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# Recurse (Polling) Utility
## Principle
Use Cypress-style polling with Playwright's `expect.poll` to wait for asynchronous conditions. Provides configurable timeout, interval, logging, and post-polling callbacks with enhanced error categorization.
## Rationale
Testing async operations (background jobs, eventual consistency, webhook processing) requires polling:
- Vanilla `expect.poll` is verbose
- No built-in logging for debugging
- Generic timeout errors
- No post-poll hooks
The `recurse` utility provides:
- **Clean syntax**: Inspired by cypress-recurse
- **Enhanced errors**: Timeout vs command failure vs predicate errors
- **Built-in logging**: Track polling progress
- **Post-poll callbacks**: Process results after success
- **Type-safe**: Full TypeScript generic support
## Pattern Examples
### Example 1: Basic Polling
**Context**: Wait for async operation to complete with custom timeout and interval.
**Implementation**:
```typescript
import { test } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/recurse/fixtures';
test('should wait for job completion', async ({ recurse, apiRequest }) => {
// Start job
const { body } = await apiRequest({
method: 'POST',
path: '/api/jobs',
body: { type: 'export' },
});
// Poll until ready
const result = await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: `/api/jobs/${body.id}` }),
(response) => response.body.status === 'completed',
{
timeout: 60000, // 60 seconds max
interval: 2000, // Check every 2 seconds
log: 'Waiting for export job to complete',
},
);
expect(result.body.downloadUrl).toBeDefined();
});
```
**Key Points**:
- First arg: command function (what to execute)
- Second arg: predicate function (when to stop)
- Options: timeout, interval, log message
- Returns the value when predicate returns true
### Example 2: Polling with Assertions
**Context**: Use assertions directly in predicate for more expressive tests.
**Implementation**:
```typescript
test('should poll with assertions', async ({ recurse, apiRequest }) => {
await apiRequest({
method: 'POST',
path: '/api/events',
body: { type: 'user-created', userId: '123' },
});
// Poll with assertions in predicate
await recurse(
async () => {
const { body } = await apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/api/events/123' });
return body;
},
(event) => {
// Use assertions instead of boolean returns
expect(event.processed).toBe(true);
expect(event.timestamp).toBeDefined();
// If assertions pass, predicate succeeds
},
{ timeout: 30000 },
);
});
```
**Key Points**:
- Predicate can use `expect()` assertions
- If assertions throw, polling continues
- If assertions pass, polling succeeds
- More expressive than boolean returns
### Example 3: Custom Error Messages
**Context**: Provide context-specific error messages for timeout failures.
**Implementation**:
```typescript
test('custom error on timeout', async ({ recurse, apiRequest }) => {
try {
await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/api/status' }),
(res) => res.body.ready === true,
{
timeout: 10000,
error: 'System failed to become ready within 10 seconds - check background workers',
},
);
} catch (error) {
// Error message includes custom context
expect(error.message).toContain('check background workers');
throw error;
}
});
```
**Key Points**:
- `error` option provides custom message
- Replaces default "Timed out after X ms"
- Include debugging hints in error message
- Helps diagnose failures faster
### Example 4: Post-Polling Callback
**Context**: Process or log results after successful polling.
**Implementation**:
```typescript
test('post-poll processing', async ({ recurse, apiRequest }) => {
const finalResult = await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/api/batch-job/123' }),
(res) => res.body.status === 'completed',
{
timeout: 60000,
post: (result) => {
// Runs after successful polling
console.log(`Job completed in ${result.body.duration}ms`);
console.log(`Processed ${result.body.itemsProcessed} items`);
return result.body;
},
},
);
expect(finalResult.itemsProcessed).toBeGreaterThan(0);
});
```
**Key Points**:
- `post` callback runs after predicate succeeds
- Receives the final result
- Can transform or log results
- Return value becomes final `recurse` result
### Example 5: Integration with API Request (Common Pattern)
**Context**: Most common use case - polling API endpoints for state changes.
**Implementation**:
```typescript
import { test } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/fixtures';
test('end-to-end polling', async ({ apiRequest, recurse }) => {
// Trigger async operation
const { body: createResp } = await apiRequest({
method: 'POST',
path: '/api/data-import',
body: { source: 's3://bucket/data.csv' },
});
// Poll until import completes
const importResult = await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: `/api/data-import/${createResp.importId}` }),
(response) => {
const { status, rowsImported } = response.body;
return status === 'completed' && rowsImported > 0;
},
{
timeout: 120000, // 2 minutes for large imports
interval: 5000, // Check every 5 seconds
log: `Polling import ${createResp.importId}`,
},
);
expect(importResult.body.rowsImported).toBeGreaterThan(1000);
expect(importResult.body.errors).toHaveLength(0);
});
```
**Key Points**:
- Combine `apiRequest` + `recurse` for API polling
- Both from `@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/fixtures`
- Complex predicates with multiple conditions
- Logging shows polling progress in test reports
## Enhanced Error Types
The utility categorizes errors for easier debugging:
```typescript
// TimeoutError - Predicate never returned true
Error: Polling timed out after 30000ms: Job never completed
// CommandError - Command function threw
Error: Command failed: Request failed with status 500
// PredicateError - Predicate function threw (not from assertions)
Error: Predicate failed: Cannot read property 'status' of undefined
```
## Comparison with Vanilla Playwright
| Vanilla Playwright | recurse Utility |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `await expect.poll(() => { ... }, { timeout: 30000 }).toBe(true)` | `await recurse(() => { ... }, (val) => val === true, { timeout: 30000 })` |
| No logging | Built-in log option |
| Generic timeout errors | Categorized errors (timeout/command/predicate) |
| No post-poll hooks | `post` callback support |
## When to Use
**Use recurse for:**
- ✅ Background job completion
- ✅ Webhook/event processing
- ✅ Database eventual consistency
- ✅ Cache propagation
- ✅ State machine transitions
**Stick with vanilla expect.poll for:**
- Simple UI element visibility (use `expect(locator).toBeVisible()`)
- Single-property checks
- Cases where logging isn't needed
## Related Fragments
- `api-request.md` - Combine for API endpoint polling
- `overview.md` - Fixture composition patterns
- `fixtures-composition.md` - Using with mergeTests
## Anti-Patterns
**❌ Using hard waits instead of polling:**
```typescript
await page.click('#export');
await page.waitForTimeout(5000); // Arbitrary wait
expect(await page.textContent('#status')).toBe('Ready');
```
**✅ Poll for actual condition:**
```typescript
await page.click('#export');
await recurse(
() => page.textContent('#status'),
(status) => status === 'Ready',
{ timeout: 10000 },
);
```
**❌ Polling too frequently:**
```typescript
await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/status' }),
(res) => res.body.ready,
{ interval: 100 }, // Hammers API every 100ms!
);
```
**✅ Reasonable interval for API calls:**
```typescript
await recurse(
() => apiRequest({ method: 'GET', path: '/status' }),
(res) => res.body.ready,
{ interval: 2000 }, // Check every 2 seconds (reasonable)
);
```