Emulating Real User Interactions in Testing

In line with Kent C. Dodds' testing philosophy, our approach to testing within Open Micro SaaS emphasizes the creation of tests that closely resemble how real users interact with our software.

"The more your tests resemble the way your software is used, the more confidence they can give you." - Kent C. Dodds

This philosophy underscores the importance of writing tests that simulate real-world usage as closely as possible. By doing so, we can:

• Increase Confidence: Ensure that our application behaves as expected in scenarios that our users will actually encounter.
• Detect Issues Early: Identify and rectify potential problems before they impact our users, leading to a more stable and reliable product.
• Improve User Experience: By focusing on user-centric scenarios, we naturally prioritize the usability and functionality aspects most critical to our users.

Implementing Realistic Testing in Open Micro SaaS

To embody this testing philosophy, Open Micro SaaS leverages Playwright for integration testing. Playwright allows us to automate browser-based tests that mimic user actions and interactions with high fidelity. Here’s how we put this into practice:

1. User Behavior Simulation:

We craft our tests to simulate common user behaviors and paths through our application, from logging in to navigating various features and executing key actions.

2. Automated Browser Testing:

Playwright enables us to run these tests across multiple browser environments, ensuring consistency and compatibility, reflecting the diverse ways users access our application.

3. Continuous Feedback:

By integrating these tests into our continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, we maintain a constant feedback loop, allowing us to quickly address any issues that arise.

Example: Testing User Login Flow

Consider a test that validates the user login process—a critical path for any SaaS application. Our test would automate the following steps:

1. Navigate to the login page.
2. Enter valid user credentials into the input fields.
3. Submit the login form.
4. Verify that the user is redirected to their dashboard.
5. Check for the presence of user-specific elements on the dashboard to confirm a successful login.

This test not only checks the functionality of the login process but also ensures that the user experience aligns with expectations, mirroring a typical user journey through our application.

You can actually find a real example of this test case in the global-setup.ts test file of the Github repository (opens in a new tab).

Conclusion

Adhering to Kent C. Dodds' testing philosophy, Open Micro SaaS aims to build a suite of tests that offer genuine insights into our application's readiness and reliability. By focusing on tests that mirror actual user experiences, we cultivate greater confidence in our software, both among our development team and our users.