frameworks.md

Choosing a Framework

Protractor supports two behavior driven development (BDD) test frameworks out of the box: Jasmine and Mocha. These frameworks are based on JavaScript and Node.js and provide the syntax, scaffolding, and reporting tools you will use to write and manage your tests.

Using Jasmine

Currently, Jasmine Version 2.x is supported and the default test framework when you install Protractor. For more information about Jasmine, see the Jasmine GitHub site. For more information regarding how to upgrade to Jasmine 2.x from 1.3, see the Jasmine upgrade guide.

Using Mocha

Note: Limited support for Mocha is available as of December 2013. For more information, see the Mocha documentation site.

If you would like to use the Mocha test framework, you'll need to use the BDD interface and Chai assertions with Chai As Promised.

Download the dependencies with npm. Mocha should be installed in the same place as Protractor - so if protractor was installed globally, install Mocha with -g.

npm install -g mocha
npm install chai
npm install chai-as-promised

You will need to require and set up Chai inside your test files:

var chai = require('chai');
var chaiAsPromised = require('chai-as-promised');

chai.use(chaiAsPromised);
var expect = chai.expect;

You can then use Chai As Promised as such:

expect(myElement.getText()).to.eventually.equal('some text');

Finally, set the 'framework' property to 'mocha', either by adding framework: 'mocha' to the config file or by adding --framework=mocha to the command line.

Options for Mocha such as 'reporter' and 'slow' can be given in the config file with mochaOpts:

mochaOpts: {
  reporter: "spec",
  slow: 3000
}

For a full example, see Protractor’s own test: /spec/mocha/lib_spec.js.

Using Cucumber

Note: Cucumber is no longer included by default as of version 3.0. You can integrate Cucumber with Protractor with the custom framework option. For more information, see the Protractor Cucumber Framework site or the Cucumber GitHub site.

If you would like to use the Cucumber test framework, download the dependencies with npm. Cucumber should be installed in the same place as Protractor - so if protractor was installed globally, install Cucumber with -g.

npm install -g cucumber
npm install --save-dev protractor-cucumber-framework

Set the 'framework' property to custom by adding framework: 'custom' and frameworkPath: 'protractor-cucumber-framework' to the config file(cucumberConf.js)

Options for Cucumber such as 'format' can be given in the config file with cucumberOpts, A basic cucumberConf.js file has been provided below:

/*
Basic configuration to run your cucumber
feature files and step definitions with protractor.
**/
exports.config = {

  seleniumAddress: 'http://localhost:4444/wd/hub',

  baseUrl: 'https://angularjs.org/',

  capabilities: {
      browserName:'chrome'
  },

  framework: 'custom',  // set to "custom" instead of cucumber.

  frameworkPath: require.resolve('protractor-cucumber-framework'),  // path relative to the current config file

  specs: [
    './cucumber/*.feature'     // Specs here are the cucumber feature files
  ],

  // cucumber command line options
  cucumberOpts: {
    require: ['./cucumber/*.js'],  // require step definition files before executing features
    tags: [],                      // <string[]> (expression) only execute the features or scenarios with tags matching the expression
    strict: true,                  // <boolean> fail if there are any undefined or pending steps
    format: ["pretty"],            // <string[]> (type[:path]) specify the output format, optionally supply PATH to redirect formatter output (repeatable)
    'dry-run': false,              // <boolean> invoke formatters without executing steps
    compiler: []                   // <string[]> ("extension:module") require files with the given EXTENSION after requiring MODULE (repeatable)
  },

 onPrepare: function () {
    browser.manage().window().maximize(); // maximize the browser before executing the feature files
  }
};

Using Serenity/JS

Serenity/JS is an acceptance testing library which can be integrated as a drop-in replacement of Mocha or Cucumber framework adapters to provide advanced scalability and reporting capabilities.

To use it, install and configure your test framework of choice.

Next, install Serenity/JS:

npm install serenity-js --save-dev

and instruct Protractor to use the Serenity/JS adapter:

exports.config = {
  framework: 'custom',
  frameworkPath: require.resolve('serenity-js')

  // ...
};

Specifying either cucumberOpts or mochaOpts in your Protractor configuration will make Serenity/JS infer that it should delegate the execution to Cucumber or Mocha, respectively.

To learn more, visit the project website or follow the tutorial.

Using a Custom Framework

Check section Framework Adapters for Protractor specifically Custom Frameworks