Install BrowserStack Node SDK

Install the BrowserStack SDK using npm for your NodeJS based test suite for plug-and-play integration with BrowserStack.

The npx setup command generates a browserstack.yml file at the root location of your project with your access credentials already configured. It also adds new command(s) in your package.json file to run tests on BrowserStack.

Configure your browserstack.yml file

The auto-generated browserstack.yml file situated in the root location of your project holds all the required settings to run tests on BrowserStack. Make sure to keep the turboScale flag as true.

Set platforms to test on

Set the browsers and devices you want to test under the platforms object. Our config follows W3C formatted capabilities.

Platform	Browser
Linux	Firefox
Linux	Chrome
Linux	Edge

BrowserStack reporting (part 1/2)

You can leverage BrowserStack’s extensive reporting features using the following capabilities:

Build Name

Set a name to your build (usually the same as the build ID that’s on your CI/CD platform). Accepted characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, ., :, -, [], /, @, &, ‘, _. All other characters are ignored.
Character limit: 255

Build Identifier

Select a dynamic build identifier that appends to the build name and generates a unique name on the BrowserStack dashboard

${BUILD_NUMBER}

${BUILD_NUMBER}

${DATE_TIME}

buildIdentifier	Description	Generated build name on BrowserStack dashboard
${BUILD_NUMBER} (Default)	If build is triggered locally, an incremental counter is appended. If build is triggered with CI tools, CI generated build number is appended.	bstack-demo 1 bstack-demo CI 1395
${DATE_TIME}	The timestamp of run time is appended to the build.	bstack-demo 29-Nov-20:44

Advanced use cases for Build name

Custom formatting of build name

Prefix buildIdentifier with desired characters, for example, # or :

buildName: bstack-demo
buildIdentifier: '#${BUILD_NUMBER}'

Re-run tests in a build

You can re-run selected tests from a build using any of the following options:

Option 1: Set the existing build name in the BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME variable and prepend it to your test run command to re-run tests in the same build:

Linux:

BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME="bstack-demo 123" npm run sample-test

Windows Powershell:

$env:BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123”; npm run sample-test

Windows cmd:

set BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123” && npm run sample-test

Option 2: Set the build name as a combination of buildName and buildIdentifier, as seen on the dashboard, and set buildIdenitifier as null:

buildName: bstack-demo 123
buildIdentifier: null

Option 3: Set the buildIdentifier as the build number or time of the required build as seen on the dashboard:

buildName: bstack-demo
buildIdentifier: 123

Project Name

Set a project name for your project.

Use additional debugging features

By default, BrowserStack provides prettified session logs, screenshots on every failed selenium command, and a video of the entire test. Additionally, you can enable the following features:

Visual logs

Enables screenshots for every selenium command ran

True

False

Network logs

Enables network capture for the session in HAR format. Reduces session performance slightly

True

False

Console logs

Set the remote Browser’s console log levels. Currently supported only on Chrome browsers (Desktop and Android)

Info

Disable

Verbose

Info

Warnings

Errors

Use Automate Turboscale

Turboscale

Enables Turboscale

True

False

Update BrowserStack Config file

Copy the given config into your browserstack.yml file.

BrowserStack reporting (part 2/2)

Test assertions are specific to selected language frameworks. BrowserStack requires explicit instruction to determine whether your tests have passed or failed based on the assertions in your test script.

Run your test suite on BrowserStack

Your test suite is now ready to run on BrowserStack! Run the commands added under the scripts property section in the package.json file. Here is an example command:

If you don’t see any new commands, make sure you ran npx setup correctly or contact support for assistance.

Setup authentication

Set environment variables for BrowserStack credentials:

# Set these values in your ~/.zprofile (zsh) or ~/.profile (bash)
export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME=YOUR_USERNAME
export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY

It is recommended that you store your credentials as environment variables and use those environment variables in your test script.

Update Your Test Script

a. Use BrowserStack Credentials and Update the Selenium Hub URL

const username = process.env.BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME || 'YOUR_USERNAME';
const accessKey = process.env.BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY || 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY';

driver = new webdriver.Builder()
  // Change the Selenium hub URL to BrowserStack hub URL
  .usingServer('https://' + username + ':' + accessKey + '@hub-ft.browserstack.com/wd/hub')
  .withCapabilities(capabilities)
  .build();

Update the Selenium hub URL to the BrowserStack remote hub URL: https://hub-ft.browserstack.com/wd/hub

b. Update Browser and OS capabilities

After you set up authentication in your test scripts, you can now add configurations, such as adding browser-OS combinations, test suite organization details, test status that you want to track, and then run your tests.

// Add the following capabilities to your test script
const capabilities = {
  'bstack:options': {
    os: 'Linux'
  },
  browserName: 'Chrome',
  browserVersion: 'latest'
};

Migrate your test cases

After you set up authentication in your test scripts, you can now add configurations, such as adding browser-OS combinations, test suite organization details, test status that you want to track, and then run your tests.

<!-- Set this in your App.config file -->
<configuration>
  <environments>
    <chrome>
      <add key="browserName" value="Chrome" />  
    </chrome>
  </environments>
</configuration>

Organize tests

<!-- Set these capabilities in your specflow config file -->
<configuration>  
  <capabilities>
    <parallel>
      <add key="buildName" value="browserstack-build-1" />
      <add key="sessionName" value="BStack parallel specflow" />
      <add key="projectName" value="bstack-demo" />
    </parallel>
  </capabilities>
</configuration>

Use the following capabilities for naming your tests and builds. This ensures effective debugging, test reporting, and build execution time analysis.

• Use a new buildName name every time you run your test cases. This ensures that sessions are logically grouped under a unique build name and helps you monitor the health of your test suite effectively.
  
  
• A build can only have a maximum of 1000 tests and post that a new build gets created with a ‘-1’ suffixed to the original build name.

Mark test as Passed or Failed

To mark whether your test has passed or failed on BrowserStack, use the JavaScript executor in your test script. You can mark a test as passed or failed based on your test assertions.

The arguments passed in the JavaScript method for setting the status and the corresponding reason of the test are status and reason:

• status accepts either passed or failed as the value.
• reason accepts a string value.

IJavaScriptExecutor jse = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;
var executorObject = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
    { "action", "setSessionStatus" },
    { "arguments", new Dictionary<string, object>
        {
            { "status", "passed" }, // or "failed"
            { "reason", "Test completed successfully." } // Provide your reason here
        }
    }
};
jse.ExecuteScript("browserstack_executor: " + JsonConvert.SerializeObject(executorObject));

Set up debugging capabilities

Enable visual logs and automatic screenshot capture at every Selenium command by setting the debug capability.

By default, Console Logs with log level errors are enabled. Utilize the consoleLogs capability to enable various log levels, including warnings, info, verbose, errors, and disable.

Capture the browser’s performance data, such as network traffic, latency, HTTP requests, and responses in a HAR format, by setting the networkLogs capability.

<configuration>  
  <capabilities>
    <parallel>
      <add key="buildName" value="browserstack-build-1" />
      <add key="sessionName" value="BStack parallel specflow" />
      <add key="debug" value="true" />
      <add key="consoleLogs" value="info" />
      <add key="networkLogs" value="true" />
    </parallel>
  </capabilities>
</configuration>