Asserting response bodies in Cypress - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ assertion

intermediate

Correct assertion for JSON response property

You have a Cypress test that sends a GET request to '/api/user'. The response body is expected to have a property 'name' with value 'Alice'. Which assertion correctly verifies this?

Cypress

cy.request('/api/user').then((response) => {
  // Insert assertion here
})

A expect(response.body.name).to.equal('Alice')

B expect(response.body.name).to.be.undefined

C expect(response.body).to.have.property('name', 'Bob')

D expect(response.status).to.equal(404)

💡 Hint

Check the property name and expected value carefully.

Option A correctly asserts that the 'name' property in the response body equals 'Alice'. Option A checks for 'Bob', which is incorrect. Option A expects the property to be undefined, which is wrong. Option A checks the status code, not the body property.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of response body assertion with nested object

What will be the result of this Cypress test snippet?

Cypress

cy.request('/api/product').then((response) => {
  expect(response.body.product.id).to.equal(123);
  expect(response.body.product.available).to.be.true;
})

A Test throws a TypeError if product property is missing

B Test fails if product id is 123 but available is false

C Test passes if product id is 123 and available is true

D Test passes regardless of response body content

💡 Hint

Consider what happens if the assertions match the response body.

The test passes only if both assertions are true: product id equals 123 and available is true. If either fails, the test fails. If product is missing, a TypeError would occur but that is not the expected normal case.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Identify the error in response body assertion

This Cypress test fails with an error. What is the cause?

Cypress

cy.request('/api/data').then((response) => {
  expect(response.body.data).to.have.length(5)
  expect(response.body.data[0]).to.equal('item1')
})

A response.body.data is not an array, so .length causes error

B Missing semicolon after first expect causes syntax error

C Using .equal instead of .deep.equal causes failure

D The URL '/api/data' is incorrect causing 404 error

💡 Hint

Check the type of response.body.data before using .length

If response.body.data is not an array, accessing .length or indexing with [0] will cause an error. The semicolon is optional in JavaScript. .equal works for string comparison. The URL correctness is not indicated by the error.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Best practice for asserting partial response body

You want to check that the response body contains a property 'status' with value 'success', but the body has many other properties you don't want to assert. Which is the best Cypress assertion?

A expect(response.body).to.deep.equal({status: 'success'})

B expect(response.body).to.include({status: 'success'})

C expect(response.body).to.have.length(1)

D expect(response.body.status).to.equal('success')

💡 Hint

Think about checking only one property without affecting others.

Option D directly asserts the 'status' property value without requiring the whole object to match. Option D requires exact match of the entire body, which is too strict. Option D is invalid because .include is not a valid Chai assertion for objects in this way. Option D checks length which is irrelevant.

❓ framework

expert

Handling asynchronous response body assertions in Cypress

You want to assert that a POST request to '/api/login' returns a JSON body with a token property. Which Cypress code snippet correctly waits and asserts the token exists?

A

cy.request('POST', '/api/login', {user: 'test'}).wait(1000).then((response) => {
  expect(response.body.token).to.exist
})

B

cy.request('POST', '/api/login', {user: 'test'}).then((response) => {
  expect(response.body.token).to.exist
})

C

cy.request('POST', '/api/login', {user: 'test'}).should((response) => {
  expect(response.body.token).to.exist
})

D

cy.request('POST', '/api/login', {user: 'test'}).then(() => {
  expect(response.body.token).to.exist
})

💡 Hint

Remember how Cypress handles promises and response objects.

Option B correctly uses .then() to access the response and assert the token property. Option B uses .should() which is not designed for cy.request responses. Option B adds unnecessary wait which is not needed. Option B tries to access response.body without receiving the response parameter, causing an error.