is protractor or browser prefered when testing a large angular application

Question

I have used browser and ptor in my previous tests, and they have different issues, but overall both seem buggy, although I like browser better.

So my question is, for testing a large angular application, is it more preferred to use the protractor.getInstance or just using regular browser?

Answer 1

The browser object and the object returned by protractor.getInstance() are the same object.

console.log("compare " + (protractor.getInstance() === browser));

prints "compare true"

It doesn't matter which you use, except stylistically. I like the browser object better.

For the non-wrapped webdriver instance, use browser.driver.

Answer 2

It doesn't matter. EDIT: Per alan.myrvold, browser and protractor.getInstance() are actually the exact same object. I didn't realize this until I verified his comment just now. Therefore you can use either one.

Note that if you are testing a NON-angular app, you must use browser.driver or protractor.getInstance().driver which is a webdriver instance. Using protractor.getInstance() or browser will throw errors because it will try to search for angular.

Answer 3

It's a very general question.

The angular community right now seems to move to Protractor, which is WebdriverJS based and - as far as I can tell - pretty powerful. The gist behind it is, that it uses regular browsers to do automated testing for you.

However, Protractor is a very young project and it requires a bit of getting used to. I myself found it a bit buggy and not yet suited to my needs.

Second point is: Do both. Do not completely rely on (integration) tests. You should always test functionality by hand - and should have it tested by someone else. After all, your computer is not a human.

Lastly, there is no definite answer, and I do not think it belongs here - we're here to help with specific programming problems.