Automation testing is the modern standard for ensuring that your software is highly efficient and provides the best experience for the customers. This is because, with the help of automation test cases, the developers can not only verify the individual functioning of each web element but also their combined execution. This is a very important function as most modern apps have access to multiple operations at the same time and can handle different users.
In the segment of test automation, Selenium is one of the most well-known names as it has been present in this industry for over 10 years now. Over time, Selenium has gone through many major updates and has massively improved the working mechanism of all the tools present in it. Selenium automation testing is now one of the most efficient ways of verifying the functioning of web apps.
With this article, we will take a detailed look at the working of the Selenium WebDriver and also the Selenium grid. We will also discuss some of the most efficient tools that can help developers to release the full potential of the Selenium test suite.
Understanding Selenium
Selenium is an open-source test automation suite that helps developers to start and execute all the automated test cases on web apps. A very important fact about this test suite is that its initial name was the JavaScript test runner as it massively depended on this well-known programming language. Since it is open source, all of its features are available for free to all developers and testers and do not require any form of payment.
It is a very important feature to aid the new developers who cannot invest in the business. Developers need to stop regarding Selenium as a standalone tool and consider it as a test suite. This is because all the tools present in Selenium tests would help the developers at different stages of the application development project.
However, the new developers must be aware that Selenium has a massive restriction. This is because, with the help of this test automation suit, the developers can only initiate their advanced test cases on web apps. Considering that there are various other alternatives like native apps, cross-platform apps, and hybrid apps, this practice can cripple the development nature of web companies. So app development companies need to have access to multiple test automation frameworks at the same time.
The Components of the Selenium Test Suite
Now let us take a brief look at all the components of the Selenium test suit:
- The Selenium WebDriver is probably the most important part of this suit as it helps the developers not only start the testing process but also to assign them to all the components of the test suit. We will learn more about the Selenium web driver in the later part of this article.
- With the help of the Selenium Grid, the developers can execute the automated test cases in a parallel format. This means that the app testers can initiate multiple test configurations at the same time. It is a very important feature when the developers are working on complex apps that have thousands of different elements that require testing.
- The Selenium IDE, also known as the integrated development environment, is a crucial part to develop and execute the test cases. This is because, with the help of this tool, the developers can generate test cases in real time. In this case, the app testers have to use the application as normal users and it will continue to generate the test cases based on these interactions. Since these are based on real human actions, they’re very accurate in understanding the performance of the application.
- The Selenium client API is an important tool that helps developers to write automation test cases in their preferred programming language. This means that while using this tool the developers can use any popular language like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby. After this process, they can import it to the native Selenium environment. We would like to mention that before the introduction of this tool, the developers had to learn the native Selenese language for performing the test case creation process.
Selenium WebDriver
The Selenium WebDriver is a component tool of the Selenium test suite that helps the developers to execute all the automation test cases by controlling the browser. Currently, the Selenium WebDriver supports all the popular browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. Using this tool, the developers can also automate various forms of user interactions to understand the effect of these interactions on the proper execution of the web application.
For instance, the Selenium WebDriver can automate instances like single click, double click, scroll, and even right click. While working with the Selenium WebDriver, the developers can also use various sets of random data to understand how the website reacts when users are filling in forms. While working with the Selenium WebDriver, the developers can create automation test cases in their preferred programming languages.
The Selenium WebDriver provides a rich API to interact with all the elements present on the web pages. It also has various methods that help the developers easily conduct the automation test cases on these web applications. For instance, it has different methods for navigating through the web pages, finding certain elements on a page and even executing the JavaScript actions on these web pages.
It is worth mentioning that Selenium has released the 4th update that has massively improved the working capabilities of the Selenium WebDriver. The Selenium WebDriver is also regarded as one of the better versions of the Selenium remote controller that was previously present in the test suite. This is because, with the help of the Selenium WebDriver, the developers can natively interact with the elements of a web application.
The Selenium Grid
The Selenium grid is another crucial part of the Selenium test suite that helps developers to massively improve the efficiency of the automation test cases. We can define the Selenium grid as a distributed testing tool that helps developers to run parallel test cases on multiple browsers and systems. The distribution of application testing is an important feature that helps to reduce the workload on a specific machine.
This process not only helps the developers to speed up the application testing process but also helps them to find out certain errors that are visible on only specific machines or testing environments. To use the Selenium grid, the developers have to follow the steps given below:
- The first step in this process is to set up the Selenium grid hub on the central machine that will be used for executing all the automation test cases.
- Now the developers have to start more than one Selenium Grid node on different systems.
- After this process, the developers have to create a test script that will use the Selenium WebDriver to automate the test cases on the web applications.
- Now the developers have to configure the test script so that it can connect to the Selenium grid hub. It is one of the most important steps that can help the developers to initiate the test cases with the Selenium grid.
- After the successful setup, the developers can easily execute the test kit in the parallel configuration on multiple systems with different system requirements.
In this context, we would like to mention that the developers must choose their desired platform based on the requirements of their customers. It can help the developers to ensure that they can cater to the needs of their present user base and also expand them in the coming years. One of the most efficient steps to complete this process is to conduct efficient market research and understand the popular browsers and user requirements.
Integrating Platforms and Tools in Selenium Automation Testing
By integrating different tools and platforms, the developers can massively improve the simplicity of the Selenium-based automation test cases. This is because with these tools the developers can even automate the test case creation process. Moreover, these tools have additional features for improving the overall quality of the application. For instance, with the help of cloud-based platforms, developers can eliminate the hassle of having a physical device test bench.
This is because cloud platforms can help developers achieve similar test results while executing all the automated test cases over the Internet. It is a very important feature for the mobile platform as thousands of new devices come into the market every year. So it becomes almost impossible for individual creators to update the test bench.
We can improve our knowledge and understanding of our cloud platforms by bringing in LambdaTest as a discussion point:
To complete the basic understanding, we can define LambdaTest as a platform to execute secure modern cross-browser test cases on web apps. Considering the state of the market, we can easily say that cross-browser testing has become the industry standard for ensuring the best performance for customers. This is because, with the help of cross-browser test cases, the developers can ensure stable app performance irrespective of the user shift in the operating system, device specifications, or browser version.
This platform also has various innovative features like parallel test execution to improve efficiency by almost 15 times. Other than importing the test cases from Selenium, it can also work with popular automation frameworks like Cypress and Playwright. It is worth mentioning that while working with Selenium test cases, the developers can execute them on more than three thousand unique real browsers side-by-side.
LambdaTest also helps automation testers to understand the functioning of locally hosted web apps for the internal operations of a company. Moreover, the integration of real devices along with existing thousands of simulation software helps the developers to massively improve the accuracy of the test results.
The Conclusion
The primary motive of this article was to spread proper awareness and knowledge regarding the impact of Selenium WebDriver and the Selenium grid in the execution of Selenium automation testing. We are slowly proceeding towards the app development market that will be completely dominated by automation testing practices, the app developers must keep themselves updated with all the recent additions in this segment. They should also know about all the trends and innovations that will change automation practices in the coming years.
App development companies should also try everything in their power to spread proper knowledge and awareness regarding all automation testing practices. Lastly, it is very important to choose the correct tools that can help the developers in their app projects.
