Skip to main content

Extending WebdriverIO with Serenity/JS

Serenity/JS offers excellent support for WebdriverIO! Plus, it accommodates both classic WebdriverIO tests and Serenity/JS Screenplay Pattern scenarios, allowing you to migrate to Screenplay gradually if you'd like.

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,
  • start using the Screenplay Pattern!

Want to jump straight into the code? Check out:

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:

Serenity BDD Report Example

Creating a WebdriverIO project​

You can add Serenity/JS to an existing WebdriverIO project, or create a new project using the WebdriverIO installation wizard:

npm init wdio .

Installing Serenity/JS​

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

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

Learn more about Serenity/JS modules:

Configuring Serenity/JS and WebdriverIO​

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

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
};

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:

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!

Follow Serenity/JS on LinkedIn Watch Serenity/JS on YouTube Join Serenity/JS Community Chat GitHub stars