LARA Cypress tests

Setup and configuration

First, install NPM packages and Cypress:

npm install

Then, you need to provide credentials of an admin user (=> user able to import and delete activities) for test environments that you are planning to use:

• dev
• staging
• production

Note that these credentials must work on /user/sign_in page, e.g. http://authoring.staging.concord.org/users/sign_in. You can't use Portal to login (tests should not depend on Portal).

These credentials and any other user-specific configuration should be specified in config/user-config.json. Copy existing sample and modify it:

cp config/user-config.sample.json config/user-config.json

Also, If you are using dev environment, you might want to change local LARA URL depending on your docker setup. You might need to modify baseUrl option defined in config/user-config.json in the dev section.

Other environment properties (e.g. LARA URLs) are specified in config/environments.json file (e.g. LARA URLs). This file should not be changed unless some new configuration is added.

Additional notes about configuration

You can also temporarily overwrite any configuration option using env variables with CYPRESS_ prefix. E.g.:

• [email protected] npm run test:dev
• CYPRESS_baseUrl=http://localhost:3000 npm run test:dev

Running tests

• npm run test:dev
• npm run test:staging
• npm run test:production

Writing tests, workflow and patterns

1. Most of the tests will require some activity or sequence to exist. This test material should be stored in cypres/fixtures directory, as an exported JSON. That way it's possible to test one material in various environments.

   context('Test example', function () {
     let activityUrl
     beforeEach(() => {
       cy.login()
       cy.importMaterial("activities/test-activity.json").then(url =>
         activityUrl = url
       )
     })
     afterEach(() => {
       cy.deleteMaterial(activityUrl)
     })
     
     it('some test case', () => {
       // ...
     })
   })

   Note that the activity should be always deleted in afterEach. This block is executed even if the test fails.

2. Tests should not depend on other tests. In case of LARA, it means that every test should import and delete activity. Otherwise, if an activity is reused, it means that some run state is already present and that might affect the test execution. It's okay to test such behavior, but that should be probably just one, longer test.

3. Use [Cypress] prefix for test activity and sequence names, as it's quite likely that some activities won't get deleted in the process. It will be easy to clean them up. importMaterial command will fail if the material is missing this prefix.

4. Take a look at cypres/support/commands.js. This file implements LARA-specific helpers that will make test implementation simpler. Existing commands at the moment:

   • login
   • logout
   • importMaterial
   • deleteMaterial
   • requestWithToken (CSRF)
   • visitActivityPage

Examples of tests following these recommendations:

• cypress/integration/runtime/state-saving.js
• cypress/integration/runtime/multiple-choice-question.js
• cypress/integration/runtime/sequence-completed-activity.js