Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with Cypress

This tutorial demonstrates how to use Step and Cypress to automate various browser tasks.

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Illustration for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with Cypress

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use Step and Cypress to automate various browser tasks. In this example, we will be automating an update to the inventory of a Demo online shop running at https://opencart-prf.exense.ch/admin/ .

This is a technical tutorial intended for users who are already familiar with RPA and Cypress.

Prerequisites

Access to a Step cluster: Get started quickly by setting up a free SaaS cluster in the Step Portal, or, if preferred, follow the Installation page to configure your own on-premise cluster.
git
(optional) cypress 9: Use npm i cypress@9 or check this guide how to install Cypress on your local machine.

Preparing the sample project

We have prepared a sample project that will be used throughout this tutorial which uses Cypress to automate interactions with a test environment called OpenCart that is provided by us.

1. Get the code

The project is available on GitHub; to clone it using git, run:

  git clone https://github.com/exense/step-samples.git

2. (optional): Run tests locally

To run it locally in headed mode using Cypress:

  cd step-samples/keywords/cypress_RPA/opencart_RPA
cypress run --headed

This will open a browser window and run the test case, you can see the automated process setting the stock.

3. Check the source code

Take a moment to look at the sample project code – we tried to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible. You can find it in the sample project folder under: step-samples/keywords/cypress_RPA/opencart_RPA/cypress

In particular, take a look at the code defined in /support/commands.js

Note that there are several custom Cypress functions defined. The following two will be particularly relevant in the course of this tutorial:

  Cypress.Commands.add('Opencart_Admin_Login', () => { ... })
Cypress.Commands.add('Opencart_Admin_Update_Product', (productName, quantity) => { ... })

There is one command defined as “Opencart_Admin_Login”, which does not take any arguments, since username and password are already hardcoded for simplicity (username: “demo”, password: “demo”). It navigates to our OpenCart instance and logs in.
The other command is called “Opencart_Admin_Update_Product” and takes two arguments, productName and quantity. It navigates to the product with the given name and updates its quantity.

4. Package the keywords as a zip-file

In order to import Cypress functionality into STEP, we need to create a single zip file of the opencart folder.

  cd step-samples/keywords/cypress_RPA
zip -r opencart_RPA.zip opencart_RPA

This creates a file, named “opencart_RPA.zip”. It is the file that we will import into Step.

5. Switch to your Step instance

If you have access to an existing Step instance (on-premise or cloud), access it and log in, see prerequisites if not.

In order to use (and reuse) the functionality defined in commands.js we need to wrap the individual functions into keywords.

Step has a special view for managing Keywords. This screenshot shows the Keywords view with the New Keyword dialog open as a reference for the next steps.

Navigate to Keywords
Click the + button
In the dialog, enter a meaningful name for the new keyword
Choose Cypress from the Type-dropdown
As Cypress Project, upload the zip file we created previously
Now we want to specify the command we want to call:

  "cy.Opencart_Admin_Login()"

Click the lightning icon to mark the expression as “dynamic”
Hit the Save‍Button

7. Create the Inventory-Update Keyword

We create another keyword just like in the previous step but as Command we enter:

  "cy.Opencart_Admin_Update_Product('${product}', '${quantity}')"

Don’t forget to mark the command as dynamic by activating the lightning icon.

Define the Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will use Step to automate the process of updating the inventory of an online shop. Therefore we need to set up a “Plan”, in which we define which steps should be executed to perform the inventory update. Simply put, we want to automate a browser to log in to the OpenCart web shop and update the quantities of some of the products we have specified in a CSV file.

1. Create a new Plan

Navigate to Plans
Click + to create a new plan
Enter a name
Select “TestCase” as a Template
Click Save and edit

2. How to configure the Plan

The visual editor is the main tool to create and edit plans in Step. We will use this to create the RPA, so get familiar with the UI explained in this screenshot:

In order to define what our plan is going to do, we have to add our already created keywords to it and configure them. First of all we want to tell STEP to log in to OpenCart. Therefore we add the Admin-Login keyword:

Click on “Keywords” to open a list of available keywords
Find the Keyword with name you defined for the Admin Login keyword and click its + button to add it to the plan

4. Add and configure the ForEach-Control

As we want to modify a bunch of products on the basis of a CSV file, we need to define a loop and iterate over the CSV data.

‍

Select the root element of your plan
Select Controls
Find the ForEach control and click the + button to add it to the plan
As Source Type choose CSV
Drag and drop or use the file chooser to choose the prepared CSV file: samples/keywords/cypress_RPA/opencart_RPA/cypress/fixtures/inventory.csv

5. Set STEP-variables

In order to feed our Inventory Update Keyword with data from the CSV, we need to create STEP variables.

Select Controls
Find the Set control and click the + button
As Key type “product”
In the Value field, type “row.Product”. Note that “row” refers to each row in the CSV and “Product” is the name of the first column
Activate the button with the lightning icon to mark the value as dynamic
Name this control “Set product”
Create another STEP variable named “Set quantity” by repeating points 1-6 with Key “quantity” and Value “row.Quantity”

6. Loop the Inventory Update Keyword

Select “Keywords”
Find the Inventory Update Keyword and click its + button to add it to the loop.
Add a Key-Value pair with Key “product”, Value “product” and set it to dynamic. This maps the input variable to the STEP variable we defined previously.
Add another Key-Value pair with Key “quantity”, Value “quantity” and set it to dynamic.

7. Run the Automation and check results

To run the RPA, simply click the start execution button (play icon) on top of the plan and confirm by clicking it in the dialog again. This will update the inventory according to the changes listed in the CSV file.

You now know how to automate tasks using Step and Cypress, and can use this to greatly improve the work efficiency of your business.

Note: To keep the OpenCart instance clean for everyone doing this tutorial the changes will not be saved in the OpenCart instance.

8. Check the status of your executions on the “Executions” tab

The execution automatically opens, you can continue using Step and go to Executions in the menu and click on an individual execution to get a detailed view of that execution to open it again.

Hint: This can be done at any time, including when an execution is currently running

Status of a successfully finished execution

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