In https://github.com/elastic/kibana/pull/31234 there were some extra changes that I've reverted, like use of the `tsconfig-paths` package to magically rewrite import statements to defy the standard node module resolution algorithm, the inclusion of several unnecessary options in the `test/tsconfig.json` file, and changes of the line-endings in the config files. This also brings a few enhancements from https://github.com/elastic/kibana/pull/30190 including a modularized version of the expect.js types, and options for explicit mappings for the PageObjects and services used in ftr tests.
We currently use the `retry` service to call a function over and over in a loop, waiting for it to run without throwing an error, and ultimately failing if it does not succeed before a timeout is exceeded. This is the easiest way to get certain interactions to work, either because we don't know when we should be able to execute the interaction successfully, or because the timing is just too tricky to plan out correctly. Another place where we are using the `retry` service, which I don't think is appropriate, is when we need to wait for a certain condition to be met. This is where `retry.waitFor()` comes in:
```js
await retry.waitFor('dashboard search to be enabled', async () => {
const searchInput = await testSubjects.find('savedObjectFinderSearchInput');
return await searchInput.isEnabled();
})
```
The `retry.waitFor()` method behaves much like the `retry.try()` method behind the scenes, calling a function over and over, but instead of waiting for it to run without throwing an error it waits for it to return a "truthy" value. It also requires a description string that is used to make rather nice log output and a more descriptive error message than something like https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/test/functional/apps/dashboard/_data_shared_attributes.js#L61-L67