DRYing up protractor clicks tests using a For-Loops

Question

Question: How do I click on every link in a ul > li a from one test?

Problem: this test is passing; however, it isn't clicking on the links. I know this because It isn't redirecting or waiting 2000ms.

Test:

  it("should have proper page linking to all footer link", function() {
      browser.driver.sleep(2000);
      browser.ignoreSynchronization = true;
      //creates an array of strings of all the menu items
      var titles = element.all(by.css('.leftMenu.first .submenu li a'))
          .map(function(elm) {
              return elm.getText().then(function(text){
                 return text;
              });
          });

      //iterates through the links via titles array
      for (var i = 0; i < titles.length; i++) {
          // creates a link via selection of cssContainText of the titles array
          var link = element(by.cssContainingText('.submenu li a', titles[i]));

          //click event
          link.click().then(function() {
              browser.driver.sleep(2000);
              //currently arbitrary expectation but will pass
              expect(browser.driver.getTitle()).toBe('welcome to: ' + title[i]);
          });

      }

  });

UPDATE: Found the answer: ANSWER

possible duplicate of [Looping on a protractor test with parameters](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21634558/looping-on-a-protractor-test-with-parameters) — Armeen Moon, Dec 03 '14 at 00:34
@alecxe how are your skills with Unit testing in Angular/jasmine/karma? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27264016/how-to-test-a-directives-controller-using-angularjs-karma-jasmine — Armeen Moon, Dec 03 '14 at 05:25

JimC · Answer 1 · 2015-05-12T07:40:03.350

the above answers and approaches all seem to take a 'synchronous' approach, so I'd like to offer the solution I found for the same issue which uses the standard asynchronous protractor approach.

In this example, the footer links are text links such as 'ABOUT', CONTACT', etc. - and these map to URLs such as '/about' and '/contact', etc.

Edit: ptor is defined earlier from protractor.getInstance();

it('should have a working set of footer links to internal pages', function() {
  // element.all( -your selectors- )
  // .then() is passed an ARRAY of element finders 
  element.all(by.css('.footer .nav .links')).then(function(elems) {

    // for each element .getText() returns a promise
    var txts = elems.map(function(elem) {
      return elem.getText().then(function(txt) {
        if(txt != ''){
          return txt;
        }
      });
    });

    // txts is now an ARRAY of promises
    // When they are ALL fulfilled the loop below is run
    protractor.promise.all(txts).then(function(links) {
      for (var i=0; i<links.length; i++) {
        // reset browser back to page of interest
        // the home page in this case
        browser.get('/');

        // get a fresh instance of the element and click it
        // attempts to click pre-created element list
        // will result in 'stale' elements references as pages
        // are being navigated
        element.all(by.css('.footer .nav .links')).get(i).click();

        // expectation of navigation
        expect(ptor.getCurrentUrl()).toContain(links[i].toLowerCase());
      }
    });

  });

});

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

1

DUPLICATE: ANSWER HERE

You need to wrap the it block in an IIFE to force synchrony

for(var i=0; i < testParams.length; i++) {

    (function(testSpec) {
        it('write your test here', function() {
            //test code here
        }
    })(testParams[i]);

};

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

1
1

answered Dec 03 '14 at 00:33

Armeen Moon

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 02 '14 at 22:32

0

Your main problem is:

return elm.getText;

getText is a method that returns a promise. So what you'll need is more like

return elm.getText().then(function(text){
    return text;
});

When you call a method like getText or getInnerHtml, it only returns a promise. Provided you aren't using expect, If you want the promise resolved in order to get the value, you need to chain then to return the value.

answered Dec 02 '14 at 22:32

James Slater

19
5

I'm not saying that this isnt the proper way to return; however, the click events are still not working. +1 for effort. Also corrected answer above – Armeen Moon Dec 02 '14 at 23:55

DRYing up protractor clicks tests using a For-Loops

3 Answers3

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