Using ES6 async/await

Overview

Starting with Nightwatch version 1.1, you can write tests as an ES6 async function.

The async function enables the API commands to return a promise and makes it possible to use the await operator to retrieve the result, instead of the callback, as it is by default.

Use of async function greatly improves the readability and ease of writing of tests. Starting Nightwatch version 1.7, chaining the API commands when using an async function is also supported.

Example

tests/exampleTest.js 
module.exports = {
  'demo test async': async function (browser) {
    // get the available window handles
    const result = await browser.windowHandles();
    console.log('result', result);
    

    // switch to the second window
    // await is not necessary here since we're not interested in the result
    browser.switchWindow(result.value[1]);
  }
};

Using Callbacks with async

Callbacks can still be used as before and if the callback returns a Promise, the result of the promise is the result of the command as shown in the following exammple code:

tests/exampleTest.js 
module.exports = {
  'demo test async': async function (browser) {
    // get the available window handles
    const value = await browser.windowHandles(function(result) {
      // we only want the value, not the entire result object
      return Promise.resolve(result.value);
    });
    

    console.log('value', value);
    

    // switch to the second window
    browser.switchWindow(value[1]);
  }
};

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