Test-Data Management and the Builder Pattern

Required tools

• Node.js (20.x or 22.x LTS)
• Playwright (1.62.x)

Setup

1. Continue in the automation-framework project from Lesson 1's guided local lab (or recreate it if needed).
2. Confirm `npx playwright test` still passes before making changes.

Project structure

automation-framework/
  src/
    config/
      env.ts
    data/
      user-builder.ts
    fixtures/
      test-with-user.ts
  tests/
    smoke.spec.ts
    user-builder.spec.ts

Starter files

export interface TestUser {
  email: string;
  role: "learner" | "instructor";
  isActive: boolean;
}

let counter = 0;

export function buildUser(overrides: Partial<TestUser> = {}): TestUser {
  counter += 1;
  const defaults: TestUser = {
    email: `test-user-${Date.now()}-${counter}@example.test`,
    role: "learner",
    isActive: true,
  };
  return { ...defaults, ...overrides };
}

import { test as base } from "@playwright/test";
import { buildUser, TestUser } from "../data/user-builder";

export const test = base.extend<{ testUser: TestUser }>({
  testUser: async ({}, use) => {
    const user = buildUser();
    console.log(`[diagnostic] fixture created test user: ${user.email}`);
    await use(user);
    console.log(`[diagnostic] fixture teardown for: ${user.email}`);
  },
});
export { expect } from "@playwright/test";

import { test, expect } from "../src/fixtures/test-with-user";

test("the testUser fixture provides a valid, unique user for this test", async ({ testUser }) => {
  expect(testUser.email).toContain("@example.test");
  expect(testUser.role).toBe("learner");
});

test("a second test gets its own, different user (no collision)", async ({ testUser }) => {
  expect(testUser.email).toContain("@example.test");
});

Requirements

• buildUser() returns a fully valid TestUser with sensible defaults, and correctly applies any partial override passed to it.
• Two separate calls to buildUser() (or two separate test runs using the testUser fixture) never produce the exact same email.
• The testUser fixture logs a diagnostic message when it creates the user and another when it tears down, visible in the test runner's output.
• Both tests in tests/user-builder.spec.ts pass with npx playwright test.

Commands to run

• Run the new test file specifically, with output visible

  npx playwright test user-builder.spec.ts --reporter=list

• Run the full suite to confirm nothing else broke

  npx playwright test

Expected behavior

Both tests in user-builder.spec.ts pass. The console output includes a '[diagnostic] fixture created test user: ...' line before each test's body runs and a '[diagnostic] fixture teardown for: ...' line after -- confirming the fixture's setup/teardown lifecycle actually runs around each test, and that the two tests received two different generated email addresses.

Verify it yourself

• npx playwright test user-builder.spec.ts --reporter=list

  Expected: 2 passed

• npx playwright test user-builder.spec.ts --reporter=list 2>&1 | grep diagnostic

  Expected: shows a created and a teardown diagnostic line for each of the two tests, with two different email addresses

Troubleshooting

• Both tests appear to get the same email address — Confirm the counter variable in user-builder.ts is actually incrementing, and that Date.now() plus the counter are both included in the generated email -- two calls in the same millisecond still need the counter to differ.
• The diagnostic teardown line never appears — Confirm `await use(user)` is called before the teardown console.log -- code after use() in a Playwright fixture runs during teardown, but only if use() is actually awaited.
• TypeScript error about TestUser not being exported — Confirm `export interface TestUser` is present in user-builder.ts and correctly imported in test-with-user.ts.

Extension challenge

Add a second fixture, adminUser, that calls buildUser({ role: 'instructor' }), and add a test that uses BOTH testUser and adminUser in the same test, confirming they receive two independently unique users.