Testing Authentication With Nightwatch JS

Nightwatch.js is a powerful testing framework that allows you to easily automate browser testing. One common use case for Nightwatch is testing an authentication system. In this article, we will explore how to use Nightwatch to test an authentication system.

Before we begin, it's important to note that you will need to have Nightwatch installed on your system. You can do this by running the following command:

npm install nightwatch

Once Nightwatch is installed, you will need to create a configuration file. This file is typically named nightwatch.conf.js and should be placed in the root of your project. This file is used to configure the settings for Nightwatch, such as the location of your test files and the browser to use for testing.

Now that we have Nightwatch installed and configured, let's create a test file for our authentication system. For this example, we will create a file named auth_test.js and place it in the tests folder.

Here's an example of how the auth_test.js file might look:

module.exports = {
  'Test login': function (browser) {
    browser
      .url('http://localhost:8080/login')
      .waitForElementVisible('body', 1000)
      .setValue('input[name=username]', 'testuser')
      .setValue('input[name=password]', 'testpass')
      .click('button[type=submit]')
      .pause(1000)
      .assert.urlContains('dashboard')
      .end();
  }
};

This test will navigate to the login page, fill in the username and password fields, and submit the form. The test will then pause for 1 second and verify that the URL contains the word "dashboard", indicating that the user has successfully logged in.

Another example can be for testing if the login page redirects to home page when user is already logged in

module.exports = {
  'Test login redirect': function (browser) {
    browser
      .url('http://localhost:8080/login')
      .waitForElementVisible('body', 1000)
      .assert.urlContains('home')
      .end();
  }
};

This test will navigate to the login page and verify that the URL contains the word "home", indicating that the user is already logged in and has been redirected to the home page.

In order to run the test, you can use the following command:

nightwatch tests/auth_test.js

This will run the auth_test.js file and output the results to the console.

In conclusion, Nightwatch.js is a powerful tool for automating browser testing and can be used to easily test an authentication system. With the help of examples provided above, you can create your own tests to suit your specific needs and ensure that your authentication system is working as expected.