Support for WebdriverIO 8

May 10, 2023 · 6 min read

WebdriverIO Roboter

Serenity/JS started to support WebdriverIO in version 2.30.0.

In version 3.0.0, Serenity/JS brought you @serenity-js/web - a portable abstraction layer that lets you run the exact same web scenario with WebdriverIO, Playwright, and even Protractor!

Now, we're taking things further with Serenity/JS 3.2.0 introducing support for the latest and greatest WebdriverIO 8! 🥳

In this article, and in less than 5 minutes, you'll learn how to integrate Serenity/JS with your WebdriverIO test suite, enable Serenity BDD reports, and start using the Screenplay Pattern!

About Serenity/JS

Serenity/JS is an open-source framework designed to make acceptance and regression testing of complex software systems faster, more collaborative, and easier to scale.

For WebdriverIO test suites, Serenity/JS offers:

Enhanced Reporting - You can use Serenity/JS as a drop-in replacement of any built-in WebdriverIO framework to produce in-depth test execution reports and living documentation of your project.
Screenplay Pattern APIs - To make your test code portable and reusable across projects and teams, Serenity/JS gives you an optional abstraction layer on top of native WebdriverIO APIs.
Integration Libraries - For test suites that follow the Screenplay Pattern, Serenity/JS also provides optional integration libraries to help you write API tests, manage local servers, perform assertions, and more!

Serenity BDD Report Example

Installing Serenity/JS

To add Serenity/JS to an existing WebdriverIO project, install the following Serenity/JS modules from NPM:

npm
Yarn

npm install @serenity-js/{core,web,webdriverio,assertions,console-reporter,serenity-bdd} --save-dev

yarn add @serenity-js/{core,web,webdriverio,assertions,console-reporter,serenity-bdd} --dev

Learn more about Serenity/JS modules:

Configuring Serenity/JS and WebdriverIO

To enable integration with Serenity/JS, configure WebdriverIO as follows:

TypeScript
JavaScript

wdio.conf.ts
import { WebdriverIOConfig } from '@serenity-js/webdriverio';

export const config: WebdriverIOConfig = {

    // Tell WebdriverIO to use Serenity/JS framework
    framework: '@serenity-js/webdriverio',

    // Serenity/JS configuration
    serenity: {
        // Configure Serenity/JS to use the appropriate adapter
        // for your test runner
        runner: 'cucumber', // or 'mocha', or 'jasmine'

        // Register Serenity/JS reporting services, a.k.a. the "stage crew"
        crew: [
            // Optional, print test execution results to standard output
            '@serenity-js/console-reporter',

            // Optional, produce Serenity BDD reports
            // and living documentation (HTML)
            '@serenity-js/serenity-bdd',
            [ '@serenity-js/core:ArtifactArchiver', {
                outputDirectory: 'target/site/serenity' 
            } ],

            // Optional, automatically capture screenshots
            // upon interaction failure
            [ '@serenity-js/web:Photographer', {
                strategy: 'TakePhotosOfFailures'
            } ],
        ]
    },

    // Configure your Cucumber runner
    cucumberOpts: {
        // see Cucumber configuration options below
    },


    // ... or Jasmine runner
    jasmineOpts: {
        // see Jasmine configuration options below
    },

    // ... or Mocha runner
    mochaOpts: {
        // see Mocha configuration options below
    },

    runner: 'local',

    // Any other WebdriverIO configuration
};

wdio.conf.js
export const config = {

    // Tell WebdriverIO to use Serenity/JS framework
    framework: '@serenity-js/webdriverio',

    // Serenity/JS configuration
    serenity: {
        // Configure Serenity/JS to use the appropriate adapter for your test runner
        runner: 'cucumber',
        // runner: 'mocha',
        // runner: 'jasmine',

        // Register Serenity/JS reporting services, a.k.a. the "stage crew"
        crew: [
            '@serenity-js/console-reporter',
            '@serenity-js/serenity-bdd',
            [ '@serenity-js/core:ArtifactArchiver', { outputDirectory: 'target/site/serenity' } ],
            [ '@serenity-js/web:Photographer', { strategy: 'TakePhotosOfFailures' } ],
        ]
    },

    // Configure your Cucumber runner
    cucumberOpts: {
        // see Cucumber configuration options below
    },


    // ... or Jasmine runner
    jasmineOpts: {
        // see Jasmine configuration options below
    },

    // ... or Mocha runner
    mochaOpts: {
        // see Mocha configuration options below
    },

    runner: 'local',

    // Any other WebdriverIO configuration
};

Learn more about:

Producing Serenity BDD reports and living documentation

Serenity BDD reports and living documentation are generated by Serenity BDD CLI, a Java program downloaded and managed by the @serenity-js/serenity-bdd module.

To produce Serenity BDD reports, your test suite must:

download the Serenity BDD CLI, by calling serenity-bdd update which caches the CLI jar locally
produce intermediate Serenity BDD .json reports, by registering SerenityBDDReporter as per the configuration instructions
invoke the Serenity BDD CLI when you want to produce the report, by calling serenity-bdd run

The pattern used by all the Serenity/JS Project Templates relies on using:

a postinstall NPM script to download the Serenity BDD CLI
npm-failsafe to run the reporting process even if the test suite itself has failed (which is precisely when you need test reports the most...).
rimraf as a convenience method to remove any test reports left over from the previous run

package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "serenity-bdd update",
    "clean": "rimraf target",
    "test": "failsafe clean test:execute test:report",
    "test:execute": "wdio wdio.conf.ts",
    "test:report": "serenity-bdd run"
  }
}

To learn more about the SerenityBDDReporter, please consult:

installation instructions in @serenity-js/serenity-bdd documentation,
configuration examples in SerenityBDDReporter API docs,
Serenity/JS examples on GitHub.

Using Serenity/JS Screenplay Pattern APIs

The Screenplay Pattern is an innovative, user-centred approach to writing high-quality automated acceptance tests. It steers you towards an effective use of layers of abstraction, helps your test scenarios capture the business vernacular of your domain, and encourages good testing and software engineering habits on your team.

By default, when you register @serenity-js/webdriverio as your WebdriverIO framework, Serenity/JS configures a default cast of actors, where every actor can:

This should be enough to help you get started with introducing test scenarios that follow the Screenplay Pattern even to an existing test suite, for example:

specs/example.spec.ts
import { actorCalled } from '@serenity-js/core'
import { Navigate, Page } from '@serenity-js/web'
import { Ensure, equals } from '@serenity-js/assertions'

describe('My awesome website', () => {
    it('can have test scenarios that follow the Screenplay Pattern', async () => {
        await actorCalled('Alice').attemptsTo(
            Navigate.to(`https://webdriver.io`),
            Ensure.that(
                Page.current().title(),
                equals(`WebdriverIO · Next-gen browser and mobile automation test framework for Node.js | WebdriverIO`)
            ),
        )
    })

    it('can have non-Screenplay scenarios too', async () => {
        await browser.url('https://webdriver.io')
        await expect(browser)
            .toHaveTitle('WebdriverIO · Next-gen browser and mobile automation test framework for Node.js | WebdriverIO')
    })
})

To learn more about the Screenplay Pattern, check out:

Next steps

Well done, your WebdriverIO test suite is now integrated with Serenity/JS! 🎉🎉🎉

To take things further, check out:

Remember, new features, tutorials, and demos are coming soon! Follow Serenity/JS on LinkedIn, subscribe to Serenity/JS channel on YouTube and join the Serenity/JS Community Chat to stay up to date! Please also make sure to star ⭐️ Serenity/JS on GitHub to help others discover the framework!