Alright folks, buckle up! Today I’m spilling the beans on my “head-to-toe 3.0 test” project. It was a real rollercoaster, but hey, that’s how we learn, right?
So, where did I even start? Well, first off, I had this crazy idea to build a completely automated testing suite, from the front-end UI right down to the backend database interactions. I know, sounds ambitious, maybe even a little nuts. But I was itching for a challenge, and our existing testing was… let’s just say it had room for improvement.
Phase 1: Front-End Frenzy
- I kicked things off with the front-end. Figured I’d use Cypress – heard good things, seemed pretty straightforward.
- Spent a solid week just getting the basic Cypress setup working. You know, installing dependencies, figuring out the folder structure, that kinda stuff.
- Then came the fun part – actually writing the tests! Started with the login page, making sure all the fields were there, that the error messages popped up when they were supposed to, the whole shebang.
- Ran into a bunch of CSS selector issues, spent way too much time digging through the DOM trying to figure out why Cypress couldn’t find the darn button. Turns out, our front-end devs are a bit… creative with their class names.
- Learned a valuable lesson: Talk to the front-end team BEFORE you start writing tests. Seriously, save yourself the headache.
Phase 2: API Assault
- Next up was the API. Decided to go with Postman at first, just to get a handle on the endpoints and what they were supposed to be doing.
- Discovered a few… inconsistencies. Let’s just say the documentation wasn’t exactly up-to-date. Had to do some serious digging and a lot of trial and error to figure out the request/response formats.
- Switched over to using a proper testing library for the API tests. Settled on Supertest, seemed solid. Started writing tests to check things like status codes, response times, and data validation.
- Hit a snag with authentication. Our API uses OAuth 2.0, which is great for security, but a pain in the butt to automate. Had to figure out how to get a token programmatically before each test run. Lots of Googling and Stack Overflow-ing involved.
Phase 3: Database Dive
- Okay, time to tackle the database. This was the part I was most nervous about, to be honest. I’m no DBA, but I know enough to be dangerous.
- Decided to use a dedicated test database for this. Didn’t want to accidentally mess with the production data – that would be a career-limiting move.
- Started writing tests to check things like data integrity, foreign key constraints, and database performance. Used a library to execute SQL queries directly from my test code.
- Found a few interesting bugs in our data model. Turns out, some of our tables didn’t have proper indexes, which was causing some serious performance bottlenecks. Score!
- Learned a lot about database transactions and how to properly roll back changes after each test run. Very important for maintaining data consistency.
The Big Picture: Putting it All Together
- After banging my head against the wall for a few weeks, I finally had all the pieces in place. Front-end tests, API tests, database tests – all running independently.
- Now came the hard part: integrating everything into a single, cohesive test suite. I wanted to be able to run all the tests with a single command, and get a nice, easy-to-understand report.
- Used a CI/CD tool. Configured it to run the tests automatically every time someone pushed code to the repository.
- Set up notifications to alert the team when tests failed. This was crucial for catching bugs early in the development process.
The Results?
Honestly? Pretty awesome. The “head-to-toe 3.0 test” project was a ton of work, but it was totally worth it. We’re now catching bugs way earlier in the development cycle, our code quality has improved, and the team has a lot more confidence in our releases.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. But next time, I’ll be sure to bring a bigger hammer and a whole lot more coffee. Cheers!
