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window

Get the window object of the page that is currently active.

Syntax​

cy.window()
cy.window(options)

Usage​

Correct Usage

cy.window()

Arguments​

options (Object)

Pass in an options object to change the default behavior of cy.window().

OptionDefaultDescription
logtrueDisplays the command in the Command log
timeoutdefaultCommandTimeoutTime to wait for cy.window() to resolve before timing out

Yields ​

  • `cy.window()` 'yields the `window` object'

Examples​

No Args​

Yield the remote window object​

cy.visit('http://localhost:8080/app')
cy.window().then((win) => {
  // win is the remote window
})

Check a custom property​

If the application sets a custom property, like:

window.tags = {
  foo: 'bar',
}

Our test can confirm the property was properly set.

cy.window().its('tags.foo').should('equal', 'bar')

Note: Cypress commands are asynchronous, so you cannot check a property value before the Cypress commands ran.

it('equals bar', () => {
  let foo

  cy.window().then((win) => {
    foo = win.tags.foo
  })

  // variable "foo" is still undefined
  // because the above "then" callback
  // has not been executed yet
  expect(foo).to.equal('bar') // test fails
})

Instead, use cy.then() callback to check the value.

it('equals bar', () => {
  let foo

  cy.window()
    .then((win) => {
      foo = win.tags.foo
    })
    .then(() => {
      // variable "foo" has been set
      expect(foo).to.equal('bar') // test passes
    })
})

Start tests when app is ready​

If an application takes a while to start, it might "signal" its readiness by setting a property that Cypress can wait for.

// app.js
// only set property "appReady" if Cypress is running tests
if (window.Cypress) {
  window.appReady = true
}

The Cypress App can wait for the property window.appReady to be true before every test

// spec.cy.js
beforeEach(() => {
  cy.visit('/')
  cy.window().should('have.property', 'appReady', true)
})
info
When Can The Test Start?

This blog post explains how to use cy.window() to spy on the DOM prototype to detect when the application starts adding event listeners to the DOM elements. When this happens for the first time, the Cypress App knows that the application under test has started and the tests can begin.

See Set flag to start tests for more examples.

Options​

Passes timeout through to .should() assertion​

cy.window({ timeout: 10000 }).should('have.property', 'foo')

Notes​

Cypress uses 2 different windows.​

Let's say you want to check the type of the events. You might write code like below:

it('test', (done) => {
  cy.get('#test-input').then((jQueryElement) => {
    let elemHtml = jQueryElement.get(0)

    elemHtml.addEventListener('keydown', (event) => {
      expect(event instanceof KeyboardEvent).to.be.true
      done()
    })
  })

  cy.get('#test-input').type('A')
})

It fails. But the interesting thing is that the type of event is KeyboardEvent when you console.log(event).

It's because the Cypress App uses an iframe to load the application under test. In other words, the KeyboardEvent used in the the code above and the KeyboardEvent class from which the event variable is constructed are different KeyboardEvents.

That's why the test should be written like this.

it('should trigger KeyboardEvent with .type inside Cypress event listener', (done) => {
  cy.window().then((win) => {
    cy.get('#test-input').then((jQueryElement) => {
      let elemHtml = jQueryElement.get(0)

      elemHtml.addEventListener('keydown', (event) => {
        expect(event instanceof win['KeyboardEvent']).to.be.true
        done()
      })
    })
  })

  cy.get('#test-input').type('A')
})

Rules​

Requirements ​

  • `cy.window()` requires being chained off of `cy`.

Assertions ​

  • `cy.window()` will automatically [retry](/guides/core-concepts/retry-ability) until all chained assertions have passed

Timeouts ​

  • `cy.window()` can time out waiting for assertions you've added to pass.

Command Log​

Get the window

cy.window()

The commands above will display in the Command Log as:

Command Log window

When clicking on window within the command log, the console outputs the following:

Console Log window

History​

VersionChanges
0.20.0Can call .focus() and .blur() on cy.window()
0.11.6cy.window() logs to Command Log

See also​