Cypress Testing with Electron

At this point, we can safely say that automation testing is the dominant factor in the application testing industry. Many developers also believe that this modern testing practice will continue to gain more and more popularity in test segments. During the early years of test automation, the developers could only use Selenium to verify the proper functioning of web applications. However, with time, many new alternatives like Cypress and Playwright have arrived in the market. 

We could define web applications to be a fusion between websites and contemporary applications. With this new type of app, the developers can complete all the tasks of a normal application without having to download any third-party application on their system. This not only saves a lot of space on the physical device but helps to eliminate a significant amount of hassle.

The developers often tend to verify the functioning of a web application on the popular browsers in the present market. For instance, the current names are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. However, it is also important to consider your interests from a business point of view. 

With this viewpoint, the developers will understand that they must also verify the performance of their app on smaller players as well. This will help them to massively improve their test coverage and increase their audience as well. So, in this article, we will discuss all the important factors in verifying the performance of web apps on the Electron browser using Cypress.

Understanding the Importance of Test Automation

Before understanding the importance and benefits of automation testing, we must create a proper image in our minds of the basic functions of test automation. We can easily define this process as the method of eliminating human involvement in repetitive test cases. Repetitive test cases for those forms of testing that the developers have to perform after every update on the web application. 

For these purposes, the developers can easily use predetermined parameters and random test data for automatically executing the test cases. This process not only helps to save a lot of time in the development and testing process but also relieves stress on the developers. The developers can focus on other unique and interactive areas of their projects. For instance, they can develop new features for adding to the application.

Automation testing helps the developers to also reuse a massive section of the code base. Many market experts claim that while using automated test cases, the developers can easily store and reuse up to 60% of the code data in future development projects. Currently, the developers can use various automation frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright to initiate these advanced testing processes on modern web applications. However, it is worth mentioning that automation testing isn’t completely devoid of drawbacks. For instance, the developers have to pay a huge amount of money to initially get started with test automation. This money can be a huge fortune for individual creators and small companies.

Moreover, with the current state of technologies, automation testing cannot eliminate the presence of human developers. This is because certain test cases including exploratory test cases and visual test cases depend on the experience and knowledge of a human developer.

Developing the Basic Idea of Cypress

Cypress is a modern test automation tool that has been recently released to the market. With this tool, the developers can perform different types of test cases on the web application to verify its smooth performance. For instance, while using Cypress, the developers can execute functional testing, end-to-end testing, cross-browser testing, and many other test cases. Cypress also allows the developers to customize various parameters of the test cases to ensure that they provide accurate results.

 For example, the developers can execute the Cypress test cases in headed, headless, remote, and even an on-site mode. The most important benefit of Cypress is that it is not only very simple to set up but also very easy to use. The developers do not have to use any third-party plugins for using this test automation tool.

The official website of Cypress also provides all the required data for getting started with Cypress. It also provides various sample test cases explaining the basic functions of all the features available with this test automation tool. The developers must remember that the ability to verify the functioning of mobile web apps is only available in the beta version. So, the test results can be unstable as it is still under development. Moreover, since the Cypress test automation tool is completely open source, the developer does not have to pay any form of charge for accessing all of its features.

 Performing Cypress Testing with Electron

While using Cypress automation testing, the developers can easily execute and verify the performance of the web applications on any browser. For performing this process, the developers only have to follow a few simple steps. So, for verifying the performance of web applications on Electron the developers have to follow the steps given below:

•         The most important step in this process is that the developers will not find support for the Electron app on the stable release. This is because Cypress provides support for the Electron app in the pre-release version. So, automation testers need to get the pre-release version of the test runner.
•         It’s also very important for the automation testers to head over to the official website of Cypress and access the readme section. This is because this section will provide all the step-by-step guides that the developers have to follow who are verifying the performance of Electron with the Cypress testing tool.
•         After installing all the required files for the execution of the test cases and also installing the latest version of Cypress, the developers have to install the Electron plugin. For this process, the developers have to follow a specific set of commands that they have to enter into the terminal window of Cypress.
•         After the installation process, the developers have to run the Cypress folder and execute the runner window. After the first execution, the system will automatically export the browser factory function. This function will pop up in a new window. However, the developers must remember that from a technical point of view, this window will be the child window of the test runner window. This is because it will help the developers to access and execute all the functions that are available in the main window.
•         After this process the developers can access and use all the Electron apps and test it with Cypress like any other application. It is also advisable for the developers to keep track of all the test cases for future debugging processes.

Influence of Platforms and tools in Cypress Test cases

Platforms and tools help developers massively reduce the complexity of automation test cases. This process is especially important for new automation testers who are still developing the basic idea of test automation. However, hundreds of such alternatives are easily available in the market. 

So, the developers must choose the correct tool that can suit their requirements. For this purpose, the developers need to analyze various factors relating to the requirements of the development project. Moreover, certain tools and platforms help the developer integrate third-party plugins for improving the efficiency of the test cases. For instance, you can consider the example of various cloud platforms like LambdaTest. These platforms help the developers to eliminate the headache of having an in-house test infrastructure.

The LambdaTest online browser farm provides 3000+ real browsers, devices and OS for developers to test their web and mobile applications. With the help of this platform, the developers can initiate automated test cases from multiple frameworks like Cypress, Playwright, and Selenium.

LambdaTest also has various interactive features for improving the usefulness of the test cases. For instance, it allows the developers to implement parallel test execution to improve the efficiency of the test cases by almost 10 times.

The Final Verdict

While concluding, we can easily say that Cypress automation testing is one of the most efficient forms of verifying the stable performance of multiple elements present on your web app. By ensuring that your web application is stable on emerging browsers such as Electron, you ensure that you provide continued support to your customers. 

This is one of the positive gestures that helps massively to create and improve the positive image of the company. Developing a brand image is yet another process that helps developers to maintain their position in this segment of the industry. It is also important for app developers to understand that they must adopt and integrate automation test cases as soon as possible. Recent statistics show that only 60% of app development companies have successfully made this move. 

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