Cypress get href attribute

Question

I have a test case in which i have a link which opens in a new tab, and since cypress doesn't support multi tab, i wanna get href attribute of that link and then open it in the same tab, i`m trying to do it this way, but for some reason it doesn't work.

it('Advertise link should refer to Contact page', () => {
    var link = document.querySelector("div.footer-nav > ul > li:nth-child(2) > a").href;
     cy.visit(link);
     cy.title().should('include', 'Text');
});

Answer 1

The code below should do what you're trying to achieve. There is also an entire recipe with suggestions on how to test links that open in new tabs.

it('Advertise link should refer to Contact page', () => {
   cy.get('div.footer-nav > ul > li:nth-child(2) > a')
     .should('have.attr', 'href').and('include', 'contact')
     .then((href) => {
       cy.visit(href)
     })
})

I would also suggest reading through the Cypress document on the best ways to assign and work with variables: https://on.cypress.io/variables-and-aliases

Answer 2

Solution 1: invoke("attr", "href")

Navigate to the URL specified in the element's href attribute:

cy.get(selector)
  .invoke('attr', 'href')
  .then((href) => {
    cy.visit(href)
  })
});

Reference: https://docs.cypress.io/api/commands/invoke.html#Function-with-Arguments

---

Solution 2: Prevent content from opening in a new tab.

Remove the target attribute from the anchor element, then click on it to navigate to its URL within the same tab:

cy.get(selector).invoke('removeAttr', 'target').click()

Reference: https://docs.cypress.io/examples/examples/recipes.html#Tab-Handling-and-Links