How to wait for the api call to finish and then check if element present using cypress? - cypress

Question

i am new to cypress and i am trying to check if the element exists on a page once the api call is finished.
i do a http post to url 'things/thing1' and once this api finishes i want to check if span element is present on page.
i have tried something like below.
const setUp = () => {
cy.apiPatchSomethings(something1)
.then(() => {
cy.reload();
});
}
describe('Suite name', () => {
before(() => {
setUp();
});
it('test case', () => {
cy.contains('span');
}
});
the above code doesnt work. even before span element is seen on page it checks for span element.
if i use cy.wait(10000) like below it works
it('test case', () => {
cy.wait(10000);
cy.contains('span');
});
but i dont want to use cy.wait. is there some other way to solve this. could someone help me with this. thanks.

Answer 1

Cypress command cy.contains() when called with a single argument is looking for content,
Syntax
cy.contains(content)
cy.contains(content, options)
cy.contains(selector, content)
cy.contains(selector, content, options)
but I'm guessing you are looking for a span element, so use
cy.get('span')
or
cy.contains('span', 'my-content-in-span')
Assuming that's not the problem, just some arbitrary sample code...
Your can modify the setup function to return a promise, in order to wait for the reload.
const setUp = () => {
return cy.apiPatchSomethings(something1) // need a return here
.then(() => {
return new Cypress.Promise(resolve => { // inner return also
cy.reload()
resolve(true) // resolve will signal reload is finished
})
});
}
Because setup() is invoked inside before() Cypress will wait for the promise to resolve before proceeding.
Please don't add extra waits or timeouts, which is too often suggested. This will only lead to flaky tests.
Note if you don't mind ditching the setup() function, it becomes a lot simpler
describe('Suite name', () => {
before(() => {
cy.apiPatchSomethings(something1)
.then(() => cy.reload() ); // all commands here will be completed
// before the tests start
});
it('test case', () => {
cy.contains('span', 'my-content-in-span');
}
});

Answer 2

1.You can wait for span to be visible. The default timeout that cypress provides is 4 seconds.
cy.contains('span').should('be.visible')
2.If you want to give a custom timeout(eg. 10 sec) specific to this command, you can use:
cy.contains('span', { timeout: 10000 }).should('be.visible')
3.If you want to increase the timeout globally you mention this in your cypress.json file:
"defaultCommandTimeout": 10000
and, then just use:
cy.contains('span').should('be.visible')
Now, all your commands will have a default timeout for 10 seconds.