Fetching values from email in protractor test case

I need to test a protractor test case in which a user signs up, receives an email, goes to the link provided in the email and fills up his/her details in activation signup form.

The problem is how can I get the redeem token from the email. My email has a link to the activation page which has the auth token like following:

http://127.0.0.1:3000/#/signup/redeem/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiJlOTRhYzY3MC1kYTNlLTQyYTUtODVkZS02NDU4ZjVmZGMwYjAiLCJzdWIiOiJ0ZXN0QGNvZWYuY28iLCJpYXQiOjE0Mjc0OTM5MDMsImV4cCI6MTQyODA5ODcwM30.

But how do I fetch that token so that I can build the url or how can I click that button in my email so that I can complete the flow ? I am using mailcatcher to simulate email.

This is something I've solved recently. Hope the solution would also apply for your use-case.

Prerequisites:

• mail-listener2 package
• understanding of the concept of promises

Step by step instructions:

1. Install mail-listener2:

   npm install mail-listener2 --save-dev
   

2. In your protractor config initialize Mail Listener and make it available globally:

   onPrepare: function () {
       var MailListener = require("mail-listener2");
   
       // here goes your email connection configuration
       var mailListener = new MailListener({
           username: "imap-username",
           password: "imap-password",
           host: "imap-host",
           port: 993, // imap port 
           tls: true,
           tlsOptions: { rejectUnauthorized: false },
           mailbox: "INBOX", // mailbox to monitor 
           searchFilter: ["UNSEEN", "FLAGGED"], // the search filter being used after an IDLE notification has been retrieved 
           markSeen: true, // all fetched email willbe marked as seen and not fetched next time 
           fetchUnreadOnStart: true, // use it only if you want to get all unread email on lib start. Default is `false`, 
           mailParserOptions: {streamAttachments: true}, // options to be passed to mailParser lib. 
           attachments: true, // download attachments as they are encountered to the project directory 
           attachmentOptions: { directory: "attachments/" } // specify a download directory for attachments 
       });
   
       mailListener.start();
   
       mailListener.on("server:connected", function(){
           console.log("Mail listener initialized");
       });
   
       global.mailListener = mailListener;
   }),
   
   onCleanUp: function () {
       mailListener.stop();
   }, 
   

3. Create a helper getLastEmail() function which would wait for an email to be retrieved:

   function getLastEmail() {
       var deferred = protractor.promise.defer();
       console.log("Waiting for an email...");
   
       mailListener.on("mail", function(mail){
           deferred.fulfill(mail);
       });
       return deferred.promise;
   };
   

4. Example test case:

   describe("Sample test case", function () {
   
       beforeEach(function () {
           browser.get("/#login");
           browser.waitForAngular();
       });
   
       it("should login with a registration code sent to an email", function () {
           element(by.id("username")).sendKeys("MyUserName");
           element(by.id("password")).sendKeys("MyPassword");
           element(by.id("loginButton")).click();
   
           browser.controlFlow().await(getLastEmail()).then(function (email) {
               expect(email.subject).toEqual("New Registration Code");
               expect(email.headers.to).toEqual("myemail@email.com");
   
               // extract registration code from the email message
               var pattern = /Registration code is: (\w+)/g;
               var regCode = pattern.exec(email.text)[1];
   
               console.log(regCode);
   
            });
       });
   });