HCLTech Playwright Testing Interview Questions & Answers

Fetch tokens in a fixture with expiry tracking and refresh it when it is about to expire, keeping tests unaware of the details.

var is function-scoped and hoisted. let and const are block-scoped; const can't be reassigned (though an object it points to can change). Prefer const, then let.

Wait for the popup event with const [popup] = await Promise.all([page.waitForEvent('popup'), page.click('a')]), then interact with popup.

Click to open the control, then use getByRole('option') or a text locator for the target item, instead of relying on fragile index-based selectors.

Before acting, Playwright waits for the element to be attached, visible, stable, enabled and able to receive events — so manual waits are rarely needed.

const [download] = await Promise.all([ page.waitForEvent('download'), page.getByText('Export').click(), ]); await download.saveAs('reports/file.csv');

Use page.frameLocator('#frame').getByRole(...) so actions work inside the iframe with auto-waiting.

await expect(page).toHaveScreenshot('home.png') compares against a baseline image; tune maxDiffPixels and mask dynamic areas like dates.

Log in with request.post, call request.storageState(), and create a browser context using that state.

page.route('**/api/items', route => route.fulfill({ json: [...] })) intercepts and replies with test data; route.abort() simulates failures.

Use timeout and expect.timeout in config, test.setTimeout() for one test and test.slow() for known slower tests.

Create test data through API calls, verify it in the UI and clean up via API, which makes UI tests faster and more reliable.

Scripts that run once before or after the whole run, for seeding data, starting services or creating authentication state.

User-facing ones: getByRole, getByText, getByLabel, getByPlaceholder and getByTestId, which are more resilient than CSS or XPath.

Use npx playwright test --shard=1/4 in each CI job and merge reports afterwards to reduce total run time.

The object behind the request fixture that holds base URL, headers and cookies, and can share cookies with a browser context.

Register page.on('dialog', d => d.accept()) before the action triggers the dialog.

test.step groups actions into named steps in reports; annotations such as test.skip, test.fixme and test.slow communicate intent and adjust behaviour.

Install the allure-playwright reporter, add it in the config reporters array and generate the report from the allure-results folder in CI.

It records screenshots, DOM snapshots, network calls and actions per step so you can replay a failed run and see exactly what happened.

await page.route('**/api/users', route => route.fulfill({ status: 200, json: [{ id: 1, name: 'Test' }] }) );

A browser is the engine instance; a context is an isolated session (cookies, storage); a page is a tab inside a context.

const [newPage] = await Promise.all([ context.waitForEvent('page'), page.getByText('Open').click(), ]); await newPage.waitForLoadState();

beforeEach runs the same code before every test in scope; fixtures are lazy, composable and only set up what a test uses.

Use the official Playwright image which contains browsers and dependencies, mount the project and run npx playwright test for consistent CI environments.

Use the request fixture: const res = await request.get('/api/users'); expect(res.ok()).toBeTruthy(); const body = await res.json();

locator.hover() and locator.dragTo(target) perform these actions, with auto-waiting for actionability.

Fixtures set up and tear down test dependencies. Extend with test.extend({ loggedInPage: async ({ page }, use) => { ...; await use(page); } }).

npx playwright codegen records user actions and generates test code with suggested locators, handy for starting tests.

Run in parallel with sharding, reuse authentication state, set up data through APIs, avoid unnecessary waits, run smoke on every commit and the full suite nightly.

Synchronous code runs line by line and blocks; asynchronous code starts a task and continues, handling the result later with promises or await.

Send invalid payloads or missing auth and assert 400, 401 or 404 codes and the error message bodies.

API testing checks services directly and is fast and stable; UI testing checks the full user experience in the browser and is slower.

Files run in parallel by default; set workers in the config and use test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' }) for tests inside a file.

Read the next page link or IDs from earlier responses, loop until done and assert counts and uniqueness; pass IDs between calls in the same test.

Separate tests, page objects, fixtures, utilities, test data and config; use tags, projects, shared auth setup, linting, code review and a CI pipeline with sharding and reports.

all waits for every promise and rejects on the first failure; allSettled waits for all and reports each outcome; race settles with the first one to finish.

Use a library such as zod or ajv to define the expected schema and parse the response to fail on missing or wrongly typed fields.

Playwright locators pierce open shadow roots by default, so getByRole and CSS locators work without special handling.

Use page.waitForResponse(res => res.url().includes('/api/orders') && res.ok()) together with the action that triggers it.

Record timestamps around the request or use response timing, then assert the duration is under an agreed threshold.

Auto-waiting, a built-in test runner, Chromium/Firefox/WebKit with one API, network interception, the trace viewer and parallel runs out of the box — usually faster and less flaky.

Playwright supports multiple browsers, tabs, languages and has auto-waiting and tracing; Selenium has the widest ecosystem; Cypress runs in-browser with a great UI but has more limits across tabs.

Add tags in the title (@smoke) or use the tag option, and run with --grep @smoke or --grep-invert.

Define projects for chromium, firefox and webkit in playwright.config.ts, set workers, then run: npx playwright test

Tag tests (in the title or with { tag: '@smoke' }) and run: npx playwright test --grep @smoke (use --grep-invert to exclude).

Both describe the shape of data. Interfaces are extendable and suit object contracts; type aliases can also model unions and primitives.

A short function syntax that does not have its own this and arguments, taking them from the surrounding scope.

Add retries with backoff for the API step, set a suitable timeout, and use mocks for non-critical dependencies.

Set them in the context options (geolocation, permissions, timezoneId, locale) to simulate users from other regions.

test('login', async ({ page }) => { await page.goto('/login'); await page.getByLabel('Email').fill('a@b.com'); await page.getByLabel('Password').fill('secret'); await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Login' }).click(); await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Dashboard' })).toBeVisible(); });

Use device descriptors such as devices['iPhone 13'] in a project config to emulate viewport, user agent and touch.

Workflow: checkout → setup-node → npm ci → npx playwright install --with-deps → npx playwright test → upload playwright-report as an artifact.

Turn on trace: 'on-first-retry', open the trace viewer, check network and timing, replace hard waits with web-first assertions, isolate test data and check for sharding conflicts.

Set extraHTTPHeaders in the config or pass headers per request, for example Authorization: Bearer token fetched in a setup step.

Define an interface for the payload, cast or validate the parsed JSON to it (for example with zod), and use that type in assertions to catch shape changes.

Set retries in the config or CLI and failed tests re-run in a fresh context, with trace recorded on first retry to diagnose flakiness.

Log in once in a setup project, save storageState to a file and reuse it in other projects or tests.

npm is the Node package manager. package.json lists the project's dependencies and scripts, such as the command that runs the tests.

In a fixture or beforeEach, call the API (request.post) to create the user or order, use it in the UI test, then delete it in teardown. It is faster and more reliable than creating data through the UI.

List, dot, line, HTML, JSON and JUnit reporters, plus integrations such as Allure, configurable per environment.

click simulates a real user click with actionability checks; dispatchEvent fires a DOM event directly without those checks.

setInputFiles on the input for uploads; for downloads wait on page.waitForEvent('download') and save or inspect the file.

Use request.post with multipart: { file: { name, mimeType, buffer } } and assert the response and stored file details.