What are the best practices of using Selenium for test automation?

Through the strategic implementation of Selenium automation, execution speed is increased, the maximum number of bugs is identified at the earliest and manual testing efforts are reduced to a great extent. In order to leverage Selenium scripts, QA teams must incorporate Selenium testing best practices in their testing activities. This will greatly help them in improving the overall testing efficiency and deliverables. A reliable test cycle is also established. In this article, you will get to know what are the best practices of using Selenium for test automation.

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Following are the best practices of using Selenium for test automation:

1. A detailed reporting and logging mechanism: Tests can be enhanced by setting up detailed reports and logs. Information is generated through Logs, that occur within the Application Under Test (AUT). The test results are measured and tracked through the help of the reports. Log4j is one of the popular logging APIs. The code is where the log level is defined. The log levels are as follows:

1. All: Everything is logged, by turning all logs on

2. Debug: Important debugging-related information events are printed

3. Info: Informational messages are printed through which an application’s progress is highlighted 

4. Warn: Prints harmful information in line with faulty behavior

5. Error: Error events are printed that may allow the application to keep running.

2. One scenario at a time needs to be tested: Testing one scenario at a time is considered to be a good practice. There should be one logical task for a method. It can prove to be beneficial for specific reasons. One of the reasons being a program is debugged. Debugging is a process wherein a problem in the code is identified and fixed. If the test script fails during execution, then uncertainty is removed by one test scenario in the code.

3. Screenshots can be taken for every failure in the testing activity: There will be a certain point in time where an automation test script may fail. It may happen due to an issue with the code or a bug in the AUT. The screenshot of the failure can be captured, which can in turn save the time for the team who will eventually evaluate and understand the reason for the test failure. Screenshots of all the steps are taken by some specific projects, regardless of whether they pass or fail.

4. Real devices should be used to run selenium tests: There are many emulators available online for selenium testing across different platforms but, it makes a considerable difference if real devices are used to run tests. Emulators are software programs through which the device functionality is mimicked. Testing changes in the code is done by emulators in the early stages of development. 

When websites/applications are tested in real user conditions, then accurate results can be expected. Through this, maximum bugs can be discovered by the teams and eventually a robust application is rolled out.

5. Page Object Model (POM) is implemented: With an ever-increasing trend in customer demands, there will be an evolution of the website’s UI, as new changes will be incorporated at regular intervals. Locators that are in line with specific UI elements will change too. This means new test cases need to be created by the QAs for the same page again, which can prove to be tedious.

This can be taken care of by using the POM design pattern for the purpose of creating test scripts. Each web page in this design pattern is considered a class file and corresponding web elements are carried out by every class file.    

Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing Selenium testing for your specific project, then do get connected with a reliable software testing services company that will provide you with a comprehensive testing roadmap that is in line with your project specific requirements.