Protractor is an end-to-end testing framework developed by Google for testing Angular applications. While powerful, it has some limitations including being slow to write tests for, not working well for complex user interactions, and only working optimally with Chrome. The document provides tips for writing more effective Protractor tests such as using explicit waits, avoiding direct abstraction to page objects, and handling asynchronous code carefully.

1. by Dejan Toteff
How to build faster
e2e tests with
Protractor

2. ● E2E testing framework
● Developed by Google
● Created especially for Angular
applications
● Can be used with non Angular sites as
well
What is Protractor?

4. ● Continuous integration
● Integration tests
● Test Driven Development
Why we need E2E tests?

5. ● They are slow to write
● Debugging is not a straightforward
process
● Short life cycle without update
What are the main issues
with writing e2e tests?

6. ● Well-documented
● Integrated with headless and regular
browsers
● Easy to set up
● Very powerful API
What are the pros of
Protractor?

7. ● It is not build for complex user
interactions
● Works at its best only with Chrome
● It doesn’t work well with nested
promises
What are the cons of
Protractor?

8. Time for some example code

9. ● Make a habit to use element.all(by...).
count() to be sure that you create most
suitable element selector.
Protractor tips

10. ● Expect false errors. To confirm an error,
run the tests under alternative OS
Protractor tips

11. ● Beware of the async nature of
Protractor.
● If something doesn't work as expected
go Protractor native, i.e. using .then()
Protractor tips

12. ● Don't abstract the code directly to the
PageObject. Often this abstraction lead
to errors.
Protractor tips

13. ● Other possible issue is when the
element is not in the visible part of the
browser’s screen.
Protractor tips

14. ● Avoid use of browser.sleep() right after
browser.waitForAngular()
Protractor tips

15. ● If you stumble on an error, that the
element you are clicking on is not
attached to the document, that means
that this is not a testable scenario
Protractor tips

16. ● Once you set the browser size, it persist
in your tests until the next browser.
setSize() declaration
Protractor tips

17. ● Popups and animation can temporary
disable Protractor.
Protractor tips

18. ● The behaviour of .then() method of
Protractor’s .map(), .each(), .filter() can
be weird.
Protractor tips

19. ● One falsy selection can ruin all the tests.
Protractor is hard to debug mainly
because in such occasions
Protractor tips

20. ● To make scroll down work, first you
need to focus the to the "window" by
clicking on any element within the
window.
Protractor tips

21. ● Make all your clicks statement either
inside the tests, or in the PageObject.
Protractor tips

22. ● https://github.com/lkrnac/primediser/tree/blog-2014-04-05-
measuring-code-coverage-by-protractor
● https://github.com/bennyhat/protractor-istanbul-plugin
● http://lkrnac.net/blog/2014/04/measuring-code-coverage-by-
protractor/
Walk the extra mile

23. https://github.
com/selfrefactor/Protractor-testing-
patterns
Shortlink: j.mp/endToEnd
Most of slides of this
presentation are based on:

24. Thank you
for your
attention
Protractor
testing is
actually
easy