Integrate your test suite with BrowserStack
BrowserStack’s SpecFlow SDK supports a plug-and-play integration. Run your entire test suite in parallel in a few steps!
Prerequisites
- An existing automated test suite
- .Net v5.0+
- NUnit v3.0.0+ (if you are using NUnit runner) and xUnit v2.0+ (if you are using xUnit runner)
If you are using Mac computers with Apple silicon chips, use the BrowserStack SDK CLI workflow.
Integration steps
To begin with our starter project, check out our SpecFlow sample project. If you are already using the sample project, you may skip the integration steps.
Based on the method you use to build your project, follow these steps to integrate your test suite with BrowserStack. You can use either NUnit or xUnit as runners for SpecFlow.
Add BrowserStack SDK as NuGet package
Steps to install BrowserStack SDK as a NuGet package:
- On the Visual Studio toolbar, select Project > Manage NuGet Packages. A NuGet Package Manager Window opens.
- In the Browse tab, search for BrowserStack.TestAdapter, and click Install.
Create your BrowserStack config file
After installing the SDK, create a browserstack.yml
config file at the root level of your project. This file holds all the required capabilities to run tests on BrowserStack.
Set access credentials
Set userName
and accessKey
parameters in the browserstack.yml
file, available in the root directory, to authenticate your tests on BrowserStack.
Set platforms to test on
Set the browsers/devices you want to test under the platforms
object. Our config follows W3C formatted capabilities.
Do you want to dynamically configure platforms?
To dynamically configure platforms across different tests, you can comment out the platforms
capability while still passing platform-specific capabilities.
Set number of parallel threads per platform
The parallelsPerPlatform
property determines the number of parallel threads to be executed. BrowserStack’s SDK runner will select the best strategy based on the configured value.
Example 1: If you have configured 3 platforms and set parallelsPerPlatform
as 2: a total of 6 (3 x 2) parallel threads will be used on BrowserStack.
Example 2: If you have configured 1 platform and set parallelsPerPlatform
as 15: a total of 15 (1 x 15) parallel threads will be used on BrowserStack.
Do you want to perform cross-browser testing without test level parallelization?
Remove the parallelsPerPlatform
capability from the configuration file.
Do you want to test parallelization without performing cross-browser testing?
Remove or comment out the platform
capability while keeping the parallelsPerPlatform
capability intact in the configuration file.
Do you want to skip cross-browser testing as well as parallelization?
Remove or comment out the platform
and parallelsPerPlatform
capabilities from the configuration file.
BrowserStack Reporting
You can leverage BrowserStack’s extensive reporting features using the following capabilities:
buildIdentifier | Description | Generated build name on 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:
MacOS/Linux:
BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123” dotnet test --filter "Category=sample-test"
Windows Powershell:
$env:BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123”; dotnet test --filter "Category=sample-test"
Windows cmd:
set BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME="bstack-demo 123" && dotnet test --filter "Category=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
Do you want to enable/disable auto-marking of test status and session?
The sessionName
and sessionStatus
are the names of your test sessions and status of your test sessions respectively. They are automatically picked from your test class/spec names and statuses. They do not need to be set manually when using the BrowserStack SDK. To override the sessionName
and sessionStatus
capabilities, use the following in your browserstack.yml file:
You can configure local testing to start without initializing the BrowserStack binary, or even with an existing binary using a local identifier
testContextOptions:
skipSessionName: true
skipSessionStatus: true
Use additional debugging features
BrowserStack offers session logs, screenshots of failed commands, and a video of the entire test, with additional options to enable.
Use Percy Visual Testing
Percy is an all-in-one visual testing and review platform enabling teams to automate visual tests, detect visual bugs, and provide valuable insights into UI changes.
percyCaptureMode
takes effect only if you set percy
to true
. If you set the capture mode to manual
, ensure you use the Percy Screenshot function in your test script.
Update browserstack.yml file
Update the browserstack.yml
file in the root folder of your test suite and add the following code to it.
Use our Capability Generator to select from a comprehensive set of options you can use to customize your tests.
Run your test suite
The BrowserStack Test Adapter enables you to execute your test suite seamlessly, just as you did previously.
- On the Visual Studio toolbar, select Test > Test Explorer.
- Right-click on your test and click Run.
Install BrowserStack SDK
Run the following command to install the BrowserStack SDK and create a browserstack.yml
file in the root directory of your project.
-
The
browserstack.yml
config file holds all the required capabilities to run tests on BrowserStack. -
The
BrowserStack.TestAdapter
works on top of your framework test adapter to run parallel tests on BrowserStack across multiple platforms mentioned on thebrowserstack.yml
file.
[Only for Macs with Apple silicon] Install dotnet x64 on MacOS
If you are using a Mac computer with Apple silicon chip (M1 or M2) architecture, use the given command.
-
<path>
- Mention the absolute path to the directory where you want to save dotnet x64 -
<version>
- Mention the dotnet version which you want to use to run tests
This command performs the following functions:
-
Installs dotnet x64
Installs the required version of dotnet x64 at an appropriate path -
Sets alias
Sets an alias for thedotnet
installation location on confirmation (entery
option)
The command sets the installation path in your~/.zshrc
(zsh) or~/.bashrc
(bash) profile and you can use this alias to run your tests later. If you choose not to set the alias, when you run the tests, you have to use the entire path to the installation location on every test run.
Update your BrowserStack config file
Now that the BrowserStack SDK has been installed and the browserstack.yml
config file has been created, update your browserstack.yml
config file with the following parameters:
Set platforms to test on
Set the browsers and devices you want to test under the platforms
object. Our config follows W3C formatted capabilities.
Do you want to dynamically configure platforms?
To dynamically configure platforms across different tests, you can comment out the platforms
capability while still passing platform-specific capabilities.
Set number of parallel threads per platform
The parallelsPerPlatform
property determines the number of parallel threads to be executed. BrowserStack’s SDK runner will select the best strategy based on the configured value.
Example 1: If you have configured 3 platforms and set parallelsPerPlatform
as 2: a total of 6 (3 x 2) parallel threads will be used on BrowserStack.
Example 2: If you have configured 1 platform and set parallelsPerPlatform
as 15: a total of 15 (1 x 15) parallel threads will be used on BrowserStack.
Do you want to perform cross-browser testing without test level parallelization?
Remove the parallelsPerPlatform
capability from the configuration file.
Do you want to test parallelization without performing cross-browser testing?
Remove or comment out the platform
capability while keeping the parallelsPerPlatform
capability intact in the configuration file.
Do you want to skip cross-browser testing as well as parallelization?
Remove or comment out the platform
and parallelsPerPlatform
capabilities from the configuration file.
BrowserStack Reporting
You can leverage BrowserStack’s extensive reporting features using the following capabilities:
buildIdentifier | Description | Generated build name on 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
In order to re-run your build, you need to ensure that your build name matches an existing build so that your tests get merged into the previously run 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:
MacOS/Linux:
BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123” dotnet test --filter "Category=sample-test"
Windows Powershell:
$env:BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=“bstack-demo 123”; dotnet test --filter "Category=sample-test"
Windows cmd:
set BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME="bstack-demo 123" && dotnet test --filter "Category=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
Do you want to enable/disable auto-marking of test status and session?
The sessionName
and sessionStatus
are the names of your test sessions and status of your test sessions respectively. They are automatically picked from your test class/spec names and statuses. They do not need to be set manually when using the BrowserStack SDK. To override the sessionName
and sessionStatus
capabilities, use the following in your browserstack.yml file:
You can configure local testing to start without initializing the BrowserStack binary, or even with an existing binary using a local identifier
testContextOptions:
skipSessionName: true
skipSessionStatus: true
Use additional debugging features
BrowserStack offers session logs, screenshots of failed commands, and a video of the entire test, with additional options to enable.
Use Percy Visual Testing
Percy is an all-in-one visual testing and review platform enabling teams to automate visual tests, detect visual bugs, and provide valuable insights into UI changes.
percyCaptureMode
takes effect only if you set percy
to true
. If you set the capture mode to manual
, ensure you use the Percy Screenshot function in your test script.
Update browserstack.yml file with selected capabilities
Copy the code snippet and replace the contents of the browserstack.yml
file in the root folder of your test suite.
Use our Capability Generator to select from a comprehensive set of options you can use to customize your tests.
Run your test suite
Continue running your tests as you have been running previously. The command to run your tests using the BrowserStack SDK remains unchanged. For your reference, here’s a sample command:
Did not set the alias?
Use the absolute path to the dotnet installation to run your tests on Mac computers with Apple silicon chips as shown below:
</absolute/path/to/location/of/dotnet/>/dotnet test
To find out the location of the BrowserStack SDK log files, refer to BrowserStack SDK Log Files. If you are looking for more information, see FAQ documentation.
After you run your test, visit the Automate dashboard to view your test results.
Advanced features and use cases
Here’s a list of features and capabilities you may find useful.
Accept insecure certificates
The acceptInsecureCerts
capability suppresses browser popups warning about self-signed certificates usually found in staging environments.
Capability | Expected values |
---|---|
acceptInsecureCerts |
A boolean. Default is False .True if you want to accept all SSL certificates. |
Change desktop resolution
The resolution
capability changes the default desktop screen resolution for your tests on BrowserStack.
Capability | Description | Expected values |
---|---|---|
resolution |
Set the resolution of your VM before beginning your test | A string. Default resolution is 1024x768 Supported resolutions: Windows (XP, 7): 800x600 , 1024x768 , 1280x800 , 1280x1024 , 1366x768 , 1440x900 , 1680x1050 , 1600x1200 , 1920x1200 , 1920x1080 , and 2048x1536 Windows (8, 8.1, 10): 1024x768 , 1280x800 , 1280x1024 , 1366x768 , 1440x900 , 1680x1050 , 1600x1200 , 1920x1200 , 1920x1080 , and 2048x1536 OS X (Sequoia, Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, and High Sierra): 1024x768 , 1280x960 , 1280x1024 , 1600x1200 , 1920x1080 , 2560x1440 , 2560x1600 , and 3840x2160 OS X (All other versions): 1024x768 , 1280x960 , 1280x1024 , 1600x1200 , and 1920x1080
|
Simulate IP geolocation
The geoLocation
capability lets you test your websites across different countries.
Note that this capability is supported on the Enterprise plan only. You can contact sales to get an Enterprise plan for your account.
Capability | Description | Expected values |
---|---|---|
geoLocation |
Set the country code you want your test to detect | A string. An ISO 2 country code FR for France, CN for China Check out the complete list of 45+ countries we support. |
Simulate network conditions
The networkProfile
capability lets you test your websites under different network conditions.
Capability | Description | Expected values |
---|---|---|
networkProfile |
Set the network profile to start the test with | A string. 2g-gprs-good , 4g-lte-advanced-lossy Check out the complete list of all pre-defined network profiles. |
Others
Following are a few additional links to documentation pages that might help with your test scenarios:
Next steps
Once you have successfully integrated your test suite with BrowserStack, you might want to check the following:
- Generate a list of capabilities that you want to use in tests
- Find information about your Projects, Builds and Sessions using our REST APIs
- Set up your CI/CD: Jenkins, Bamboo, TeamCity, Azure, CircleCI, BitBucket, TravisCI, GitHub Actions
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We're sorry to hear that. Please share your feedback so we can do better
Contact our Support team for immediate help while we work on improving our docs.
We're continuously improving our docs. We'd love to know what you liked
Thank you for your valuable feedback!