.within() now throws an error if given more than one subject

content/_changelogs/12.0.0.md

@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ _Released MM/DD/YYYY_
 - Cypress now throws an error if commands are invoked from inside a `.should()`
   callback. This previously resulted in unusual and undefined behavior; it is
   now explicitly an error.
+- The [`.within()`](/api/commands/within) command now throws an error if given
+  more than one DOM element as a subject. This is done for consistency - in
+  older versions, some commands inside a `.within()` block would respect all
+  passed in elements, while others silently discarded subjects beyond the first
+  and `.screenshot()` would throw an error.
 - `Cookies.defaults` and `Cookies.preserveOnce` have been removed. Please update
   to use [`cy.session()`](/api/commands/session) to preserve session details
   between tests. Addresses

content/api/commands/within.md

@@ -20,14 +20,17 @@ chain further commands that rely on the subject after `.within()`.
 **<Icon name="check-circle" color="green"></Icon> Correct Usage**
 
 ```javascript
-cy.get('.list').within(($list) => {}) // Yield the `.list` and scope all commands within it
+cy.get('.list')
+  .first()
+  .within(($list) => {}) // Yield the first `.list` and scope all commands within it
 ```
 
 **<Icon name="exclamation-triangle" color="red"></Icon> Incorrect Usage**
 
 ```javascript
 cy.within(() => {}) // Errors, cannot be chained off 'cy'
 cy.getCookies().within(() => {}) // Errors, 'getCookies' does not yield DOM element
+cy.get('div').within(($divs) => {}) // Probably errors, because get('div') yields multiple elements
 ```
 
 ### Arguments
@@ -179,7 +182,8 @@ cy.get('form').within(($form) => {
 
 ### Requirements [<Icon name="question-circle"/>](/guides/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress#Chains-of-Commands)
 
-<List><li>`.within()` requires being chained off a previous command.</li></List>
+- `.within()` requires being chained off a previous command that yields exactly
+  one DOM element.
 
 ### Assertions [<Icon name="question-circle"/>](/guides/core-concepts/introduction-to-cypress#Assertions)
 
@@ -211,10 +215,11 @@ outputs the following:
 
 ## History
 
-| Version                                       | Changes                                                 |
-| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
-| [< 0.3.3](/guides/references/changelog#0-3-3) | `.within()` command added                               |
-| [5.4.0](/guides/references/changelog#5-4-0)   | fixed the yielded value to always be the parent element |
+| Version                                       | Changes                                                                          |
+| --------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| [12.0.0](/guides/references/changelog#12-0-0) | `.within()` now throws an error when given more than one element as the subject. |
+| [5.4.0](/guides/references/changelog#5-4-0)   | fixed the yielded value to always be the parent element                          |
+| [< 0.3.3](/guides/references/changelog#0-3-3) | `.within()` command added                                                        |
 
 ## See also
 

content/guides/references/migration-guide.md

@@ -269,9 +269,10 @@ command instead.
 
 #### `.invoke()`
 
-[`.invoke()`](/api/commands/invoke) now throws an error if the function returns
-a promise. If you wish to call a method that returns a promise and wait for it
-to resolve, use [`.then()`](/api/commands/then) instead of `.invoke()`.
+The [`.invoke()`](/api/commands/invoke) command now throws an error if the
+function returns a promise. If you wish to call a method that returns a promise
+and wait for it to resolve, use [`.then()`](/api/commands/then) instead of
+`.invoke()`.
 
 ```diff
 cy.wrap(myAPI)
@@ -296,7 +297,72 @@ assertions to their own chain. For example, rewrite
 
 #### `.should()`
 
-[`.should()`](/api/commands/should) now throws an error if Cypress commands are
+The [`.should()`](/api/commands/should) assertion now throws an error if Cypress
+commands are invoked from inside a `.should()` callback. This previously
+resulted in unusual and undefined behavior. If you wish to execute a series of
+commands on the yielded value, use`.then()` instead.
+
+```diff
+cy.get('button')
+-  .should(($button) => {
+
+    })
++  .then(api => api.makeARequest('http://example.com'))
+   .then(res => { ...handle response... })
+```
+
+#### `.within()`
+
+The [`.within()`](/api/commands/within) command now throws an error if it is
+passed multiple elements as the subject. This previously resulted in
+inconsistent behavior, where some commands would use all passed in elements,
+some would use only the first and ignore the rest, and
+[`.screenshot()`](/api/commands/screenshot) would throw an error if used inside
+a `.within()` block with multiple elements.
+
+If you were relying on the old behavior, you have several options depending on
+the desired result.
+
+The simplest option is to reduce the subject to a single element.
+
+```diff
+cy.get('tr')
++  .first() // Limit the subject to a single element before calling .within()
+  .within(() => {
+    cy.contains('Edit').click()
+  })
+```
+
+If you have multiple subjects and wish to run commands over the collection as a
+whole, you can alias the subject rather than use `.within()`.
+
+```diff
+cy.get('tr')
+-  .within(() => {
+-    cy.get('td').should('have.class', 'foo')
+-    cy.get('td').should('have.class', 'bar')
+-  })
++  .as('rows') // Store multiple elements as an alias
+
++cy.get('@rows').find('td').should('have.class', 'foo')
++cy.get('@rows').find('td').should('have.class', 'bar')
+```
+
+Or if you have a collection and want to run commands over every element, use
+`.each()` in conjunction with `.within()`.
+
+```diff
+cy.get('tr')
+-  .within(() => {
+-    cy.contains('Edit').should('have.attr', 'disabled')
+-  })
++  .each($tr => {
++    cy.wrap($tr).within(() => {
++      cy.contains('Edit').should('have.attr', 'disabled')
++    })
++  })
+```
+
 invoked from inside a `.should()` callback. This previously resulted in unusual
 and undefined behavior. If you wish to execute a series of commands on the
 yielded value, use`.then()` instead.