PayPal Playwright Testing Interview Questions & Answers

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

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

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

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

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

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.

POST the query and variables as JSON to the single endpoint and assert both data and errors fields in the response.

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

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

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

await expect.soft(locator).toHaveText('...') records the failure but lets the test continue, so you see every mismatch in one run.

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.

An object describing how to find an element, re-evaluated on every action so it always targets the current DOM.

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

page.screenshot() for captures and config options use: { screenshot: 'only-on-failure', video: 'retain-on-failure' } for automatic evidence.

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

map transforms each item, filter keeps items that match a condition, and reduce combines all items into a single value.

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

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

Both describe object shapes. Interfaces can be extended and merged; type aliases can also describe unions and primitives. Use interfaces for page or test-data shapes, types for unions.

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.

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

string, number, boolean, null, undefined, symbol, bigint and object (including arrays and functions).

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.

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

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

npx playwright test tests/login.spec.ts, add -g "test title" to match a name, or use test.only while debugging.

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

A type alias describes a shape or union of values; an enum creates a named set of constants that exists at runtime.

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

A Locator is lazy, re-resolved on every action and auto-waits (recommended). An ElementHandle points to one DOM node and can go stale.

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

Use --debug or the Inspector, page.pause(), UI mode, the trace viewer and headed runs with slowMo.

undefined means a variable has not been assigned; null is an intentional empty value.

Cover happy path, validation errors, auth and permissions, boundary values, idempotency, schema, performance and data cleanup.

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

Use environment variables or .env files, a baseURL in config, API calls for setup and cleanup, and unique data per run.

Use dotenv files per environment, read them in playwright.config and set baseURL and credentials from variables, selecting with an ENV flag.

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

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.

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

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

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

A function that remembers variables from its outer scope even after that scope has finished. They are used for private state and factory helpers.

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

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

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

Functions that take other functions as arguments or return them, such as map, filter and reduce, or a helper that wraps retry logic around a test step.

Reusable setup/teardown units injected into tests (page, context, request). You can extend test with custom fixtures such as loggedInPage.

An open-source end-to-end testing framework from Microsoft that automates Chromium, Firefox and WebKit through one API, in multiple languages.

Log in once in global setup, save storageState to a JSON file and set use.storageState in the config so every test starts logged in.

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.

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

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.

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

waitForSelector is a lower-level wait; locator assertions are preferred as they retry and are more readable.

Declarations of var and functions are moved to the top of their scope at compile time; let and const are hoisted but stay in the temporal dead zone until declared.

Capture the download event, save it with download.saveAs, then read the file in Node and assert on name, size or content.

Use try-catch with await, or .catch() on promises, and make sure rejected promises are never left unhandled.

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

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.

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

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

TypeScript + POM + custom fixtures, environment configs, API helpers for test data, tags like @smoke, sharding across CI machines, retries with traces, HTML/Allure reports, lint and review rules.

Destructuring pulls values from arrays or objects into variables; spread expands an array or object into another, useful for copying and merging config.

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

Syntax over Promises: an async function returns a Promise and await pauses until it resolves. Every Playwright action returns a Promise, so you await each step.

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

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

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

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.

Rely on auto-waiting plus a web-first assertion on the final state, disable animations in config for tests and avoid fixed timeouts.

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

obj?.a?.b safely reads nested properties and returns undefined instead of throwing if something in the chain is missing.

Use page.route to intercept the call and fulfil it with fixed JSON so tests do not depend on external systems.