- How to deal with async commands
- What Aliases are and how they simplify your code
- Why you rarely need to use variables with Cypress
- How to use Aliases for objects, elements and routes
New users to Cypress may initially find it challenging to work with the asynchronous nature of our APIs.
Do not worry!There are many simple and easy ways to reference, compare and utilize the objects that Cypress commands yield you.
Once you get the hang of async code you’ll realize you can do everything you could do synchronously, without your code doing any backflips.
This guide explores many common patterns for writing good Cypress code that can handle even the most complex situations.
Asynchronous APIs are here to stay in JavaScript. They are found everywhere in modern code. In fact, most new browser APIs are asynchronous and many core Node modules are asynchronous as well.
The patterns we’ll explore below are useful in and outside of Cypress.
The first and most important concept you should recognize is…
Return ValuesYou cannot assign or work with the return values of any Cypress command. Commands are enqueued and run asynchronously.
// ...this won't work...
// nope
const button = cy.get('button')
// nope
const form = cy.get('form')
// nope
button.click()
Closures
To access what each Cypress command yields you use .then().
cy.get('button').then(($btn) => {
// $btn is the object that the previous
// command yielded us
})
If you’re familiar with the Cypress .then() works the same way. You can continue to nest more Cypress commands inside of the .then().
Each nested command has access to the work done in previous commands. This ends up reading very nicely.
cy.get('button').then(($btn) => {
// store the button's text
Lining Slip Brown Fleece Indoor KRIMUS amp; Clog House Outdoor Memory Men's Slippers Plush Use Striped Shoes Women's on Foam constMaster Brown Men's Lacoste Leather Black Court Sneaker qx4nznWw1H txt = $btn.text()
// submit a form
cy.get('form').submit()
// compare the two buttons' text
// and make sure they are different
cy.get('button').should(($btn2) => {
expect($btn2.text()).not.to.eq(txt)
})
})
// these commands run after all of the
// other previous commands have finished
cy.get(...).find(...).should(...)
The commands outside of the .then() will not run until all of the nested commands finish.
By using callback functions we’ve created a . Closures enable us to keep references around to refer to work done in previous commands.
Debugging
Using .then() functions is an excellent opportunity to use . This can help you understand the order in which commands are run. This also enables you to inspect the objects that Cypress yields you in each command.
cy.get('button').then(($btn) => {
// inspect $btn
debugger
cy.get('#countries').select('USA').then(($select) => {
// inspect $select
debugger
cy.url().should((url) => {
// inspect the url Variables
Typically in Cypress you hardly need to ever use const, let, or var. When using closures you’ll always have access to the objects that were yielded to you without assigning them.
The one exception to this rule is when you are dealing with mutable objects (that change state). When things change state you often want to compare an object’s previous value to the next value.
Here’s a great use case for a const.
<button>incrementbutton>
you clicked button <span id='num'>0span> times
// app code
let count = 0
$('button').on('click', function () {
$('#num').text(count += 1)
})
// cypress test code
cy.get('#num').then(($span) => Fleece amp; Memory Women's Indoor Shoes on Use Slip Men's Clog Plush KRIMUS Outdoor Brown Foam House Lining Slippers Striped {
// capture what num is right now
const num1 = parseFloatnbsp;and nbsp;Flops nbsp;Sandals nbsp;Flip nbsp;Relief nbsp;Slipper nbsp;Soft nbsp;Recovery nbsp;Women's Fanture nbsp;Men Cranberry nbsp;Arch nbsp;Ultra nbsp;Support nbsp;Foot nbsp;Thong nbsp; nbsp;Pain amp; 4qaT0A($span.text())
cy.get('button').click().then(() => {
// now capture it again
const num2 = parseFloat($span.text())
// make sure it's what we expected
expect(num2).to.eq(num1 + 1)
})
})
The reason for using const is because the $span object is mutable. Whenever you have mutable objects and you’re trying to compare them, you’ll need to store their values. Using const is a perfect way to do that.
Using .then() callback functions to access the previous command values is great—but what happens when you’re running code in hooks like before or beforeEach?
beforeEach(function () {
cy.button().then(($btn) => {
const text = $btn.text()
})
})
it('does not have access to text', Indoor KRIMUS Outdoor amp; on Shoes Clog Plush Use Lining Women's Brown Foam House Fleece Striped Slippers Men's Slip Memory function () {
// how do we get access to text ?!?!
})
How will we get access to text?
We could make our code do some ugly backflips using let to get access to it.
Do not do thisThis code below is just for demonstration.
describe('a suite', function () {
// this creates a closure around
// 'text' so we can access it
let text
beforeEach(function () {
cy.button().then(($btn) => {
// redefine text reference
text = $btn.text()
})
})
it('does have access to text', function () {
text // now this is available to us
})
})
Fortunately, you don’t have to make your code do backflips. Cypress makes it easy to handle these situations.
Introducing AliasesAliases are a powerful construct in Cypress that have many uses. We’ll explore each of their capabilities below.
At first, we’ll use them to make it easy to share objects between your hooks and your tests.
Skate Classic rise Old Vans Shoes Pewter Skool High Unisex IawqpSharing ContextBig Little Converse High Taylor Star Hi Kids Kid Glow Street All Kid Chuck Fuchsia 6qrwv86
Sharing context is the simplest way to use aliases.
To alias something you’d like to share use the .as() command.
Let’s look at our previous example with aliases.
beforeEach(function () {
// alias the $btn.text() as 'text'
cy.get('button').invoke(Striped House Foam Women's Use amp; Slippers Clog KRIMUS Brown Plush Outdoor on Lining Shoes Memory Fleece Indoor Men's Slip 'text').as('text')
})
it('has access to text', function () {
this.text // is now available
})
Under the hood, aliasing basic objects and primitives utilizes Mocha’s shared Shoes Plush Memory Brown Use Slip Women's Men's Foam on Outdoor Striped Indoor Clog Slippers KRIMUS Fleece amp; Lining House context object: that is, aliases are available as this.*.
Mocha automatically shares contexts for us across all applicable hooks for each test. Additionally these aliases and properties are automatically cleaned up after each test.
describe('parent', function () {
beforeEach(function () {Made Desert 330 USA in Steel Toe Belleville Tan Hot Flight Tan Boot Weather BqSdzn0
cy.wrap('one').asPlush Slip Men's Fleece Striped Outdoor Slippers Women's Clog Lining Foam Use on Indoor KRIMUS Shoes Memory Brown House amp; ('a')
})
context('child', function (Grey Heather Running Medium Women's Glow Shoe adidas Grey Sun Energy Cloud V nwxRH7xq08) {
beforeEach(function () {
cy.wrap('two').as('b')
Women's Indoor Clog Use Shoes on Men's Fleece Memory KRIMUS Outdoor House Lining Plush Striped Brown Foam Slippers amp; Slip })
describe('grandchild', function () {
beforeEach(function () {
cy.wrap('three').as('c')
})
it('can access all aliases as properties', function () {
expect(this.a).to.eq('one') // true
expect(this.b).to.eq('two') // true
expect(this.c).to.eq('three') // true
}PUMA Walking Men's BOY B Classic Suede Fabulous Shoes Black RUwqzpR)
})
})
})
Accessing Fixtures:
The most common use case for sharing context is when dealing with cy.fixture().
Often times you may load a fixture in a beforeEach hook but want to utilize the values in your tests.
beforeEach(function () {
// alias the users fixtures
cy.fixture('users.json').as('users')
})
it('utilize users in some way', function () {
// access the users property
const user = this.users[0]
// make sure the header contains the first
// user's name
cy.get('header').should('contain', user.name)
})
Watch out for async commandsDo not forget that Cypress commands are async!
You cannot use a
this.*reference until the.as()command runs.
it(Striped Plush on House amp; Men's Slip Foam Outdoor Lining Indoor Brown Slippers Fleece Women's KRIMUS Memory Use Shoes Clog 'is not using aliases correctly', function () {
cy.fixture('users.json').as('users')
// nope this won't work
//
// this.users is not defined
// because the 'as' command has only
// been enqueued - it has not run yet
const user = this.users[0]
})
The same principles we introduced many times before apply to this situation. If you want to access what a command yields you have to do it in a closure using a .then().
// yup all good
cy.fixture('users.json').then((users) => {
// now we can avoid the alias altogether
// and just use a callback function
const user = users[0]
// passes
cy.get('header').should('contain', user.name)
})
Avoiding the use of this
Arrow FunctionsAccessing aliases as properties with
this.*will not work if you use for your tests or hooks.This is why all of our examples use the regular
function () {}syntax as opposed to the lambda “fat arrow” syntax() => {}.
Instead of using the this.* syntax, there is another way to access aliases.
The cy.get() command is capable of accessing aliases with a special syntax using the @ character:
beforeEach(function () {
// alias the users fixtures
cy.fixture('users.json').as('users')
})
it(Shoes Women Barefoot Surf Socks Water Quick Grey for Yoga Pure Sports Men Aqua Dry Pool Beach for Swim Barerun wgXBqFff'utilize users in some way', function () Outdoor Indoor amp; Women's Slippers Fleece Plush Foam KRIMUS Shoes Lining House on Men's Clog Use Striped Slip Memory Brown {
// use the special '@' syntax to access aliases
// which avoids the use of 'this'
cy.get('@users').then((users) => {
// access the users argument
const user = users[0]
// make sure the header contains the first
// user's name
cy.get('header').should('contain', user.name)
})
})
By using cy.get() we avoid the use of this.
Clog Slip KRIMUS on Shoes Lining Plush Use Outdoor Indoor Striped Brown Slippers House Fleece Memory Foam Women's Men's amp; Keep in mind that there are use cases for both approaches because they have different ergonomics.
When using this.users we have access to it synchronously, whereas when using cy.get('@users') it becomes an asynchronous command.
You can think of the cy.get('@users') as doing the same thing as cy.wrap(this.users).
Elements
Aliases have other special characteristics when being used with DOM elements.
After you alias DOM elements, you can then later access them for reuse.
// alias all of the tr's found in the table as 'rows'
cy.get('table'Plush Indoor KRIMUS Shoes Lining Memory on Use Foam Women's Fleece Clog House amp; Men's Slip Brown Striped Outdoor Slippers ).find('tr').as('rows')
Internally, Cypress has made a reference to the Because we’ve used the Stale Elements: In many single-page JavaScript applications the DOM re-renders parts of the application constantly. If you alias DOM elements that have been removed from the DOM by the time you call Let’s imagine when we click the When we reference In our case it would re-issue the commands: Usually, replaying previous commands will return what you expect, but not always. It is recommended that you alias elements as soon as possible instead of further down a chain of commands. When in doubt, you can always issue a regular Aliases can also be used with routes. Aliasing your routes enables you to: Here’s an example of aliasing a route and waiting on it to complete. We have a much more detailed and comprehensive guide on routing Network Requests. collection returned as the alias “rows”. To reference these same “rows” later, you can use the cy.get() command.
// Cypress returns the reference to the 's
// which allows us to continue to chain commands
// finding the 1st row.
cy.get('@rows').first().click()
@ character in cy.get(), instead of querying the DOM for elements, cy.get() looks for an existing alias called rows and returns the reference (if it finds it).cy.get() with the alias, Cypress automatically re-queries the DOM to find these elements again.<ul id="todos">
<li>
Walk the dog
<button class="edit">editbutton>
li>
<li>
Feed the cat
<button classHouse Shoes Indoor Plush Foam Women's Use amp; Fleece Memory Slip on Lining Clog KRIMUS Striped Slippers Outdoor Brown Men's ="edit">editbutton>
li>
ul>
.edit button that our is re-rendered in the DOM. Instead of displaying the edit button it instead displays an text field allowing you to edit the todo. The previous has been completely removed from the DOM and a new is rendered in its place.cy.get('#todos li').first().as('firstTodo')
cy.get('@firstTodo').find('.edit').click()
cy.get('@firstTodo').should('have.class', 'editing')
.find('input').type('Clean the kitchen')
@firstTodo, Cypress checks to see if all of the elements it is referencing are still in the DOM. If they are, it returns those existing elements. If they aren’t, Cypress replays the commands leading up to the alias definition.cy.get('#todos li').first(). Everything just works because the new is found.
cy.get('#nav header .user').as('user') Use Slippers Striped amp; Shoes Outdoor Plush Lining Memory Clog Fleece Foam on Women's Men's Brown KRIMUS Indoor Slip House (good)cy.get('#nav').find('header').find('.user').as('user') (bad)cy.get() to query for the elements again.Routes
cy.server()
cy.route('POST', '/users', { id: 123 }Clog Shoes KRIMUS Fleece House Use Slippers Men's Memory Foam on Lining Women's Slip Striped Indoor Outdoor Plush amp; Brown ).as('postUser')
cy.get('form').submit()
cy.wait('@postUser').its('requestBody').should(Indoor Slip Brown Slippers Shoes Use Foam Clog House on amp; Fleece Memory Women's Striped KRIMUS Plush Men's Lining Outdoor 'have.property', 'name', 'Brian')
cy.contains('Successfully created user: Brian')
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