Microsoft contributors developed a free and open-source test automation library called Playwright. NodeJS, Java, Python, and C# are just a few of the programming languages with which it is compatible. The Apache 2.0 license governs the distribution of Playwright, which works best when combined with Node.js and Typescript/Javascript.
In this blog-post, we will dive into the details of Playwright and how it works for us. So, keep reading on.
What Makes Playwright the Best Framework for Automation?
Even though Playwright is a relatively new product in the industry, it is difficult to identify its limitations because it works with many languages. Users who want to convert from Selenium to Playwright won’t have any trouble doing so because Playwright is compatible with C#, Java, and Python. The use of programming languages is not at all a hurdle. The Playwright was first made accessible to the general public in January 2020, and since then, it has had a notable rise in popularity.
The Playwright uses the DevTools protocol to create trustworthy and robust automated tests. Because Playwright can see into and control the browser, it does not rely on an intermediate translation layer. This makes it possible to simulate user scenarios that are more informative and pertinent.
The primary goal behind the Playwright Node.js is to source a single API for testers and developers so that they can automate all their mobile or web applications for the major browsers listed below:
- WebKit
- Firefox
- Chromium
Is Playwright one of the important web testing tools?
The Playwright, the play’s creator, attempts to address the problem by introducing intelligent defaults that make everything clear-cut out of the gate. Playwright offers an easy installation method and has the features required for more complicated testing situations. The user interface (UI) is checked to ensure it is ready for the test to carry out the actions when a Playwright script is written and executed.
We are accustomed to waiting for these things as users, but many technologies need you to develop code to consider these conditions. Playwright, on the other hand, will try to take care of problems of this sort for you automatically.
What does “Playwright Supported Capabilities” actually mean?
You can create scenarios that span several websites, domains, and iframes. Time can be saved by having components wait for themselves to finish preparing before starting work (like click and fill).
Playwright JS enables the emulation of mobile devices and geolocation, permissions, and permissions.
This program supports the usage of shadow-piercing selectors with web components. You can connect to the native keyboard and mouse input events. Using this service, files can be uploaded and downloaded. This tool’s goal is to provide you with access to a flexible and robust API so you may avoid common issues that lead to brittleness or flakiness without having to account for them in your code.
Another design choice for Playwright was to center it around browser contexts. The Playwright offers a wide range of linguistic support. In its early stages, Playwright was initially created as a Javascript Node.
What does having Microsoft Playwright Contexts Mean for Your Browser Mean?
Constructed within a single browser instance, browser contexts are independent environments. They make it possible to create parallel tests that are different from one another and can function in the browser environment. Thanks to browser contexts, you can also duplicate situations in which you are changing the viewport of the device, the permissions it has, or the GEO locations currently situated across numerous websites.
Once more, the goal is to use Playwright as the preferred tool to create end-to-end tests that satisfy the demands of developers and testers.
Key Advantages of using Playwright Automation
Playwright contributors keep on releasing new features every month. Here is the list for some of them:
- Simple Configuration and Installation:
As it is a Test Automation Framework, installation doesn’t take very long; configuration is needed. Depending on the language we decide to use with Playwright during installation, there may be differences in the process.
- Supports Multiple languages:
Playwright is a popular choice because it works with various computer languages. Java, C#, Python, and Javascript/Typescript are some of these languages. The great majority of current open-source test automation frameworks lack this feature.
- Parallel Browser Testing:
Through the Browser Context, Playwright also enables the execution of concurrent tests, referred to as parallel testing, and can run parallel tests with many browsers simultaneously. Testing Multiple Browsers This expedites the testing process and is useful when several web pages need to be examined simultaneously.
- Built-in Reporters:
List, Dot, Line, JUnit, JSON, and HTML Reporters are some of the helpful report generators included with the Playwright framework out of the box. A fascinating feature of Playwright is users’ ability to create distinctive reporters. Additionally, Playwright supports the non-profit news organization Allure Report.
- Supports Multiple Windows and Tabs:
The Playwright supports numerous tabs and windows. Several test cases demand opening a new window, verifying the scenario, and returning to the parent window. A wide range of test scenarios can be designed and executed using Playwright.
- Typescript support:
It can comprehend both your typescript and javascript code. Thus no configuration is required for typescript language compatibility.
- Assist with Debugging Tools:
The numerous debugging options that Playwright provides help explain why programmers favor it. Playwright Inspector, VSCode Debugger, Browser Developer Tools, and Trace Viewers Console Logs are examples of debugging tools and options.
- Supports Multiple Browsers:
Firefox, Webkit-based browsers like Safari, and Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge are all supported. Other helpful features offered by Playwright include the following. Support for cross-origin navigation, support for iframes, support for page object patterns, built-in reporters, support selectors, support for shadow DOM, automatic waiting, support for third-party test runners, support for videos and screenshots, support for browser emulation, support for test retries, support for parameterized projects, and more.
Playwright Framework’s Challenges
Let us now magnify on some of the challenges that Playwight has to offer to us.
- The Playwright is relatively new and evolving every day. There is a lot of potential for development.
- The platform does not support IE11.
- The Playwright does not yet support the creation of native mobile applications.
Even though the Playwright’s documentation is excellent, we should hold out little hope for community support because Playwright is so new to the market and adds up users every minute.
Comparing Playwright and Puppeteer
As some may know, Playwright by Microsoft is based on Puppeteer. Puppeteer is a node library which allows you to automate Chromium-based browsers with JavaScript. Interestingly, the two top contributors to Puppeteer now work for Playwright. Playwright is quite similar to Puppeteer. This is beacuse Puppeteer team moved from Google to Microsoft, becoming the Playwright team. Both of these packages use the same API methods and they both bundle compatible browsers as a default. It has cross-browser compatibility, which is its biggest selling point.
Playwright is compatible with Chromium, WebKit (the Safari browser engine), and Firefox. In addition to this, Playwright was able to improve ergonomics in ways Puppeteer would not be able to. The page.click function of Playwright, for example, waits for an element to become visible by default. Although Puppeteer can still be improved, Playwright can serve certain purposes better.
As a final notable difference, Playwright automation platform allows you to simulate multiple devices with one instance thanks to its powerful browser context features. A browser context can hold multiple pages, and each context has its own cookie and local storage storage separate from other contexts. The Puppeteer testing tool, on the other hand, makes it simple to automate your browser. You can control Chrome using the nonstandard DevTools protocol, intercept network requests easily, and provide additional functionality than Selenium because of its ease of use, and it uses the nonstandard DevTools protocol to control Chrome.
Playwright and Test Authoring
It is common to encounter sluggish test execution when working with web automation, unreliable wait scenarios, the need to write boilerplate code to set up the browser, parallel test execution, and so on when working with web automation. Using Playwright, you will be able to overcome these challenges and make test authoring more accurate, fast, and readable at the same time.
With a single command, you can begin automating browsers with Playwright. If you use npm i Playwright, all three supported browsers will be downloaded.
Three core concepts are at the heart of Playwright’s application: browser, context, and page.
- Tests must be run through a browser. Playwright uses the Browser class to invoke a Chrome, Firefox, or Webkit instance.
- By using browser contexts, the Playwright framework achieves parallelization. The browser contexts operate in a similar manner to incognito profiles.
- Using a page, every test action is performed within a browser tab (or pop-up window).
Let’s Wrap-up!
With Playwright, you can automate end-to-end testing across major browsers using multiple tools, including auto-waiting, resiliency, and capturing test traces.
In order to fully utilize the Playwright framework, you need a cloud-based automation testing platform such as LambdaTest. Playwright tests can be automated with LambdaTest on a browser farm consisting of 50+ browsers, including Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Webkit. Playwright also allows you to run test scripts in parallel, which can reduce test execution times substantially.
