How to Properly Assert Arrays in Cypress for Email Testing

Learn how to effectively compare arrays in Cypress when testing email values. Discover a step-by-step solution to handle assertion issues.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/73565315/ asked by the user 'Noel Dulin' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/13618482/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/73565431/ provided by the user 'Alapan Das' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/4571271/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Properly Assert Arrays in Cypress for Email Testing

Testing email outputs can sometimes present challenges, especially when it comes to asserting the values of multiple email entries. A common issue that software testers encounter is that when asserting arrays, the results only compare the first element, which can lead to misleading outcomes. In this guide, we'll examine how to ensure that you're correctly asserting an entire set of email arrays using Cypress.

The Problem: Incorrect Assertion of Email Arrays

Let's set the stage with an example. Imagine you are testing a landing page that contains obfuscated email addresses. You have two arrays of email values:

emailDataVal – This represents the values retrieved from the landing page.

obfuscateEmailText – This represents the expected results after the emails have been obfuscated.

Expected and Actual Results

Expected:

emailDataVal = [email1, email2, email3, email4]

obfuscateEmailText = [email1, email2, email3, email4]

Actual:

emailDataVal = [email1, email1, email1, email1] (only the first value is captured repeatedly)

obfuscateEmailText = [email1, email2, email3, email4]

The problem arises because the assertions are only testing the first element of the emailDataVal array against the values in obfuscateEmailText. This is a common pitfall, but fear not! There's a straightforward solution.

The Solution: Storing and Comparing All Values

To resolve this issue, we need to store all the email values retrieved into an array and then compare each one appropriately. Here’s how to implement that solution using Cypress in a step-by-step format:

Step-by-Step Instructions

Create an Array to Store Email Values: Initialize an empty array before starting the iteration to hold values of the first set of emails.

Retrieve Email Values: Use the each method to iterate through email elements and push each value into the array.

Perform Assertions After Data Collection: Once you have all the values collected, iterate through the second set of email elements and compare them with the corresponding values in the emailDataVal array.

Example Code Implementation

Here’s how the complete code might look:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Key Points to Remember

Always ensure you initialize arrays to accurately capture multiple values.

Use proper indexing when comparing arrays of different origins to avoid mismatches.

Remember to leverage Cypress’s powerful chaining capabilities to maintain a clean and efficient test structure.

Conclusion

By following the steps outlined above, you can effectively compare and assert values from multiple arrays in your Cypress tests. No longer will you be limited to just comparing the first entry from an array, ensuring that your assertions reflect the true state of your email data. Happy testing!