Introduction
Testers are increasingly using Selenium Automation Testing because of its numerous advantages. The first thing that comes to our minds when we talk about automation testing is our favorite automation testing tool. In spite of its simplicity, availability, and ease of use, it won the hearts of many testers and developers. Selenium made the lives of automation testers easier when it was introduced in 2004 and has since become the most popular tool among automation testers. With that said, let’s learn more about what Selenium testing is and how it helps automation testers.
What is Selenium
Jason Huggins came up with the idea for Selenium after discovering a basic tool named “JavaScriptTestRunner”, which he used to test ThoughtWorks’ internal Time and Expenses application. It has now become a popular testing framework for software testers and developers as part of the open-source movement. For testing web applications, it can automate browsers by binding specific browsers to it. It consists of four tools designed for different purposes. Let us learn more about the Selenium framework and the various tools it offers.
Selenium Suite Of Tools
A series of 4 major components provide a different approach to automation testing popular as the Selenium suite. Depending on the testing needs of the organization, every software tester or developer chooses a tool from the list. The list of tools are
- Selenium IDE
- Selenium RC
- Selenium WebDriver
- Selenium Grid
Selenium IDE
A Firefox plugin called IDE (Integrated Development Environment) allows software developers to work together. In the Selenium Suite, it is one of the most simple frameworks. The scripts can be recorded and played back. For more advanced and robust test cases, you will need Selenium RC or Selenium WebDriver, which can be used with Selenium IDE. After this, we’ll look at Selenium RC.
Selenium RC
In the past, Selenium RC, also called Selenium 1, was the main Selenium project, but the WebDriver merger gave birth to Selenium 2. JavaScript is the primary Selenium automation testing training method. You can use it with Ruby, PHP, Python, Perl, C#, Java, and Javascript. It is compatible with most browsers out there.
Note: Selenium RC has been officially deprecated.
Selenium Web Driver
With WebDriver in Selenium, commands can be sent to a browser and will be received by that browser. Each driver is specific to a particular browser. It communicates directly with the browser. There are many programming languages supported by Selenium WebDriver, including Java, C#, PHP, Perl, and JavaScript. For example
- Google Chrome uses Chrome Driver
- Internet Explorer uses Internet Explorer Driver and
- Opera uses Opera Driver
Selenium Grid
With Selenium Grid, tests can be run on different machines against different browsers in parallel. The tool is used in conjunction with Selenium RC, which means it can run multiple tests simultaneously on different machines using different browsers and operating systems. The Selenium Suite of Tools was the topic of this article. Let us explore the various functionalities and components of the Selenium WebDriver architecture as we continue reading
Selenium Client API
The tool is the newest in the suite of tools. Instead of writing test scripts in Selenese, you can use Selenium Client API to write scripts in multiple programming languages. Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, and Python are supported by Selenium client APIs. They can use Client API commands and functions to communicate with the Selenium framework.
Why Selenium For Automation Testing
The reasons to use selenium for automation testing are included below
Support for various Language and Frameworks
No matter what programming language you use, Selenium converts it into Selenium-compatible code in no time. Therefore, you don’t need to know Selenium-specific languages. Furthermore, every language supported by Selenium has a dedicated framework that makes it easy to create test scripts for Selenium test automation. Therefore, when you use Selenium for automating tests, you don’t have to bother about language support or framework support, as Selenium does this for you!
Implementation is easy
The Selenium automation framework is incredibly easy to use. Selenium provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to create and execute test scripts efficiently. Tests can also be monitored as they run. Selenium reports can be analyzed in detail and follow-up actions can be taken. Last but not least, you won’t feel alone. You can always turn to the Selenium community for help in case you need it. You may use the community to ask questions and brainstorm ideas.
Hardware usage is less
Selenium, compared to other vendor-specific automation tools like QTP, UFT, and SilkTest, requires less hardware. So it becomes very easy to use and implement in your testing process
Flexibility is supported
With Selenium features such as regrouping and refactoring of test cases, test management becomes easier and more efficient. In addition to reducing duplication, minimizing complications, and improving maintainability, this enables developers and testers to make quick changes to the code. As a result, the Selenium framework is more flexible and usable as compared to other automation testing tools, enabling Selenium to maintain its advantage
It is easy to learn and use
Writing Selenium scripts is not the same as writing an algorithm of a hundred pages. A Selenium framework script is simply a few lines of code that automates the functionality of a website. Developers and testers can also learn about Selenium automation testing training by browsing the documentation on the Selenium website or with any Selenium automation testing course online. Google is your friend when it comes to Selenium tutorials, testing, and development support. In addition, Selenium IDE for Firefox lets you create Selenium scripts for future use by using the record and play functionality.
Selenium releases Constant Updates
The Selenium community is constantly releasing new and improved versions and updates because Selenium is supported by a community and we all know an active community can’t stand to stagnate. Due to its community, the updates are readily available and easy to understand, so you don’t need any particular training or expertise to use it. This makes Selenium more resourceful than other testing tools and is also more cost-effective
Compatibility across different operating systems
People use a variety of operating systems, so it is essential that the automation tool for your business supports all of them. Despite its modular design, Selenium is a highly portable tool that works with Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and UNIX.
Testing the Selenium framework can be done on any platform, such as Windows, and on another platform, such as a Mac or Linux. Test automation scripts can be easily written without focusing much on the platform on which they run.
It is open-source
Selenium’s open source nature is one of many things that add to its advantages. Selenium is a public automation framework available for free, with no upfront costs, since it is an open source tool. You can use the money you save on other worthwhile endeavors.
Software engineers and developers constantly benefit from the Selenium community by automating web browser features. In addition to being open source, Selenium allows you to customize the code for better code management and enhance predefined functions and classes. Since the Selenium framework is easy to generate scripts to validate functionality, it has become the most reliable web automation tool.
Selenium Web Architecture
We need to first understand what a WebDriver API is in order to understand Selenium WebDriver Architecture. WebDriver APIs facilitate communication between languages and browsers. A browser’s logic for performing actions on the browser varies from one to another. It consists of four main components namely:
- Selenium Client Library
- JSON WIRE PROTOCOL Over HTTP Client
- Browser Drivers
- Browsers
We’ll take a closer look at each component
1. Selenium Client Libraries/Language Bindings
Numerous libraries are supported by Selenium, such as Java, Ruby, Python, etc. For Selenium to support multiple languages, Selenium developers have developed language bindings. For example, if you want to use the browser driver in java, you should use the java bindings. All bindings can be downloaded from the official website.
2. JSON WIRE PROTOCOL Over HTTP Client
JavaScript Object Notation is known as JSON. On the web, it is used for data transfer between clients and servers. The JSON Wire Protocol transfers information between HTTP servers using a REST API. Each BrowserDriver is equipped with its own HTTP server.
3. Browser Drivers
There is a different browser driver for each browser. By communicating with the browser, drivers do not reveal the internal logic of the browser. The browser driver will execute a command when it receives a command, and an HTTP response will be returned in the response.
4. Browsers
Selenium supports a wide range of browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari, etc
How To Set Up Selenium On Your Machine
The WebDriver in Selenium binaries for the browsers in which you plan to automate need to be installed for the programming language bindings you choose and for the language bindings for the language bindings.
This section explains how you can begin automating Selenium tests.
- Install any Code editor or IDE preferably Eclipse
- To run Eclipse IDE on your computer, you must have the Java Development Kit (JDK). JDK can be downloaded from the oracle website, so you need to install and configure it before using Eclipse.
- Next, you should download Selenium Java Client Driver. Download it from the official Selenium website. Click on the link for the section WeDriver Language Bindings and Selenium Client.
- In order to instantiate the browser, you need to download the browser drivers.
- To download drivers for more browsers, please visit the Selenium Website’s Browsers section. An executable path must be explicitly set to launch any given browser.
- You can now add any sample automation script that you want to execute in your local chrome browser to automate testing.
Conclusion:
It is one of the best tools for automating web browser interactions and is widely used in automated testing. In Selenium, you can write code in any of the supported languages and automate the testing of any application or process by using your automation scripts. Using an online grid, you can also run your tests across multiple browsers in parallel, making it different from other tools.
Why wait any longer? Get started writing your automation script to test your website now!
