What are the basics of Selenium testing?
Selenium is an intelligence mechanism (open-source framework) tool used for automating web browsers. It is used for testing web applications.
Components of Selenium:
- Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment): This is a browser-based IDE, available as a Firefox and Chrome plugin. It offers recording and playback features.
- Selenium RC (Remote Control): Although it is outdated, it is useful for older projects. It uses client-side libraries to write code and then execute scripts in the browser.
- Selenium WebDriver: This is a tool that can be used to directly control the browser. It mostly works with recent technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and others.
- Selenium Grid: It is useful for displaying tests in multiple browsers and on multiple systems.
Selenium Testing Methodology:
Selenium testing methodology is suitable for conducting testing across different browsers and platforms. Given below is the stepwise description of this methodology. Have a look:
- First of all, in implementing the Selenium testing process, it is necessary to develop test cases.
- Next, executed these test cases in different programs written in languages like Java, Python, C#, and Ruby.
Using Selenium Grid, parallel testing can be done easily. It helps in performing more tests in less time. Also, quality can be improved by early identification and reporting of errors.
Selenium Installation:
To perform Selenium installation, you need to follow the following steps:
- Java Installation: First, you need to install Java Development Kit (JDK) on your computer. You can download and install JDK from Oracle or OpenJDK website.
- Selenium WebDriver: Download the Selenium WebDriver jar file from the official website of Selenium. This file will be useful in your automation scripts.
- IDE with integration: If you use an integrated development environment (IDE) like Eclipse or IntelliJ IDE, you need to include the Selenium jar file in the project.
- Browser Driver: Download the browser driver you want (for example, Chrome Driver or Zeko Driver). This driver connects the browser with Selenium.
- Path Setting: Include the path of the downloaded driver directly in your script.
Once this setup is complete, you can start automating testing with Selenium.
Selenium WebDriver Basics:
Selenium WebDriver tool is used for performing testing in different browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.
- Selenium WebDriver is the advanced replacement of Selenium RC. It runs code directly in the browser. This local execution makes it faster and more reliable.
- With WebDriver, testers can visit different web pages, find web elements, and perform actions like clicking, typing, and submitting. It supports several programming languages, including Java, C#, Python, and Ruby.
- The different browser drivers used by Selenium WebDriver are browser-specific. For instance, ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver (for Firefox), Microsoft WebDriver (for Edge), and SafariDriver. These drivers send WebDriver commands to the browser and execute actions in the browser.
- Overall, Selenium WebDriver simplifies web testing and provides greater scalability, thereby creating a more efficient and reliable testing process.
Functions of Selenium WebDriver include:
- Launching the browser
- Element Locating
- Clearing user input
- Multiple browser support
- Reusability
- Multi-language compatibility, etc.
Important Best Practices:
There are some important best practices in Selenium testing.
- First, test cases ought to be broken up into compact, reusable modules. This makes the testing process more efficient. It is essential to use robust and organic XPath or CSS selectors, as it is robust to DOM changes.
- A good practice is to use the Page Object Model (POM). This makes the code easy to reuse, maintain, and read. All actions and verifications are defined in page classes and test classes contain only test logic.
- To reduce complexity and increase accuracy, explicit waits should be used between operations. This helps in minimizing unnecessary hard-coded steps.
- Through parallel execution with Selenium Grid, tests can be run across multiple browsers and platforms. It saves time and allows for more scenarios to be covered.
- The testing procedure can be automated and code changes can be continuously checked through integration with source control and continuous integration (CI).
Following these methods will make selenium testing more efficient and reliable.
Benefits of Selenium Testing:
Selenium testing offers many benefits.
- First, it is open source and free, which makes the cost less.
- Selenium is compatible with various programming languages (Java, C#, Python) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE).
- It is platform-independent, so can be used on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Parallel testing can be executed through Selenium Grid, thus saving time. Moreover, Selenium can be easily integrated with Continuous Integration (CI) tools (Jenkins, Bamboo), making test automation more efficient.
Wrap Up:
Selenium Testing is a powerful tool for testing web applications. With its help testing processes can be conducted more efficiently. If you are looking for an expert selenium tester for your project, connect with Askme Technologies. Our well-experienced and skilled team of software testing professionals provides you with the best testing solution as per your requirements.
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