Orchard Core Feature Testing

This skill guides you through testing a site built on Orchard Core (its web project plus your modules and themes) using browser automation with playwright-cli.

Prerequisites

• An Orchard Core web (startup) project, for example one created with dotnet new occms. Below it is $webProject (PowerShell) or $WEB_PROJECT (bash), such as src/MySite.Web. Inside the Orchard Core repository itself it is src/OrchardCore.Cms.Web.
• .NET SDK matching the project's target framework. Add -f <tfm> to dotnet build/dotnet run only when the project targets several frameworks.
• The playwright-cli skill. If the CLI is missing, install it with npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest (this installs the latest global version; the commands below remain valid).
• A browser engine for playwright-cli. Without Chrome (for example on macOS) install webkit and pass --browser webkit on the first open of a session; see references/playwright-cli.md.

Core Workflow

1. Build the web project
2. Run it in the background on a session port
3. Set up a test site (Auto Setup is the recommended unattended path)
4. Test the feature in the browser
5. Verify results and clean up

Fastest Reliable Path (bash)

WEB_PROJECT=src/MySite.Web

# 1. Build.
dotnet build "$WEB_PROJECT" -c Debug

# 2. Fresh state and a session port.
rm -rf "$WEB_PROJECT/App_Data"
PORT=$(( (RANDOM % 1000) + 5000 )); echo -n $PORT > .orchardcore-port

# 3. Run with Auto Setup (provisions the Default tenant on the first request).
#    Values are bare: quotes would become part of the value.
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__AutoSetupPath= \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__ShellName=Default \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__SiteName=TestSite \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__SiteTimeZone=America/Los_Angeles \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__AdminUsername=admin \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__AdminEmail=admin@test.com \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__AdminPassword=Password1! \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__DatabaseProvider=Sqlite \
OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__RecipeName=Blog \
dotnet run --project "$WEB_PROJECT" --no-build --urls "http://localhost:$PORT" > autosetup-console.log 2>&1 &

# 4. Trigger and confirm.
curl -s -o /dev/null "http://localhost:$PORT/"
grep -m1 "successfully provisioned" autosetup-console.log

This requires Auto Setup to be registered in the web project (see Step 3). Then log in as described in Step 4; the login password field needs the native-setter workaround.

Step 1: Build

$webProject = "src/MySite.Web"
dotnet build $webProject -c Debug

Step 2: Run Application (Background)

Several agents may run the site from different worktrees at the same time, so use a random port and run in the background.

Get or Create Session Port

# Check for existing port file, or generate random port (5000-5999)
$portFile = ".orchardcore-port"
if (Test-Path $portFile) {
    $port = Get-Content $portFile
} else {
    $port = Get-Random -Minimum 5000 -Maximum 6000
    $port | Out-File $portFile -NoNewline
}
Write-Host "Using port: $port"

Start Application in Background

# Start the site in a background process
$proc = Start-Process dotnet `
    -ArgumentList "run","--no-build","--urls","http://localhost:$port" `
    -WorkingDirectory $webProject `
    -PassThru -NoNewWindow

# Save PID for later cleanup
$proc.Id | Out-File ".orchardcore-pid" -NoNewline
Write-Host "Started Orchard Core (PID: $($proc.Id)) on http://localhost:$port"

Wait for Application Ready

# Poll until app responds (max 60 seconds)
$port = Get-Content ".orchardcore-port"
$timeout = 60; $elapsed = 0
while ($elapsed -lt $timeout) {
    try {
        $response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:$port" -UseBasicParsing -TimeoutSec 2
        Write-Host "Application ready at http://localhost:$port"
        break
    } catch {
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
        $elapsed += 2
    }
}

Stop Application

# Stop the background process
if (Test-Path ".orchardcore-pid") {
    $pid = Get-Content ".orchardcore-pid"
    Stop-Process -Id $pid -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    Remove-Item ".orchardcore-pid" -Force
    Write-Host "Stopped Orchard Core (PID: $pid)"
}

# bash: backgrounding dotnet makes $! unreliable, so resolve the process by port.
PORT=$(cat .orchardcore-port)
PID=$(lsof -ti tcp:$PORT -sTCP:LISTEN | head -1)
[ -n "$PID" ] && kill "$PID" && echo "Stopped Orchard Core (PID: $PID)"
rm -f .orchardcore-pid

Step 3: Setup Test Site

A fresh App_Data is uninitialized, so the site shows the setup wizard. Reset it to start over:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$webProject/App_Data"

Option A: Auto Setup (recommended, unattended)

Auto Setup provisions tenants from the OrchardCore:AutoSetup configuration section on their first request, with no browser and no wizard. The module ships in OrchardCore.Application.Cms.Targets, but project templates do not register it; add it to the web project's Program.cs (the Orchard Core repository's OrchardCore.Cms.Web already does):

builder.Services
    .AddOrchardCms()
    .AddSetupFeatures("OrchardCore.AutoSetup");

Then pass the settings as environment variables (see the bash path above), user secrets, or a launch profile. Key rules, detailed in references/autosetup.md:

• The prefix is OrchardCore__AutoSetup__Tenants__0__<Option>; __ separates configuration levels. The deprecated OrchardCore__OrchardCore_AutoSetup__ prefix still works.
• Do not quote values in the bash inline form; the quotes become part of the password or email.
• SiteTimeZone is required, and the first tenant must be Default.

Success is logged as The AutoSetup successfully provisioned the site 'TestSite'. Keep this configuration out of production; see orchardcore-auto-setup for all options.

Option B: Interactive setup wizard

Run the site without Auto Setup settings and drive the wizard. Site Name, User Name and Email fill normally, the recipe is a dropdown button backed by a hidden RecipeName input, and the password fields need the native-setter workaround. Full steps: references/setup-wizard.md.

PORT=$(cat .orchardcore-port)
playwright-cli --browser webkit open "http://localhost:$PORT/"
playwright-cli snapshot
# Fill Site Name, User Name, Email; choose Blog in the recipe dropdown;
# set Password and PasswordConfirmation with the native setter; click Finish Setup.

Step 4: Test Features

Important: Replace 5000 with the actual port from the .orchardcore-port file.

Login to Admin

The username fills normally, but fill/type leave the login password (input[name="LoginForm.Password"]) empty with playwright-cli, so set it through the native value setter.

PORT=$(cat .orchardcore-port)
playwright-cli open "http://localhost:$PORT/Login"
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli fill <username-ref> "admin"

playwright-cli eval '((p)=>{var s=Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(window.HTMLInputElement.prototype,"value").set; s.call(p,"Password1!"); p.dispatchEvent(new Event("input",{bubbles:true})); p.dispatchEvent(new Event("change",{bubbles:true})); return p.value.length})(document.querySelector("input[name=\"LoginForm.Password\"]"))'

playwright-cli click <login-button-ref>
playwright-cli open "http://localhost:$PORT/Admin"
playwright-cli eval 'window.location.pathname'   # "/Admin" when signed in

The eval may print a benign result is not a function message because the expression returns a number; the value is still set.

Common Test Scenarios

Test Media Library (Vue 3 Media Gallery backed by the api/media endpoints):

playwright-cli open http://localhost:$port/Admin/Media
playwright-cli snapshot

Test Content Creation:

playwright-cli open http://localhost:$port/Admin/Contents/ContentItems
playwright-cli snapshot
# Click New, select content type, fill fields, publish

Enable a Feature (for example the module under test):

playwright-cli open http://localhost:$port/Admin/Features
playwright-cli snapshot
# Search for feature, click Enable

See references/common-features.md for detailed workflows.

Step 5: Verify Results

After each action:

# Check page state
playwright-cli snapshot

# Check for JavaScript errors
playwright-cli console error

# Verify page title (the admin heading is rendered by the breadcrumb)
playwright-cli eval "document.title"
playwright-cli eval "document.querySelector('h1.oc-breadcrumb-title')?.textContent.trim()"

Orchard Core 4.0 Admin UI Notes

• Page title: the admin <h1> is h1.oc-breadcrumb-title, under a nav[aria-label="Breadcrumb"] trail. Its text is also part of document.title.
• Admin menu: ul#adminMenu; the current item is li.current; items with children expand through button.nav-toggle. Below the md breakpoint the menu is an off-canvas drawer opened by button.ta-sidebar-toggler, so use a desktop-sized viewport or open the drawer first.
• Quick navigation: Ctrl+K (or #adminQuickNavigationToggle) opens a palette; type in #adminQuickNavigationInput, press Enter to go. Handy to reach pages without walking the menu.
• Admin lists: List or Grid layout (?layout=Grid when users may choose), row actions as buttons or an ellipsis menu, bulk Actions after selecting rows, optional Items per page selector (?pageSize=).
• No jQuery in the admin: use DOM APIs in playwright-cli eval; window.jQuery is undefined on admin pages.
• Media Gallery: a Vue 3 app; uploads go through api/media (and TUS when OrchardCore.Media.Tus is enabled). Wait for the file list to render before asserting.

See references/admin-navigation.md for selectors.

Debugging with Log Files

Console output is not visible when running in the background. Sites using NLog (the dotnet new occms default) write App_Data/logs/orchard-log-{date}.log:

# View last 50 lines of today's log
Get-Content "$webProject/App_Data/logs/orchard-log-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd').log" -Tail 50

# Search for errors
Select-String -Path "$webProject/App_Data/logs/orchard-log-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd').log" -Pattern "ERROR|Exception" -Context 2,5

See references/debugging.md for more debugging techniques.

Quick Reference

Task	URL Path
Admin Dashboard	/Admin
Features	/Admin/Features
Content Items	/Admin/Contents/ContentItems
Content Types	/Admin/ContentTypes/List
Media Library	/Admin/Media
General Settings	/Admin/Settings/general
Admin Settings	/Admin/Settings/admin
Users	/Admin/Users/Index
Themes	/Admin/Themes

Session Files

File	Purpose
.orchardcore-port	Persisted port number for session
.orchardcore-pid	Process ID for cleanup

Close browser sessions with playwright-cli session-stop-all when done.

Default Credentials

• Username: admin
• Email: admin@test.com
• Password: Password1!

References

• references/autosetup.md - Unattended Auto Setup for tests (environment variables, options, troubleshooting)
• references/playwright-cli.md - Browser install, open and snapshot, single-expression eval, the password field workaround
• references/setup-wizard.md - Interactive setup wizard
• references/admin-navigation.md - Admin URLs and UI patterns
• references/common-features.md - Feature-specific testing guides
• references/debugging.md - Log files and troubleshooting