Debbie O'BrienWith the latest release of the VS Code Extension, you can now easily select which projects to run your tests on as well as choose to run your setup tests only once. Make sure you have the latest version of the extension installed, which is v1.1.* as well as the latest version of Playwright which is v1.44.*.
To update to the latest version of Playwright, run the following command:
npm install -D @playwright/test@latest
Also download new browser binaries and their dependencies:
npx playwright install --with-deps
Opening the testing sidebar
The testing sidebar can be opened by clicking on the testing icon in the activity bar. This will give you access to the test explorer, which will show you all the tests in your project as well as the Playwright sidebar which includes projects, settings, tools and setup.
Running tests on multiple projects
The first section in the Playwright sidebar is the projects section. Here you can see all your projects as defined in your Playwright config file. The default config when installing Playwright gives you 3 projects, Chromium, Firefox and WebKit. The first project is selected by default.
To run tests on multiple projects, select each project by checking the checkboxes next to the project name. Then when you run your tests from the sidebar or by pressing the play button next to the test name, the tests will run on all the selected projects.
You can also individually run a test on a specific project by clicking the grey play button next to the project name of the test.
Multiple configurations
If your project contains more than one playwright configuration file, you can switch between them by first clicking on the gear icon in the top right corner of the Playwright sidebar. This will show you all the configuration files in your project. Select the configuration files you want to use by checking the checkbox next to each one and clicking on the 'ok' button.
You will now have access to all your tests in the test explorer. To run a test click on the grey triangle next to the file or project name.
To run all tests from all configurations click on the grey triangle at the top of the test explorer.
To choose a configuration file to work with simply toggle between them by clicking on the configuration file name in the Playwright sidebar. Now when you use the tools, such as Record a test, it will record a test for the selected configuration file.
You can easily toggle back and forth between configurations by clicking on the configuration file name in the Playwright sidebar.
Project Dependencies
You can use project dependencies to run tests that depend on other tests. This is useful for setup tests such as logging in to a website.
Running setup tests
To run your setup tests select the setup project, as defined in your configuration file, from the project section in the Playwright sidebar. This will give you access to the setup tests in the test explorer.
When you run a test that depends on the setup tests, the setup test will run first. Each time you run the test, the setup test will run again.
Running setup tests only once
To run the setup test only once, deselect it from the projects section in the Playwright sidebar. The setup test is now removed from the test explorer. When you run a test that depends on the setup test, it will no longer run the setup test, making it much faster and therefore a much better developer experience.
Global Setup
Global setup tests are run when you execute your first test. This runs only once and is useful for setting up a database or starting a server. You can manually run a global setup test by clicking the Run global setup option from the Setup section in the Playwright sidebar. You can also run global teardown tests by clicking the Run global teardown option.
Global setup will re-run when you debug tests as this ensures an isolated environment and dedicated setup for the test.
Check out the video
