of verifying the proper functioning of all the elements present in a web application. The most unique feature of this testing process is that it performs the test cases from the end user’s perspective. After the execution of this process, the app developers can rest assured that the application will maintain its usability and functionality irrespective of the use case scenario. Moreover, Playwright is an open-source framework which means that the app developers and testers can access all of its features without worrying about any license fees. It is possible to use Playwright on any browser, platform, or API. It is also very useful for creating resilient non-flaky test cases.
Although Playwright is new to the application development industry, it has gained a lot of popularity due to its simplicity and ease of access. Due to this popularity, Playwright also has developed a huge community of tech enthusiasts and lovers who are always working hard to improve the testing experience with this framework. The new automation testers and developers can always refer to this community whenever they are stuck with any feature of Playwright. While working with Playwright, the application developers can write automation test cases in many popular programming languages like Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, and many others.
Playwright also supports the most popular rendering engines like WebKit, Firefox, and Chromium. Playwright is also one of the most popular choices for executing cross-browser testing on web applications.
Java, on the other hand, is one of the most popular programming languages that is used by Playwright developers. So, it is very easy to create Java-based test cases for Playwright as most developers have a basic knowledge of this programming language. So, in simple terms, we can say that while using Java with Playwright, the application developers can eliminate the learning curves that come with any new addition. Java is also popular in the application development industry for object-oriented programming. One of the most important facts about this programming language is that the syntax and rules are based on C++ and C languages.
This is also one of the oldest programming languages. Java has managed to remain one of the most popular languages for over 20 years now.
Executing Java Test Cases with Playwright
The process of using Java with automation test cases with Playwright is very simple. For the ease of the new application developers and testers, we have listed down all the important steps that will guide them through the entire setup and testing process:
- The first step in this process is to set up the Java development kit. The application developers need to install the setup files from the official website and install them on their testing machine. It is provided by the official website of Oracle.
- Next, the application developers have to create a new Java project. The easiest process is to create a new directory for the project and navigate to it using the command line. After this, the app developers have to initiate a new Java project using the preferred build tool, which includes Gradle or Maven.
- After this, it is very important to add Playwright Java dependency into the file. The application developers can easily complete this process with the ‘<dependencies>’ section. After adding the dependencies, the application developers have to save the file, and the build tool will automatically download the Playwright Java dependency.
- It is now time to write the first Playwright script using a new Java class. The application developers must ensure that they write the test case inside the Playwright directory of Java. After this, it is important to open the file and import the required Playwright packages for creating the automation test case. In this segment, we would like to advise the application developers to name the test cases according to the target elements. It is a very important process to keep track of all the test cases when the application developers are working on a web app that consists of thousands of different elements.
- The final step in this process is to run the Playwright’s script. For this, the application developers have to navigate to the project directory in the command line and execute the run command for the automation test case. All that is left is to wait for the system to execute the test case and display the output in the console. Based on the output, the application developers can keep track of all the bugs and errors that might have been detected in the application and move on to the test case debugging process.
- The application developers have to continue repeating these steps until the application is completely free of all errors and is ready to be forwarded to the production phase. It is also important for the application developers to explore Playwright’s API documentation process. It will help them understand much more about all the available functionalities and methods. These methods and functionalities will in turn allow the application testers to build more complex automation testing scenarios. It is also important to remember to handle the exceptions and clean up the resources properly. This step will ensure the robustness and reliability of the automation test cases.
Finally, the app developers must remember that the requirements differ from company to company and app to app. So, it is very important to customize the above steps to ensure the accuracy of the test reports.
The Integration of Tools and Platforms with Playwright Testing
The app developers can use various platforms and tools available in the market to improve the usability of their Java-based Playwright test cases. Moreover, this platform integrates various additional new features for improving the quality of the app undergoing the development project. We can use the example of cloud platforms that eliminate the hassle of having an on-site device lab. These benefits are typically used by a company to verify the app’s performance based on physical parameters. However, cloud platforms provide similar test results while conducting the test cases on remote servers. These servers provide access to hundreds of real device clouds through the Internet. Moreover, cloud platforms also eliminate geolocation barriers and provide access to legacy devices that are no longer available in the market.
One of the best available platforms online exist for website testing is LambdaTest. LambdaTest is a modern automated cloud-based digital experience testing platform for web applications. This platform uses various advanced features like parallel test execution for elevating the test efficiency by multiple times. While using Playwright test cases, the application developers can execute them on more than 50+ different browser versions simultaneously. LambdaTest is also a great choice when application developers work on web pages with local host servers. LambdaTest can not only execute the automation test cases from Playwright but also from other popular test suites and frameworks like Selenium and Cypress. With the help of this platform, the application developers can also maintain an activity log for the test cases that have been completed and the ongoing ones.
Finally, integrating hundreds of real devices with thousands of existing emulation and simulation software massively boosts the dependability and accuracy of the test reports.
The Conclusion
The primary motive of this article was to spread adequate awareness regarding the proper execution of Java-based Playwright test cases. We created a simple guide that will help the new application developers and testers throughout the setup and test case execution process. We all can agree that with the passing years, the application development industry will become more and more dependent on automation testing practices. So, it is not only enough to adopt this technology but also to continue updating the knowledge regarding all the new additions in this segment. Moreover, the automation testing tool selection process plays a critical role in using the full potential of the test bench. The app developers should conduct a thorough survey to understand the requirements of the target audience and accordingly customize the application.
