externalabstractQuestion <T>

Questions describe how actors should query the system under test or the test environment to retrieve some information.

Questions are the core building block of the Screenplay Pattern, along with actors, abilities, interactions, and tasks.

Learn more about:

• Actor
• Ability
• Interaction
• QuestionAdapter

Implementing a basic custom Question

 import { actorCalled, AnswersQuestions, UsesAbilities, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
 import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'

 const LastItemOf = <T>(list: T[]): Question<T> =>
   Question.about('last item from the list', (actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities) => {
     return list[list.length - 1]
   });

 await actorCalled('Quentin').attemptsTo(
   Ensure.that(LastItemOf([1,2,3]), equals(3)),
 )

Implementing a Question that uses an Ability

Just like the interactions, a Question also can use actor's abilities.

Here, we use the ability to CallAnApi to retrieve a property of an HTTP response.

 import { AnswersQuestions, UsesAbilities, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
 import { CallAnApi } from '@serenity-js/rest'

 const TextOfLastResponseStatus = () =>
   Question.about<number>(`the text of the last response status`, actor => {
     return CallAnApi.as(actor).mapLastResponse(response => response.statusText)
   })

Learn more

• CallAnApi
• LastResponse

Mapping answers to other questions

Apart from retrieving information, questions can be used to transform information retrieved by other questions.

Here, we use the factory method Question.about to produce a question that makes the received actor answer LastResponse.status and then compare it against some expected value.

import { actorCalled, AnswersQuestions, UsesAbilities, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
import { CallAnApi, LastResponse } from '@serenity-js/rest'
import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'

const RequestWasSuccessful = () =>
  Question.about<number>(`the text of the last response status`, async actor => {
    const status = await actor.answer(LastResponse.status());

    return status === 200;
  })

await actorCalled('Quentin')
  .whoCan(CallAnApi.at('https://api.example.org/'));
  .attemptsTo(
    Send.a(GetRequest.to('/books/0-688-00230-7')),
    Ensure.that(RequestWasSuccessful(), isTrue()),
  )

Note that the above example is for demonstration purposes only, Serenity/JS provides an easier way to verify the response status of the LastResponse:

import { actorCalled } from '@serenity-js/core'
import { CallAnApi, LastResponse } from '@serenity-js/rest'
import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'

await actorCalled('Quentin')
  .whoCan(CallAnApi.at('https://api.example.org/'));
  .attemptsTo(
    Send.a(GetRequest.to('/books/0-688-00230-7')),
    Ensure.that(LastResponse.status(), equals(200)),
  )

Hierarchy

• Describable
  • Question
    • List

Index

Methods

• about
• fromObject
• fromArray
• isAQuestion
• isAMetaQuestion
• formattedValue
• value
• answeredBy
• describedAs
• as
• describedBy
• toString

Methods

staticexternalabout

• about<Answer_Type, Supported_Context_Type>(description: Answerable<string>, body: (actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities) => Answer_Type | Promise<Answer_Type>, metaQuestionBody?: (answerable: Answerable<Supported_Context_Type>) => Question<Promise<Answer_Type>> | Question<Answer_Type>): MetaQuestionAdapter<Supported_Context_Type, Awaited<Answer_Type>>
• about<Answer_Type>(description: Answerable<string>, body: (actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities) => Answer_Type | Promise<Answer_Type>): QuestionAdapter<Awaited<Answer_Type>>

• Factory method that simplifies the process of defining custom questions.

  Defining a custom question

  import { Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
  
  const EnvVariable = (name: string) =>
    Question.about(`the ${ name } env variable`, actor => process.env[name])

  ---

  Type parameters

  • Answer_Type
  • Supported_Context_Type

  Parameters

  • externaldescription: Answerable<string>

  • externalbody: (actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities) => Answer_Type | Promise<Answer_Type>

  • externaloptionalmetaQuestionBody: (answerable: Answerable<Supported_Context_Type>) => Question<Promise<Answer_Type>> | Question<Answer_Type>

  Returns MetaQuestionAdapter<Supported_Context_Type, Awaited<Answer_Type>>

staticexternalfromObject

• fromObject<Source_Type>(source: Answerable<WithAnswerableProperties<Source_Type>>, ...overrides: Answerable<Partial<WithAnswerableProperties<Source_Type>>>[]): QuestionAdapter<RecursivelyAnswered<Source_Type>>

• Generates a QuestionAdapter that recursively resolves any Answerable fields of the provided object, including Answerable fields of nested objects.

  Optionally, the method accepts overrides to be shallow-merged with the fields of the original source, producing a new merged object.

  Overrides are applied from left to right, with subsequent objects overwriting property assignments of the previous ones.

  Resolving an object recursively using Question.fromObject

  import { actorCalled, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
  import { Send, PostRequest } from '@serenity-js/rest'
  import { By, Text, PageElement } from '@serenity-js/web'
  
  await actorCalled('Daisy')
    .whoCan(CallAnApi.at('https://api.example.org'))
    .attemptsTo(
      Send.a(
        PostRequest.to('/products/2')
          .with(
            Question.fromObject({
              name: Text.of(PageElement.located(By.css('.name'))),
            })
          )
        )
    );

  Merging objects using Question.fromObject

   import { actorCalled, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
   import { Send, PostRequest } from '@serenity-js/rest'
   import { By, Text, PageElement } from '@serenity-js/web'
  
   await actorCalled('Daisy')
     .whoCan(CallAnApi.at('https://api.example.org'))
     .attemptsTo(
       Send.a(
         PostRequest.to('/products/2')
           .with(
             Question.fromObject({
               name: Text.of(PageElement.located(By.css('.name'))),
               quantity: undefined,
             }, {
               quantity: 2,
             })
           )
         )
     );

  Learn more

  • WithAnswerableProperties
  • RecursivelyAnswered
  • Answerable

  ---

  Type parameters

  • Source_Type: object

  Parameters

  • externalsource: Answerable<WithAnswerableProperties<Source_Type>>

  • externalrest...overrides: Answerable<Partial<WithAnswerableProperties<Source_Type>>>[]

  Returns QuestionAdapter<RecursivelyAnswered<Source_Type>>

staticexternalfromArray

• fromArray<Source_Type>(source: Answerable<Source_Type>[], options?: DescriptionFormattingOptions): QuestionAdapter<Source_Type[]>

• Generates a QuestionAdapter that resolves any Answerable elements of the provided array.

  ---

  Type parameters

  • Source_Type

  Parameters

  • externalsource: Answerable<Source_Type>[]

  • externaloptionaloptions: DescriptionFormattingOptions

  Returns QuestionAdapter<Source_Type[]>

staticexternalisAQuestion

• isAQuestion<T>(maybeQuestion: unknown): maybeQuestion is Question<T>

• Checks if the value is a Question.

  ---

  Type parameters

  • T

  Parameters

  • externalmaybeQuestion: unknown

    The value to check

  Returns maybeQuestion is Question<T>

staticexternalisAMetaQuestion

• isAMetaQuestion<CT, RQT>(maybeMetaQuestion: unknown): maybeMetaQuestion is MetaQuestion<CT, RQT>

• Checks if the value is a MetaQuestion.

  ---

  Type parameters

  • CT
  • RQT: Question<unknown>

  Parameters

  • externalmaybeMetaQuestion: unknown

    The value to check

  Returns maybeMetaQuestion is MetaQuestion<CT, RQT>

staticexternalformattedValue

• formattedValue(options?: DescriptionFormattingOptions): MetaQuestion<any, Question<Promise<string>>>

• Creates a MetaQuestion that can be composed with any Answerable to produce a single-line description of its value.

  import { actorCalled, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
  import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'
  
  const accountDetails = () =>
    Question.about('account details', actor => ({ name: 'Alice', age: 28 }))
  
  await actorCalled('Alice').attemptsTo(
    Ensure.that(
      Question.formattedValue().of(accountDetails()),
      equals('{ name: "Alice", age: 28 }'),
    ),
  )

  ---

  Parameters

  • externaloptionaloptions: DescriptionFormattingOptions

  Returns MetaQuestion<any, Question<Promise<string>>>

staticexternalvalue

• value<Answer_Type>(): MetaQuestion<Answer_Type, Question<Promise<Answer_Type>>>

• Creates a MetaQuestion that can be composed with any Answerable to return its value when the answerable is a Question, or the answerable itself otherwise.

  The description of the resulting question is produced by calling Question.describedBy on the provided answerable.

  import { actorCalled, Question } from '@serenity-js/core'
  import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'
  
  const accountDetails = () =>
    Question.about('account details', actor => ({ name: 'Alice', age: 28 }))
  
  await actorCalled('Alice').attemptsTo(
    Ensure.that(
      Question.description().of(accountDetails()),
      equals('account details'),
    ),
    Ensure.that(
      Question.value().of(accountDetails()),
      equals({ name: 'Alice', age: 28 }),
    ),
  )

  ---

  Type parameters

  • Answer_Type

  Returns MetaQuestion<Answer_Type, Question<Promise<Answer_Type>>>

externalabstractansweredBy

• answeredBy(actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities): T

• Instructs the provided Actor to use their abilities to answer this question.

  ---

  Parameters

  • externalactor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities

  Returns T

externaldescribedAs

• describedAs(description: Answerable<string> | MetaQuestion<Awaited<T>, Question<Promise<string>>>): this

• Changes the description of this object, as returned by Describable.describedBy and Describable.toString.

  ---

  Parameters

  • externaldescription: Answerable<string> | MetaQuestion<Awaited<T>, Question<Promise<string>>>

    Replaces the current description according to the following rules:

    • If description is an Answerable, it replaces the current description
    • If description is a MetaQuestion, the current description is passed as context to description.of(context), and the result replaces the current description

  Returns this

publicexternalas

• as<O>(mapping: (answer: Awaited<T>) => O | Promise<O>): QuestionAdapter<O>

• Maps this question to one of a different type.

  Question.about('number returned as string', actor => '42')   // returns: QuestionAdapter<string>
    .as(Number)                                                // returns: QuestionAdapter<number>

  ---

  Type parameters

  • O

  Parameters

  • externalmapping: (answer: Awaited<T>) => O | Promise<O>

  Returns QuestionAdapter<O>

externaldescribedBy

• describedBy(actor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities & { name: string }): Promise<string>

• Inherited from Describable.describedBy

  Resolves the description of this object in the context of the provided actor.

  ---

  Parameters

  • externalactor: AnswersQuestions & UsesAbilities & { name: string }

  Returns Promise<string>

externaltoString

• toString(): string

• Inherited from Describable.toString

  Returns a human-readable description of this object.

  ---

  Returns string