Automated Testing of Primo Workflows

Overview

Quick Start Guide

This project aims to create a framework for automatically testing a range of Primo Workflows.

As part of the project, we will:

1. Document and maintain common workflows performed in the Primo UI.
2. Use cypress.io to create tests that can test these workflows.

We intend to have both 'core' and 'custom' tests:

• Core

  These are tests that should be able to run on any institutions implementation of Primo. These would test basic Primo functionality.

• Custom

  These are tests that are institution specific. Insitutions can test custom functionality.

In each of these scenarios, institutions will be able to use their own local parameters with each test.

Structure

The areas of the project that concern us most are:

   repository root
    ├──cypress.json       <-- Cypress configuration file
    ├──commands           <-- Shared 'command' library
    ├──fixtures           <-- Fixed configuration items
    │   ├──example        <-- An example organisation
    │   │   └──secure     <-- Secure folder to store user objects
    │   └──mq             <-- Macquarie University fixtures
    │       └──secure     <-- Secure folder to store MQ user objects
    └──integrations       <-- Folder that holds all tests
        ├──core           <-- Core workflow tests
        ├──custom         <-- Custom workflow tests
        │   └──mq         <-- Custom workflow tests for Macquarie University
        ├──example        <-- Example folder for sample tests
        │   └──tests      <-- Example test folder
        └──unit           <-- Folder for smaller unit tests
            └──mq         <-- Folder for an institutions smaller unit tests

There are three configuration items you need to be aware of:

1. Configuring Cypress (cypress.json):

   contains:
   {
       "env": {
           "ORG": "mq",
           "PRIMO": "primo-prd",
           "USER": "user01",
           "AUTH": "okta"
       },
       "defaultCommandTimeout": 8000,
       "requestTimeout": 8000
   }
   

   We create a file called cypress.json in the repository root with similar contents above. This file sets up some parameters for Cypress. The defaultCommandTimeout by default is 4000 milliseconds. We've changed this to 8000 milliseconds as some instances of Primo are a bit slower to load. This allows more time for loading and will reduce test errors on timeouts. Similarly, we've upped the requestTimeout value from 4000 to 8000 milliseconds as well.

   We also configure some environment variables for telling Cypress which fixtures to use:

   • ORG

     We set the ORG value to a unique code for our organisation. The value of this code will be the same name as the folders we will be using under the fixtures and integrations folders (take 'mq' as an example).

   • PRIMO

     This variable points to the fixture representing the Primo instance you want to test. You could have multiple fixtures to test multiple views of your Primo instance or multiple Primo instances such as production and sandbox. Create a fixture for each and set this to the one you want to test.

   • USER

     For workflows that require authenticated users, you set this to the fixture in the secure folder with the user object representing the user details. The user object is structured as:

     {
         "username": "username",
         "password": "password",
         "displayName": "Example User"
     }
     

   • AUTH

     For workflows that require authentication, you set this fixture to be the configuration of your authentication system. An example for authenticating via SSO with Okta:

     {
         "type": "okta",
         "primoUrl": "https://multisearch.mq.edu.au/primo-explore/search?vid=MQ",
         "primoPdsBaseUrl": "https://macquarie-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com",
         "primoPdsLoginUrl": "https://multisearch.mq.edu.au:443/primo_library/libweb/pdsLogin?targetURL=https%3A%2F%2Fmultisearch.mq.edu.au%2Fprimo-explore%2Fsearch%3Fvid%3DMQ%26from-new-ui%3D1%26authenticationProfile%3DBASE_PROFILE",
         "primoInstitute": "MQ",
         "oktaBase": "https://mq.okta.com"
     }
     

2. Configuring fixtures:

   Within the fixtures folder, create a folder for your organisation. This folder should have the same name as the environment variable, ORG, that we configured in cypress.json.

   This folder contains custom values for your organisation. The structure of any fixtures used in Core tests will need to be standardised to be able to interoperate with the Core tests. As the project is new, these structures will evolve over time and eventually stabilise. For fixtures that you use in Custom tests, there are not structural restrictions, although we might have to recommend a naming structure that does not conflict with Core fixtures.

   An example of a simple fixture for Primo is below (primo-prd.json):

   {
       "primoUrl": "https://multisearch.mq.edu.au/primo-explore/search?vid=MQ"
   }
   

   This contains a simple piece of information that points to an institutions Primo page and will allow Cypress to use this location to run the tests against. In this way, each organisation can have the tests run against their specific environment.

   TODO: Create a standard set of fixtures which have a specific name and structure that will be used against Core tests.

   Within each organisations fixture folder, there is a special folder called secure. This folder is where you can place any user objects that contain user information such as (but not limited to), username, password, display name etc.. You can have a look in the example folder's secure folder to have a look at a user object. The example folder's secure folder is the only secure folder that gets added to the repository. Any other organisations secure folders are ignored - this is configured in the .gitignore file in the repository root.

3. Adding Custom tests:

   If you are just using Core tests, there is nothing to add to this folder.

   If you are using custom tests, then you should create a folder under the custom folder that has the same name as the ORG environment variable that you configured in cypress.json. Anything under this folder is managed by the owning organisation and you can place any custom tests under this folder in your preferred structure.

4. Adding Unit tests:

   We can use the unit folder for smaller tests that test specific pieces of functionality. This will keep a cleaner separation from the larger workflow tests that we will be working on. We can also use these test as smaller building blocks to construct the larger workflow tests that we would like to automate.