Protractor Automation Test Cases For AngularJS UI

Protractor is a well-known end to end testing framework and it is an open source automation framework, designed especially for AngularJS Web based Applications. This automation tool is also recommended by AngularJS for test cases testing. We know Selenium WebDrivers are used for automation testing cases, using C#, PHP, Ruby and other languages. In other words, Selenium WebDrivers are used to write the automaton test cases in the code at the backend file. In a similar way, Protractor is a wrapper, built on top of Selenium WebDrivers. It helps to automate the test cases of the AngularJS Web Applications.




Why Protractor?

• This tool is built on the top of Selenium Webdriver.
• Supports very simple syntax to write the automation test cases for AngularJS UI.
• Supports remote call.
• Supports the multiple Browsers at once.
• This tool is especially used for AngularJS
• Supports all the features, which are there in Selenium.

Protractor setup process

To setup protractor, we need to install the four things, given below:

1. Node.js
2. Java JDK file
3. Protractor
4. Update Selenium WebDriver
5. Start Webdriver
6. Writing and testing Protractor automation test cases.

Step 1

Install Node.js in your system. Node.js is an open source framework, and supports cross site platform at the runtime environment both for the Server side and networking apps. Usually for Windows based Web Applications, we do hosting in IIS Server whereas, in case of NodeJS, it acts both for client and Server. In other words, for NodeJS Applications, there is no need to host in IIS Server and the reason is NodeJS is itself a Server.



Select Windows installer and based on your operating system bit size, go with the appropriate bit size and download the setup file. Install it. Once the installation is successful, we have to check, whether it's successfully installed or not. To check Node.js is installed successfully or not, go to Windows command prompt and type “npm-version”, which will give you the installed NodeJS version. The screenshot, given below, is for your reference:



Step 2

Now, install JAVA JDK. If you don’t have setup file, download it from online. Based on an operating system and bit size, install into your system. Refer to the screenshot, given below, for reference:



Step 3: Protractor Installation can be done in two ways; globally and locally.

You can install protractor, either local to one project or you can install in the global place, where it can be accessible for all the projects. To install local to one project, in Windows command prompt, navigate to the project file location and type the command npm install Protractor. With this command, Protractor is available only to the project, where you installed protractor.

If you install protractor globally, it will be available to all the projects. Let's say, you have one folder location. All your projects are available there. Navigate to that point and type the command npm install -g protractor in Windows command prompt.



If you observe the screenshot, shown above, we are installing Protractor in D:\...\OWASP-POC> location. This means that protractor is available for all the projects, which resides in this location.

Step 4: Once the first three steps are completed successfully, we have to update the Webdriver. During the Webdriver update process, the following things will take place: