Core Concepts

Understanding the key concepts of Playwright Smart Table.

SmartRow

A SmartRow is a Playwright Locator enhanced with column-aware methods.

const row = await table.findRow({ Name: 'John Doe' });

// Column-aware access
const email = row.getCell('Email');

// Still a Locator - all Playwright methods work
await expect(row).toBeVisible();
await row.click();

Learn more: SmartRow API

Strategies

Strategies define how the library interacts with different table implementations.

import { Strategies } from '@rickcedwhat/playwright-smart-table';

const table = useTable(page.locator('#table'), {
  strategies: {
    pagination: Strategies.Pagination.click({ next: '.next-btn' }),
    sorting: Strategies.Sorting.AriaSort(),
    fill: Strategies.Fill.ClickAndType()
  }
});

Learn more: Strategies API

Auto-Initialization

Most methods auto-initialize the table:

// No need to call init() for async methods
const row = await table.findRow({ Name: 'John' }); // Auto-initializes
const rows = await table.getRows(); // Auto-initializes

// Only needed for sync methods
await table.init();
const row = table.getRowByIndex(0); // Requires init()

Type Safety

Define your table structure for full TypeScript support:

type Employee = {
  Name: string;
  Email: string;
  Department: string;
  Salary: string;
};

const table = useTable<Employee>(page.locator('#table'));

// TypeScript knows the columns
const row = await table.findRow({ 
  Name: 'John',
  InvalidColumn: 'x' // ❌ TypeScript error
});

Parallel Execution

Playwright Smart Table is fully compatible with Playwright's parallel execution.

• Stateless: SmartRow and TableResult objects are stateless wrappers around Playwright Locators.
• Safe: No global state is shared between tests or workers.
• Independent: Each useTable call creates a fresh instance scoped to the specific page object.

You can safely run tests in parallel using fullyParallel: true in your Playwright config.

Next Steps

• Configuration - Customize table behavior
• API Reference - Complete method documentation
• Examples - Real-world usage patterns