Waiting in TestDriver

Waiting in TestDriver: Ensuring Stability and Reducing Flakiness

Waiting in TestDriver: Ensuring stability and reducing flakiness

Waiting is a critical feature in TestDriver that ensures tests are stable and reliable, even in dynamic or slow-loading environments.

• Automatically adjusts to varying load times, reducing the need for hardcoded delays.
• Ensures that tests wait for dynamic elements to appear, reducing false negatives caused by incomplete rendering.
• By waiting for the screen and network to stabilize, redraw minimizes the risk of interacting with incomplete or incorrect elements.

Summary of waiting features

Feature	Description
redraw(automatic)	TestDriver automatically waits for UI changes and network activity to resolve.
wait-for-text	Waits for specific text to appear on the screen.
wait-for-image	Waits for a specific image or visual element to appear on the screen.

Key waiting features in TestDriver

1. Automatic Waiting with redraw:

• TestDriver automatically waits for the machine before moving to the next step.
• This includes waiting for:
  • UI changes to complete.
  • Network activity to stabilize (for example, API calls).
• Reduces the need for manual waits, making tests faster and less prone to flakiness.

2. wait-for-text Command:

• Waits for specific text to appear on the screen.
• Useful for validating dynamic content or ensuring that a page has fully loaded before proceeding.

3. wait-for-image Command:

• Waits for a specific image or visual element to appear on the screen.
• Ideal for verifying the presence of icons, logos, or other graphical elements.

Commands for explicit waiting

1. wait-for-text

The wait-for-text command pauses the test until the specified text appears on the screen. This is particularly useful for dynamic content that takes time to load.

Syntax

- command: wait-for-text
  text: <text to wait for>
  timeout: <time in milliseconds> # Optional, defaults to 5000ms

Example

- command: wait-for-text
  text: Welcome, Test User!
  timeout: 10000

In this example, the test waits up to 10 seconds for the text “Welcome, Test User!” to appear.

wait-for-image

The wait-for-image command pauses the test until the specified image or visual element appears on the screen.

Syntax:

- command: wait-for-image
  description: <description of the image>
  timeout: <time in milliseconds> # Optional, defaults to 5000ms

Example:

- command: wait-for-image
  description: Company logo in the top-left corner
  timeout: 8000

In this example, the test waits up to 8 seconds for the company logo to appear in the top-left corner.

Automatic waiting with redraw

TestDriver’s redraw function is a built-in mechanism that automatically waits for the screen to stabilize before proceeding to the next step. This includes:

1. UI Changes:

• Waits for animations, transitions, or DOM updates to complete.
• Ensures that the screen is fully rendered before interacting with elements.

2. Network Stabilization:

• Waits for network activity (for example, API calls, AJAX requests) to finish.
• Ensures that dynamic content is fully loaded before proceeding.

3. Screen Stabilization:

• Continuously monitors the screen for changes and only moves forward when the screen is stable.

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Best practices for waiting

2. Leverage Automatic Waiting:

• Rely on TestDriver’s redraw function to handle most waiting scenarios automatically.

1. Use Explicit Waiting for Dynamic Elements:

• Use wait-for-text or wait-for-image for elements that take time to load.

3. Avoid Hardcoded Delays:

• Replace hardcoded sleep or wait commands with dynamic waiting commands to improve test reliability.

4. Set Appropriate Timeouts:

• Use reasonable timeouts for explicit waiting commands to balance reliability and test execution time.

5. Test Incrementally:

• Add waiting commands step-by-step to ensure each part of the workflow is stable.