End To End Testing #

End-To-End testing is a software testing method that validates entire software from starting to end along with its integration with external interfaces.

During e2e testing, most likely we will be running our tests against a real application in an actual environment. We might need features like initialization or running clean up functions to keep the environment healthy.

Pactum is packed with features that helps us to write better e2e tests.

E2E #

e2e(<name>) method creates a new instance of End-To-End test case. Use this instance to create test steps and cleanup steps.

const { e2e } = require('pactum');

const test_case = e2e('Add User');

Step #

step(<name>) method creates a new instance of End-To-End test step. It contains spec() method to perform request and to validate response.

const { e2e } = require('pactum');

const test_case = e2e('Add User');

const step1 = test_case.step('Post User');

await step1.spec()
  .post('/api/users')
  .withJson({
    "name": "snow"
  })
  .expectStatus(200);

Cleanup #

step method can optionally register cleanup methods to run at the end. clean() method inherits the spec() instance, so use it make request and validate response.

cleanup() method runs all registered cleanup methods for successful steps in LIFO order. It also notifies the pactum that the current e2e test case has finished its execution. It is mandatory to invoke this function at the end.

const { e2e } = require('pactum');

const test_case = e2e('Add User');

const step1 = test_case.step('Post User');

await step1.spec()
  .post('/api/users')
  .withJson({
    "name": "snow"
  })
  .expectStatus(200)
  .clean()
  .delete('/api/users/snow')
  .expectStatus(200);

await test_case.cleanup(); // runs delete user request here

Examples #

Simple Test #

• Create a new user.
• Validate the newly created user.
• Delete the user at the end.

const { e2e } = require('pactum');

describe('AddUser_ReadUser', () => {

  let test_case = e2e('Add User');

  it('create user', async () => {
    await test_case.step('Post User')
      .spec()
      .post('/api/users')
      .withJson({
        "name": "snow"
      })
      .expectStatus(200)
      .clean()
      .delete('/api/users/snow')
      .expectStatus(200);
  });

  it('get user', async () => {
    await test_case.step('Get User')
      .spec()
      .get('/api/users/snow')
      .expectStatus(200)
      .expectJson({
        "name": "snow"
      });
  });

  it('clean up', async () => {
    // runs all registered cleanup methods in LIFO order
    await test_case.cleanup();
  });

});

Scenarios #

Lets look at some scenarios to understand how pactum will run e2e tests.

Scenario 1 #

All steps are passed.

• Post User ✔️
• Get User ✔️
• Clean Up ✔️

Scenario 2 #

Get User Fails.

• Post User ✔️
• Get User ❌
• Clean Up ✔️ - Clean up will delete the created user "snow"

Scenario 3 #

Post User Fails.

• Post User ❌
• Get User ⚠️ - This step will be skipped as one of the previous step is failed.
• Clean Up ✔️ - No Clean up steps will be executed.