Getting Started with Playwright for .NET

This guide provides a step-by-step introduction to setting up Playwright with .NET for browser automation and end-to-end testing.

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK installed on your machine
• Familiarity with .NET unit testing frameworks like NUnit or MSTest

---

Step 1: Create a New Project

First, create a new .NET test project using NUnit:

dotnet new nunit -n PlaywrightTests
cd PlaywrightTests

Step 2: Add Playwright Dependency

Choose your preferred test framework and add the corresponding Playwright package:

For NUnit:

dotnet add package Microsoft.Playwright.NUnit

For MSTest:

dotnet add package Microsoft.Playwright.MSTest

Step 3: Build the project

dotnet build

Step 4: Install Required Browsers and Update .NET Version

To install Playwright's required browsers, use the following PowerShell command:

powershell.exe -File bin\Debug\net8.0\playwright.ps1 install

If pwsh is not available, you have to install PowerShell.

Step 5: Write Your First Playwright Test

In your test project, add the following sample test to get started with Playwright:

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Microsoft.Playwright;
using Microsoft.Playwright.MSTest;

namespace PlaywrightTests;

[TestClass]
public class ExampleTest : PageTest
{
    [TestMethod]
    public async Task HasTitle()
    {
        await Page.GotoAsync("https://playwright.dev");

        // Expect a title to contain a substring.
        await Expect(Page).ToHaveTitleAsync(new Regex("Playwright"));
    }

    [TestMethod]
    public async Task GetStartedLink()
    {
        await Page.GotoAsync("https://playwright.dev");

        // Click the "Get started" link.
        await Page.GetByRole(AriaRole.Link, new() { Name = "Get started" }).ClickAsync();

        // Expect page to have a heading with the name "Installation."
        await Expect(Page.GetByRole(AriaRole.Heading, new() { Name = "Installation" })).ToBeVisibleAsync();
    } 
}

Step 6: Run the Test

Run your tests with the following command:

dotnet test

Step 7: Configure NUnit to Run Tests in Parallel

To enable parallel test execution in NUnit, create a .runsettings file in the root directory of your project and configure the settings as shown below:

Create a file named Chrome.runsettings.

Add the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RunSettings>
  <!-- NUnit adapter -->  
  <NUnit>
    <NumberOfTestWorkers>24</NumberOfTestWorkers>
  </NUnit>
  <!-- General run configuration -->
  <RunConfiguration>
    <EnvironmentVariables>
      <!-- For debugging selectors, it's recommend to set the following environment variable -->
      <DEBUG>pw:api</DEBUG>
    </EnvironmentVariables>
  </RunConfiguration>
  <!-- Playwright -->  
  <Playwright>
    <BrowserName>chromium</BrowserName>
    <ExpectTimeout>10000</ExpectTimeout>
    <LaunchOptions>
      <Headless>false</Headless>
      <Channel>msedge</Channel>
    </LaunchOptions>
  </Playwright>
</RunSettings>

When running tests, use the --settings option to specify the .runsettings file:

dotnet test --settings edge.runsettings

Step 8: Configure Extent Reporting for NUnit Tests

1. Add ExtentReports Package Install the ExtentReports package using the following command:

dotnet add package ExtentReports --version 5.0.4

2. Add ConfigurationManager Package Install the ConfigurationManager package to handle app settings:

dotnet add package System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager --version 9.0.0

3. Run Your Tests Execute the tests using the specified settings file:

dotnet test --settings edge.runsettings

4. Locate the HTML Report After the tests run, an HTML report will be generated in the bin\Debug\net8.0 folder. Open the report in a browser to view test results.

For more details on configuring and customizing ExtentReports, visit the Official Documentation

This guide should give you a solid start with Playwright and .NET. For further details, refer to the Playwright documentation.