Automation V3: BrowserStack Desktop
BrowserStack is a cloud web and mobile testing platform that enables developers to test their websites and mobile applications across on-demand browsers, operating systems and real mobile devices without requiring users to install or maintain an internal lab of virtual machines, devices, or emulators.
Configuring BrowserStack in Automation
Before configuring a BrowserStack Desktop App in Automation, you should have already sorted your BrowserStack setup and have your username and access key. Refer to Browserstack’s documentation for more information on completing this setup in BrowserStack.
Adding a browser provider
To begin configuring the BrowserStack in Automation, add a new Browser Provider.
Navigate to the Settings view and click the Browserstack Desktop device option from the Add a Browser Provider device option.
Add a Provider Name and select the BrowserStack Desktop radio button on the Add new Browser Provider screen.
Add your BrowserStack details to connect to BrowserStack:
Use the Test button to verify the server details.
Next, add the Browsers that will be used by clicking the Add New (‘+’) button on the Browsers section:
Adding browsers
On the Add BrowserStack Desktop Browsers page, select the Platform where testing will be carried out. (You can ignore the Browser Name as this will be prepopulated based on your other selections.) The Platform dropdown will show all the platforms assigned to the relevant BrowserStack account.
Then select a Web Browser and a Browser Version. For the Browser Version, you can select the latest instead of a specific version if you want to run on the latest version of your chosen browser.
Then select the Screen Resolution. Once you are happy with the device details provided, click the OK button to continue.
On the Browser Provider details screen, you can now click the Save button to complete adding the new Browser Provider.
Now that you have added a new Browser Provider for BrowserStack, you should see this reflected on the Browser Providers tab:
Running tests on BrowserStack for desktop
To start executing test cases, first select the new Web Browser which you created above:
Once setup has been completed, tests can be run in Run mode, Debug mode, or Run under ANT.
Run and Debug Mode Execution
To start executing test cases, select the new Web Browser you created above.
This can also be set for a particular test case by using the Web Browser Override on the test’s Connection step.
Then click Run or Debug to run the test. Progress can be monitored as usual in the Test Runner:
In the BrowserStack Dashboard, under the Automate section, you can see all the running sessions and those previously executed.
Click on a given session to see all the running details:
Click the session link to see details such as the running browser, machine information, test logs, and video:
The Job Name shows as Build: Provar Test Run System Time Stamp, as above.
Run under ANT execution
Automation also provides Run under ANT execution for BrowserStack Desktop.
To select this, right-click on the test(s) or folder and select Run Under ANT.
In the ANT Dialog, select the new Web Browser you created above:
This will add the following parameters to the Build.xml file:
Running this file will initiate the session/run similarly to the Run and Debug mode sessions above.
Proxy environments
BrowserStack execution will work as normal when proxies are defined under Provar Network Settings, or defined under the Desired Capability of the Browser Provider as a proxyURL (see below).
Note that if proxy information is set up at both levels, Automation will prefer the proxy information in the Desired Capability setting in the Browser Provider.
To add a proxy at the Browser Provider level, open the Browser Provider in Edit and go to the Desired Capabilities section.
Click the Add New (‘+’) icon
On Add new desired Capabilities screen, enter a Name of proxyURL and the Value.
Then click OK.
Once added, use the Test Connection button to ensure the connection works as expected.
Modifying the Job Name
You can define a custom Job Name if you would like to present a specific name in BrowserStack. This is helpful when you have multiple sets of test cases. If a custom Job Name is defined, a single entry will be created with a grouping of test cases inside.
You can define a custom Job Name by setting up a new system environment variable or in the console where an ANT job is running. If the environment variable PROVAR_BROWSERSTACK_BUILDNAME is set, this name will be used as the build name.
This can be done by setting up a new system environment variable of PROVAR_BROWSERSTACK_BUILDNAME:
The system environment variable can also be set in the console:
Overriding BrowserStack credentials
You can override the credentials defined for your BrowserStack browser provider configuration. This is helpful when executing tests in your CI/CD build pipeline using ANT. You can override the BrowserStack configuration username and access key values by passing a command line argument or by setting up a new system environment variable.
To override the username, set one of the following values in order of priority:
Command line argument: provar.browserstack.username
Environment variable: PROVAR_BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME
To override the access key, set one of the following values in order of priority:
Command line argument: provar.browserstack.accesskey
Environment variable: PROVAR_BROWSERSTACK_ACCESSKEY
Local testing with BrowserStack
BrowserStack provides the ability to test local web applications that are under development or not accessible outside of your corporate network by enabling Local Testing with BrowserStack and Local Testing with Automate.
Automation supports Local Testing with BrowserStack by configuring the desired capability with the browser provider configuration in Automation by adding the following desired capabilities:
browserstack.local
Use this capability to test locally-hosted websites on BrowserStack by setting the value to true. For example, “browserstack.local”:true
browserstack.localIdentifier
Use this capability to specify your test’s unique local testing connection name. For example, “browserstack.localIdentifier”:”Test12345”
Additional support is provided to override the browserStack.localidentifier value by passing a command line argument or setting up a new system environment variable. This is helpful when executing tests in your CI/CD build pipeline using ANT. To override the browserStack.localidentifier, set one of the following values in order of priority:
Command line argument: provar.browserstack.localidentifier
Environment variable: PROVAR_BROWSERSTACK_LOCALIDENTIFIER
Limitations
The following limitations currently exist in Automation’s implementation of BrowserStack.
Accessing Chrome profiles
Normally, when Automation’s test execution happens locally, Automation users can specify the Google Chrome profile that should be used in the execution. This is not supported when executing tests over BrowserStack, as the execution will happen at the remote node. Due to this limitation, you’ll need to re-provide a password and verification token when executing over BrowserStack, or your IP will need to be whitelisted. Salesforce should know from where the request is coming so it can provide login access to execute the tests.
Accessing locally stored files
Usually, Automation lets you download a file locally to perform actions such as assertions. This is not supported when executing tests on BrowserStack because the remote node cannot access the locally downloaded file, so any tests that use locally downloaded files will not run successfully.
If you are affected by these limitations, please contact Provar support directly for advice.
Access world-class customer support at the Provar Success Portal
Providing ongoing support is part of our promise to help you deliver robust, scalable, and repeatable testing to achieve release agility, drive down system errors, and get the maximum return on your Salesforce investment. Please contact us for more information. If you have any questions regarding BrowserStack, please get in touch with us, and we would be happy to help. To raise a case, simply log into the Provar Success Portal and click View/Raise Case.