It is not an overstatement if we say that you cannot execute modern test cases without the inclusion of automation testing. This is because executing these complex testing scenarios by relying only on manual testing is time-consuming and error-prone. You need to include automation testing frameworks like Selenium. But, you may ask what is Selenium. That is exactly the question which we will answer in this article.
We will also dive deep into the world of everything essential for using Selenium to execute automated web application testing. During our discussion, we will cover the components, history, features, and other best practices related to Selenium. These are crucial for justifying Selenium as one of the most popular yet useful automation testing tools.
The History of Selenium
Jason Huggins deserves the credit for the birth of Selenium. As a professional software engineer at ThoughtWorks, he wanted to create an internal tool to automate the testing the company’s web apps. Interestingly, he initially named the app JavaScriptTestRunner due to its dependency on the JavaScript language.
This tool quickly gained popularity due to its open-source infrastructure, flexibility, and ease of use. The evolution of Selenium also added various new tools under the test suite, which were designed to assist the testers at different stages of the testing process.
Components of The Selenium Test Suite
Let us now shift our attention toward some of the most important components that are present under the Selenium test suite:
The Selenium IDE
The Selenium IDE stands for the Selenium Integrated Development Environment. You can use it as a dedicated extension for the Chrome and Firefox browsers. It intends to allow the testers to record, edit, and debug basic tests.
This tool is also responsible for the implementation of codeless automation testing. Since it is also very beginner-friendly, it is the best option to start with the Selenium test suite while automatically designing basic test cases. The features of the Selenium IDE include the following:
- Dedicated functionality for implementing record and playback features.
- Feature to implement test script editing, including autocompletion and syntax highlighting.
- Dedicated support for exporting the test cases to various programming languages and the native environment of Selenium.
- Provides command line interface for running tests in continuous integration and deployment pipelines.
The Selenium WebDriver
You must have heard about Selenium WebDriver. It is the most important component of the entire test suite. In a single line, we can say that the WebDriver is responsible for initiating and executing the test cases. It is also responsible for redirecting the test cases to the respective web element for the execution process.
We can also define the Selenium WebDriver as an updated version of the Selenium Remote Controller. This is because, unlike the Selenium Remote Controller, the Selenium WebDriver can natively communicate with all the web application elements. Therefore, the developers do not have to go through the hassle of including a dedicated test engine.
Let us now understand some of the major features of the Selenium WebDriver that will assist you during the automation testing process:
- The direct communications with web browser feature offers more speed and control than the Selenium Remote Controller.
- It allows you to target most of the popular web browsers that are currently available in the market.
- It is compatible with all the popular programming languages, so the developers can write the automation test scripts in any of their preferred languages without going through a massive learning curve.
- You can use the Selenium WebDriver’s commands to replicate your web interactions and test the app features.
The Selenium Grid
The Selenium Grid distributes the test suite across multiple machines and browsers. This approach allows the developers to implement parallel test execution and reduce the overall test execution time.
Let us now understand some of the major features of the Selenium Grid that will be massively beneficial to you:
- It has a centralized hub that is responsible for managing multiple nodes. Here, each node represents different browser instances or test machines.
- Including parallel test execution massively boosts test efficiency and reduces the overall time spent on the market.
- The Selenium Grid can run the test suite on different browser versions and operating systems at the same time.
- The testers can integrate the Selenium Grid with continuous integration and deployment pipelines to include agile methodologies and continuous testing.
How To Use The Selenium WebDriver
To set up the Selenium WebDriver for executing web automation testing, the testers simply have to follow the following steps in the given chronological order:
- The first step involves installing the specific browser drivers depending on your target browsers. The common examples include ChromeDriver for Chrome and GeckoGriver for Firefox. After downloading the drivers from the respective websites, you must place them in a directory accessible by the PATH’s environment variable.
- Now, you have to move on to install the Selenium WebDriver libraries, depending on your chosen programming language. So, if you are using Python, you can use pip and enter the following code snippet in the terminal window:
pip install Selenium
- Now that you have finished the installation and setup process, you can proceed toward writing your first automation test script with Selenium. To further shed more light on this segment, we mentioned a sample code for the same:
Best Practices For Using Selenium
Let us now go through some of the best practices that we strongly recommend implementing in your Selenium-based test environment to improve the testing quality and streamline the overall deployment process:
- Using Cloud-Based Testing
Using the cloud-based platform to perform Real device testing and Selenium testing can be proven beneficial as it provides an extensive device lab and ready-to-use test infrastructure to perform any web application. One such platform is LambdaTest.
It is an AI-powered test execution platform that lets you conduct manual and automated tests at scale across 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.
This platform also integrates Selenium with WebDriverIO to execute automated end-to-end testing on modern applications. It also provides features like comprehensive test reporting and live test activity logging.
- Using Robust Locators
The testers need to utilize the native locators that are available with the Selenium test suite. These locators will help you to identify the web elements reliably. However, you must avoid using fragile locators like XPath, which depend on the primary structure of the web page.
The better alternative in this case is to use unique locators like IDs or names wherever possible, as they remain consistent depending on the element you’re currently trying to test.
- Using Page Object Models
We strongly advise the testers to implement Page Object Models to improve the reliability and readability of the Selenium test cases. This is a design pattern that promotes the separation of test scripts and page-specific code. So, by implementing this approach, the testers can encapsulate the page elements and actions to make the tests maintainable.
- Gracefully Handling Dynamic Waits
It is common for modern web applications to have a lot of dynamic elements to improve user interactions. To handle these elements with Selenium, the developers must implement strategies including dynamic waits and checking for the presence of these elements before interacting with them.
It is also important to isolate the dynamic element test cases from the other testing processes to ensure dependable test results.
- Using Assertions Wisely
As testers, we all can agree that assertions are very important to verify the proper outcomes of the test suite. So, we must use assertions to validate the expected results match the actual results. However, during assertion usage, we should also avoid excessive implementations, which can make the tests hard to read and maintain.
It is also useful for the testers to go through the official documentation of Selenium to understand more about the assertions and their appropriate use cases.
- Using Test Frameworks
We recommend that testers use modern frameworks like TestNG, JUnit, or PyTest. This approach will massively help them to organize and execute the Selenium tests more efficiently. These frameworks also provide features like setup and teardown methods, test discovery, and parallel test execution.
- Using CI/CD Pipelines
Continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines are crucial for integrating agile methodologies and continuous testing. The main concept behind this approach is to ensure that the development and testing processes are executed simultaneously. This benefits the testing process by ensuring that bugs are found in the earlier phases before they can become serious areas of concern.
So, the testers must integrate Selenium with this process using tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, and GitLabCI. This process also helps to implement a faster feedback cycle whenever there is any change within the application’s source code.
- Separately Maintaining The Test Data
Finally, we advise the testers to keep the test data separate from the test scripts. The testers can also use external data sources like CSV files, databases, or Excel sheets to implement this process. The ultimate goal of this process is to ensure that it becomes easier to update and maintain the test logic.
Moreover, by separately maintaining the test data, the application testers can also flawlessly update the source code and roll out subsequent application updates with new features while ensuring that they do not harm the functioning of the existing app elements.
The Bottom Line
Based on all the factors we analyzed in this article, we can safely conclude that Selenium has massively revolutionized how web app testing is currently performed. It provides a robust and flexible framework for automating browser interactions. Seeing how much Selenium has grown from a simple JavaScript test tool to its current status as one of the leaders in web automation testing is really pleasing.
By understanding the main components of Selenium, setting up the Selenium WebDriver, and following the best practices, you can create maintainable and reliable test scripts to enhance the quality of web apps.
It is also worth mentioning that by embracing Selenium in your testing workflow, you can create more efficient development cycles, faster detection of errors, and ultimately create very high-quality web apps. So whether you are a beginner just starting with automation testing or already an experienced professional trying to refine your skills, Selenium will provide all the tools and flexibility you need to achieve your goals.
