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Introduction to Selenium Testing: What Is Selenium?

by Syntax Technologies Software Testing Training

Manually carrying out the software testing procedure can be quite time-consuming and physically demanding. What if the testing procedure was automated? It would unquestionably increase productivity and efficiency. The tool that aids in testing process automation, resulting in the execution of Selenium Automation Testing, is what Selenium is, and this is your solution to the question "What is Selenium?"

This blog will provide you a thorough overview of Selenium, including its history as an open source automated testing tool, its advantages and disadvantages, and much more. As a result, we'll talk about the following subjects:

Describe selenium

How does software testing work?

The drawbacks of manual testing

Selenium Automation Tool's Introduction

Selenium Tools Suite

Selenium Uses and Benefits

Problems with selenium

Selenium Careers

Conclusion

Describe selenium

Selenium is a free, open-source software testing tool that is used to test web applications across many platforms and browsers. A single interface is used throughout the Selenium Automation Testing process, which enables users to create test scripts in a variety of computer languages, including Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Perl, PHP, and NodeJS. It cannot be used to test desktop or mobile applications; it can only be used to test online applications.

How does software testing work?

Before a product is officially launched onto the market, testing is done to assess its usability, dependability, and performance. Even for web applications, this software testing is carried out. Testing has become essential as a substantial portion of business operations have shifted to being entirely internet-based. Think about a scenario where you attempt to add an item to your online shopping cart but are unable to do so and are instead repeatedly taken to an error page. This could occur as a result of a flaw in the web application's backend code, and the e-commerce company could suffer a large loss of revenue as a result. Therefore, testing the code is necessary to prevent such errors.

The drawbacks of manual testing

By writing test cases, Quality Assurance (QA) staff members perform manual testing. Every transaction requires these instances to be manually executed, and the outcome (failure or success) must be manually documented. The disadvantages of manual testing in this situation are as follows:

· It requires a tonne of time.

· It has a narrow scope and always needs a tester.

· The likelihood of human error is great, and the quality of the final product is also subpar.

· Not all flaws and test cases may be found.

· There is no support for batch and performance testing.

Due to the shortcomings of human testing, emphasis shifted to automation testing, and Selenium Automation tool gained popularity. It entails running test cases using a tool in order to avoid manual intervention.

Selenium Automation Tool's Introduction

In order to solve the faults of its predecessors, which were later discovered through Selenium Automation Testing, the Selenium Automation Tool evolved over time and underwent various iterations.

Understanding a key idea (The Same Origin Policy Issue), which was the main driver for the switch from Selenium Core to Selenium RC, is crucial when discussing the evolution of Selenium in later phases. Through the built-in JavaScript interpreter of the browser, Selenium Core involved the interpretation and execution of Selenese commands. For instance, if Google.com uses test.js as its JavaScript, then this programme was created in such a way that it could gain access to parent domain pages like google.com/mail and google.com/login. Due to the same origin regulation, the software was unable to view pages from other domains, such as yahoo.com. This rule forbade access to web components from any domain other than the one from which JavaScript was first launched. Users were forced to install local versions of Selenium Core and the web server hosting the web application in order for them to belong to the same domain.

Due to this Selenium Core flaw, Selenium RC was created. Its goal was to solve the same origin policy issue by incorporating an HTTP proxy server that might trick the browser into thinking that the web application and the test script were coming from the same source.

Selenium Tools Suite

The Selenium Automation software is a collection of tools, each of which has a distinct role for the organization's testing needs. The equipment is:

Integrated Development Environment for Selenium (Selenium IDE)

Remote control for selenium (Selenium RC)

WebDriver Selenium

Selene Grid

Silver IDE

Features:

Originally called as Selenium Recorder, Selenium IDE was developed as a "record and playback tool" by Shinya Kasatani of Japan.

Firefox add-on that allows you to capture and run test cases

The user's interaction with the browser is captured and used to construct test cases.

It was made primarily to hasten the creation of automation scripts.

Pros:

· Selenium IDE is straightforward, user-friendly, and simple to setup.

· Although prior programming experience is not necessary, understanding of the DOM and HTML is.

· It provides scripting, reporting, debugging, and extensions as necessary.

· It permits exporting tested recordings in several programming languages.

Cons:

· Only Firefox can run Selenium IDE, which does not allow data-driven testing.

· Inability to test dynamic online apps and sluggish test case execution when compared to RC and WebDriver

· It is mostly meant to create test prototypes and does not support conditional operations or iterations.

RC selenium

Features:

· Paul Hammant developed Selenium RC to address the Same Origin Policy issue.

· The first flagship testing tool of the Selenium Project overall was Selenium RC.

· It permitted users to create test cases in the language of their choice.

· The supported languages in Selenium RC 2.25.0 include Java, PHP, C, Ruby, Perl, and Python.

Pros:

· It offers data-driven testing, cross-browser testing, and user-preferred languages.

· Supports new browsers, conditional operations, and iterations.

· Compared to IDE, the execution speed is faster.

Cons:

· Compared to IDE, it has a more involved installation process.

· Prior programming experience is required.

· Execution speed is less rapid than WebDriver's

· API includes ambiguous instructions

· WebDriver for Selenium

Features:

· Simon Stewart developed Selenium WebDriver in 2006 to replace Selenium RC.

· It offers a user interface for creating and running test cases.

· Through the test cases, it is able to recognise aspects of web pages and perform the necessary action.

· Selenium WebDriver and Selenium RC were combined to form Selenium 2 in 2008.

· Each browser has its own WebDriver, which aids in the interpretation of the user-created script as it interacts directly with the browser.

Pros:

· Compared to Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver is much simpler to install.

· It offers accurate browser interaction.

· Direct browser connection without the requirement for a separate component

· Compared to Selenium IDE or Selenium RC, Selenium Webdriver has a faster execution time.

· Testing is possible across a variety of platforms.

Cons:

· Difficult installation process when compared to IDE

· Selenium WebDriver requires prior programming experience.

· Doesn't support new browsers right away, and there isn't a method to track runtime messages.

· Image testing is not possible with Selenium WebDriver.

Silver Grid

Features:

· Patrick Lightboy developed Selenium Grid in order to speed up the execution of test cases.

· It is used in conjunction with RC to execute test cases remotely.

· Selenium Grid makes advantage of the Hub-Node design, which facilitates the concurrent execution of several test cases on various machines that are situated remotely.

· There is a single master system, called the hub, which governs the other child systems, called nodes.

Pros:

· Enables test cases to be run simultaneously on various browsers

· Selenium Grid provides tools that can be used to identify problems and enable the execution of additional tests.

· It facilitates taking screenshots of browsers at various stages of the test case execution.

Cons:

· Only the local machine where the cases are launched allows for the code to be executed.

· The distant machines just receive commands from the browser.

· Initial parallel testing operations involve a large amount of time and effort.

Selenium Uses and Benefits

· An open-source testing framework that is free to use is Selenium Automation Tool. Compared to its rivals, which typically have a licencing fee, this makes it quite appealing.

· Python, Java, Perl, Ruby, PHP, and C# are just a few of the programming languages that Selenium supports for text scripts.

· It is extremely trustworthy due to its track record of producing accurate findings.

· Selenium makes it easier to run test cases on several operating systems, such as Android, Windows, iOS, Linux, and Mac.

· Multiple web browsers, including Chrome, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer (IE), and Firefox, support Selenium Automation Testing.

· It supports parallel test execution and enjoys strong community backing.

· Selenium offers JUnit and TestNG connectivity, which facilitates the creation and administration of test cases.

· Selenium's interaction with Maven Jenkins, Docker, and Selenium is what makes continuous testing possible.

Problems with selenium

· The fact that Selenium can only be used to test online apps and is not appropriate for testing mobile or desktop software applications is a significant limitation of the tool.

· Apart from customer communities, there is no guaranteed user support.

· It is unable to gain access to web parts that are found to be outside of the web application that is being tested.

· Selenium Automation Testing can't be utilised independently for data-driven or image testing. These can only be achieved by including further tools.

· Writing tests necessitates prior programming language expertise.

Selenium Careers

Since there are many opportunities for Selenium test automation engineers in the future, choosing to pursue this career path can be quite prudent. As a Selenium WebDriver expert, you might consider Selenium employment roles like:

· Tester for Selenium

· Automation Quality Engineer for Selenium

· Engineer for Selenium Automation

· Testing Selenium Analyst

· Engineer for Java Selenium Automation

· Engineer for Software Development Tests

· QA Automation Senior Engineer

In the United States, a Selenium Tester makes an average pay of $97,500 per year. It lies between $80,925 and $120,510. Similar to software test engineers, senior quality assurance analysts make $98,898, automation engineers make $89,657, and quality assurance testers make $93,606 a year on average.

Enroll in our SDET Automation course right away if you want to learn how to use the Selenium Automation Tool and become a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET).

Conclusion

Future industrial processes will undoubtedly be governed by automation. It is believed to boost effectiveness and ensure ROI. Selenium Automated Testing will undoubtedly continue to be the preferred tool given this. It might have its own drawbacks, but its advantages outweigh those of other tools, especially in three key areas: cost, versatility, and parallel testing.