what if the e2e test strings are random and what if we try some crazy…

… timing racy condition thing with promise.all

frontend/tests/e2e/newsletter.spec.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 /* eslint-disable testing-library/prefer-screen-queries */
 import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
 
+import { generateRandomString } from "./search/searchSpecUtil";
+
 test.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => {
   await page.goto("/subscribe");
 });
@@ -32,7 +34,9 @@ test("successful signup", async ({ page }) => {
   );
 
   // Fill out form
-  await page.getByLabel("First Name (required)").fill("Apple");
+  await page
+    .getByLabel("First Name (required)")
+    .fill(generateRandomString([10]));
   await page.getByLabel("Email (required)").fill("[email protected]");
 
   await page.getByRole("button", { name: /subscribe/i }).click();
@@ -54,7 +58,9 @@ test("error during signup", async ({ page }) => {
   );
 
   // Fill out form
-  await page.getByLabel("First Name (required)").fill("Apple");
+  await page
+    .getByLabel("First Name (required)")
+    .fill(generateRandomString([10]));
   await page.getByLabel("Email (required)").fill("[email protected]");
 
   await page.getByRole("button", { name: /subscribe/i }).click();

frontend/tests/e2e/search/search-loading.spec.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import { expect, Page, test } from "@playwright/test";
 import { BrowserContextOptions } from "playwright-core";
-
-import { fillSearchInputAndSubmit } from "./searchSpecUtil";
+import {
+  fillSearchInputAndSubmit,
+  generateRandomString,
+} from "tests/e2e/search/searchSpecUtil";
 
 interface PageProps {
   page: Page;
@@ -16,16 +18,18 @@ test.describe("Search page tests", () => {
   });
 
   test("should show and hide loading state", async ({ page }: PageProps) => {
-    const searchTerm = "advanced";
-    await fillSearchInputAndSubmit(searchTerm, page);
-
+    // if this doesn't work we can try https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsertype#browser-type-launch-option-slow-mo
+    const searchTerm = generateRandomString([4, 5]);
     const loadingIndicator = page.getByTestId("loading-message");
-    await expect(loadingIndicator).toBeVisible();
+    await fillSearchInputAndSubmit(searchTerm, page);
+    await Promise.all([expect(loadingIndicator).toBeVisible()]);
     await expect(loadingIndicator).toBeHidden();
 
-    const searchTerm2 = "agency";
-    await fillSearchInputAndSubmit(searchTerm2, page);
-    await expect(loadingIndicator).toBeVisible();
+    const searchTerm2 = generateRandomString([8]);
+    await Promise.all([
+      fillSearchInputAndSubmit(searchTerm2, page),
+      expect(loadingIndicator).toBeVisible(),
+    ]);
     await expect(loadingIndicator).toBeHidden();
   });
 });

frontend/tests/e2e/search/search-no-results.spec.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { BrowserContextOptions } from "playwright-core";
 import {
   expectURLContainsQueryParam,
   fillSearchInputAndSubmit,
+  generateRandomString,
 } from "./searchSpecUtil";
 
 interface PageProps {
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ test.describe("Search page tests", () => {
   test("should return 0 results when searching for obscure term", async ({
     page,
   }: PageProps) => {
-    const searchTerm = "0resultearch";
+    const searchTerm = generateRandomString([10]);
 
     await fillSearchInputAndSubmit(searchTerm, page);
     await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 3250));

frontend/tests/e2e/search/searchSpecUtil.ts

@@ -14,6 +14,37 @@ export async function fillSearchInputAndSubmit(term: string, page: Page) {
   await page.click(".usa-search > button[type='submit']");
 }
 
+const characters = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
+
+// adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/1349426
+export const generateRandomString = (desiredPattern: number[]) => {
+  const numberOfPossibleCharacters = characters.length;
+  return desiredPattern.reduce((randomString, numberOfCharacters, index) => {
+    let counter = 0;
+    while (counter < numberOfCharacters) {
+      randomString += characters.charAt(
+        Math.floor(Math.random() * numberOfPossibleCharacters),
+      );
+      counter += 1;
+    }
+    if (index < desiredPattern.length - 1) {
+      randomString += " ";
+    }
+    return randomString;
+  }, "");
+};
+
+//   let result = "";
+//   const charactersLength = characters.length;
+//   let counter = 0;
+//   while (counter < length) {
+//     result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
+//     counter += 1;
+//   }
+//   return result;
+// };
+// (Math.random() + 1).toString(36).substring(7);
+
 export function expectURLContainsQueryParam(
   page: Page,
   queryParamName: string,