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Karma vs Protractor: What are the differences?
Introduction:
Karma and Protractor are both popular testing frameworks in the Angular ecosystem. While they both serve the purpose of testing Angular applications, there are key differences that distinguish them from each other.
Testing Scope: Karma primarily focuses on unit testing, allowing developers to test individual components and services in isolation. On the other hand, Protractor is an end-to-end testing framework designed for testing the functionality of an application from a user's perspective, by simulating real user behavior in a browser environment.
Testing Environment: Karma runs tests in a real browser, providing a more accurate simulation of the application behavior. Protractor, on the other hand, runs tests in a WebDriver-based browser, allowing for automated interactions with the application.
Asynchronous Testing: Protractor has built-in support for handling asynchronous operations in Angular applications, making it easier to write and execute tests that involve asynchronous code. Karma, while capable of handling asynchronous operations, may require additional setup and configuration for testing asynchronous code.
Angular-specific Features: Protractor is specifically designed for testing Angular applications and provides built-in support for Angular-specific features like waiting for Angular to stabilize before performing actions. Karma, while compatible with Angular applications, may require additional plugins or configurations to test Angular-specific features seamlessly.
Integration with Testing Frameworks: Karma integrates seamlessly with popular testing frameworks like Jasmine and Mocha, allowing developers to write tests using their preferred framework. Protractor also integrates with Jasmine and Mocha but is primarily designed to work with the Jasmine testing framework, which is commonly used in Angular testing.
Configuration Complexity: In terms of configuration complexity, Protractor generally requires less setup and configuration compared to Karma. Protractor's configuration file is more straightforward and easier to set up for end-to-end testing, while Karma's configuration may involve more detailed settings for unit testing.
In Summary, when choosing between Karma and Protractor for testing Angular applications, consider the testing scope, environment, asynchronous testing support, Angular-specific features, integration with testing frameworks, and configuration complexity to make an informed decision based on your project's requirements.
In the company I will be building test automation framework and my new company develops apps mainly using AngularJS/TypeScript. I was planning to build Protractor-Jasmine framework but a friend of mine told me about Cypress and heard that its users are very satisfied with it. I am trying to understand the capabilities of Cypress and as the final goal to differentiate these two tools. Can anyone advice me on this in a nutshell pls...
I've used both Protractor and Cypress extensively. Cypress is the easier and more reliable tool, whereas Protractor is the more powerful tool. Your choice of tool should depend on your specific testing needs. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each tool:
Cypress advantages:
Faster
More reliable (tends to throw fewer intermittent false failures)
Easier to read code (handles promises gracefully)
Cypress disadvantages:
Cannot switch between browser tabs
Cannot switch to iFrames
Cannot specify clicks or keypresses explicitly as if a real user was interacting
Cannot move the mouse to specific co-ordinates
Sometimes has trouble switching between different top-level domains, so not good for testing external links
Cypress is a newer tool with less extensive documentation and less community support
Protractor advantages:
More powerful because it is Selenium-based - it can switch between tabs, it can handle external links to other domains, it can handle iFrames, simulate keypresses and clicks, and move the mouse to specific co-ordinates within the browser.
More extensive community support and documentation
Protractor disadvantages:
Slower and more brittle - in general there is a higher likelihood of cryptic and/or intermittent errors which may cause your tests to fail even though there is nothing wrong with your application
For highly experienced automation engineers, the fundamental "brittle" nature of Selenium can be worked around - it can be reliable but only if you really know what you are doing
Less graceful handling of promises - relies on async/await or .then to manage the order of execution. Therefore it is a bit harder to read the code.
Harder to set up, and the method of setup impacts its reliability. For example, a hub/node configuration where the selenium jar is on a different physical machine than the browser under test will cause unreliability in your tests. Not everyone knows about this type of thing, so it's common to find Selenium frameworks that are set up poorly.
It's probably better to use Cypress if
you're at a smaller company and have a close relationship with developers who can help write hooks or stubs in their code to assist your testing
you don't need to do things like switch between tabs or test links to external top-level domains
It's probably better to use Protractor if
You might need to switch between tabs or test external links to other domains within the scope of your framework
You want to use a more accurate simulation of how a real user interacts with a browser (i.e. click at this location, type these keys)
You're at a company where you won't have any support from developers in writing hooks or stubs to make their code more testable in a less powerful framework like Cypress
Please try Handow, the e2e tool basing on Puppeteer.
Gherkin syntax compatible
Chrome/Chromium orentied, driven by Puppeteer engine
Complete JavaScript programming
Create test suites rapidly without coding (or a little bit), basing on built-in steps library
Schedule test with plans and arrange stories with sequential stages
Fast running, execute story groups in parallel by multi-workers
Built-in single page report render
Cover page view, REST API and cookies test
Pros of Karma
- Test Runner61
- Open source35
- Continuous Integration27
- Great for running tests22
- Test on Real Devices18
- Backed by google11
- Easy Debugging5
- Remote Control2
Pros of Protractor
- Easy setup9
- Quick tests implementation8
- Flexible6
- Open source5
- Promise support5
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Cons of Karma
- Slow, because tests are run in a real browser1
- Requires the use of hacks to find tests dynamically1
Cons of Protractor
- Limited4