Laravel Dusk – Browser testing

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2 months ago

Laravel Dusk is a powerful browser testing tool for Laravel applications, allowing developers to automate the testing of their web applications using a simple and expressive API. With Dusk, you can write tests that simulate user interactions in a browser, making it easy to ensure that your application works as expected from the user’s perspective.

Key Features of Laravel Dusk:

Browser Automation: Simulate user actions in a real browser, including clicking links, filling out forms, and navigating between pages.

Headless Testing: Run tests in a headless browser, making it suitable for continuous integration environments without a graphical interface.
Fluent API: Use a simple, expressive syntax to write tests that are easy to read and understand.
Browser Screenshots: Capture screenshots of the browser at any point during the test, which can be useful for debugging.
JavaScript Support: Test applications that rely heavily on JavaScript and dynamic content.

Installation

To get started with Laravel Dusk, follow these steps:

Require Dusk in Your Laravel Project: Use Composer to install Dusk:

composer require --dev laravel/dusk

1

composer require --dev laravel/dusk
Install Dusk: After requiring Dusk, install it by running:

php artisan dusk:install

1

php artisan dusk:install
Set Up Browser Driver: Dusk uses the ChromeDriver for browser automation. Ensure you have Google Chrome installed on your machine, as well as the ChromeDriver corresponding to your Chrome version. Dusk comes with a built-in driver manager that will help you with this.

Writing Tests

Dusk tests are stored in the tests/Browser directory. Each test should extend the DuskTestCase class.

Example Test

Here’s a simple example of a Dusk test that checks if a user can visit the homepage and see the expected text:

namespace Tests\Browser;

use Laravel\Dusk\Browser;
use Tests\DuskTestCase;

class ExampleTest extends DuskTestCase
{
    /** @test */
    public function user_can_visit_homepage()
    {
        $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) {
            $browser->visit('/')
                    ->assertSee('Welcome to Laravel');
        });
    }
}

namespace Tests\Browser;

use Laravel\Dusk\Browser;

use Tests\DuskTestCase;

class ExampleTest extends DuskTestCase

{

/** @test */

public function user_can_visit_homepage()

{

$this->browse(function (Browser $browser) {

$browser->visit('/')

->assertSee('Welcome to Laravel');

});

}

Running Dusk Tests

To run your Dusk tests, use the following Artisan command:

php artisan dusk

1	php artisan dusk

This command will launch a browser and execute the tests defined in your Dusk test files.

Additional Testing Features

1. Form Interaction:

You can simulate filling out forms and submitting them:

$browser->visit('/register')
        ->type('name', 'John Doe')
        ->type('email', 'john@example.com')
        ->type('password', 'secret')
        ->press('Register')
        ->assertSee('Registration successful');

$browser->visit('/register')

->type('name', 'John Doe')

->type('email', 'john@example.com')

->type('password', 'secret')

->press('Register')

->assertSee('Registration successful');

2. Navigation:

You can navigate through your application:

$browser->visit('/')
        ->clickLink('Login')
        ->assertPathIs('/login');

$browser->visit('/')

->clickLink('Login')

->assertPathIs('/login');

3. Assertions:

Dusk provides various assertions to validate the state of the application:

assertSee(): Checks if the text is present on the page.
assertPathIs(): Verifies the current URL path.
assertPresent(): Checks if an element is present on the page.

4. Taking Screenshots:

You can capture screenshots during your tests to aid in debugging:

$browser->screenshot('homepage-test');

1	$browser->screenshot('homepage-test');

Headless Testing

You can run Dusk tests in a headless mode by modifying the DuskTestCase setup:

protected function driver()
{
    return RemoteWebDriver::create(
        'http://localhost:9515', DesiredCapabilities::chrome()->setCapability('headless', true)
    );
}

protected function driver()

{

return RemoteWebDriver::create(

'http://localhost:9515', DesiredCapabilities::chrome()->setCapability('headless', true)

);

}

Continuous Integration

Dusk can be easily integrated into your CI/CD pipeline. Just ensure that the appropriate browser driver is available in your CI environment and that the tests can run without a graphical interface (using headless mode).

Conclusion

Laravel Dusk is an invaluable tool for automating browser testing in Laravel applications. Its expressive syntax and powerful features make it easy to write tests that simulate user interactions, ensuring your application is functioning as expected.

Additional Considerations

Database Transactions: Use database transactions to ensure your tests do not interfere with your database state.
Testing Environment: Configure a separate testing environment to avoid affecting your production data.
Parallel Testing: Consider running tests in parallel to speed up your test suite, especially for larger applications.