Selenium is a popular open-source tool used to automate web applications and allows you to run tests on your website. It supports multiple browsers and multiple programming languages including PHP, Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, and Ruby.
Selenium has many features but the main features of Selenium testing tools are:
- Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
- Selenium WebDriver
- Selenium Grid
These components work together to make the website easier to use, with the WebDriver acting as the browser controller and the IDE enabling users to interact with the website. Test the website on different machines and try the browser testing instructions to build and complete it.
What is Selenium IDE?
Selenium IDE is like a special tool that you can add to your Chrome or Firefox browser. It is used only to record the activities you make on the website, such as clicking or selecting buttons, and the test can be repeated. Think of it as an easy way to create and run tests without writing a lot of complex code.
It works on different operating systems such as Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Selenium IDE is a tool for in-house testing. It writes client-side functions for you in the browser, using Selenium’s existing commands and without being defined via the menu, not only does this save time, but it’s also a great way to learn Selenium script syntax.
Advantages of Selenium IDE
- Provides you with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to easily record your interactions with the network.
- Create automated test scripts and validate them quickly.
- Support many browsers and programming languages.
- Find bugs by identifying them and pointing them out during gameplay.
Features of Selenium IDE
- Extend your experience with plug-ins: Plug-ins are a way to add features and functionality to Selenium IDE.
- Export test case: A test case created in Selenium IDE can be exported to HTML, Java, C#, Python, etc. Can be exported to different formats; for example, this provides the flexibility to combine tests with different test sites and models.
- Element finder: Selenium IDE provides id, name, XPath, CSS selector, etc. to help users find and identify elements on web pages. provides. It uses a variety of elements. This makes it easier to interact with certain objects when creating tests.
Selenium IDE window interface and Selenium IDE components. We need to understand UI tools so we can create effective tests.
Selenium IDE GUI Components
An integrated development environment (IDE) is software for creating applications that integrate development tools into a graphical user interface (GUI).
Selenium IDE GUI(Graphics User Interface) Components are:
- Menu
- Toolbar
- Address Bar
- Test Navigation Pane
- Test Script Editor
- Log and Reference Pane
1. Menu
This menu contains icons and explanations for functions such as creating new tasks, opening tasks, and saving tasks.
2. Toolbar
The toolbar contains icons for progress control. Button options are as follows:
Complete all tests
- Run current test
- Skip current instruction
- Quick test control
- Select breakpoint
- Pause exception
- Start typing button.
3. Address Bar
The URL line contains the playback base URL. This is the root URL of the application under test. The address bar is a list of all the URLs the device has accessed.
4. Test Navigation Pane
The navigation pane displays the names of all saved tests. We can set up the laboratory and group the laboratory into laboratories.
5. Test Script Editor
When you close the IDE, the Test Script Editor pane displays Selenese commands for test scripts and user interactions. There are three lines in the sentence:
- Instruction
- Target
- Value
6. Log and Reference Pane
The log view pane shows the execution time of the entry during execution. The Reference window shows a summary of the Selenese commands selected in the Test Script Editor.
What is Selenium WebDriver?
Selenium WebDriver API was introduced to the world with Selenium version 2.0. Its main function is to manage the browser process to ensure that the end-to-end process of the application works as expected. WebDriver is the best web automation tool that provides tools to create tests using programming languages. It is an API tool that provides better support for modern web application problems. Web drivers provide better support for tools that create dynamic web pages by providing a simpler, more user-friendly programming interface. It supports many languages such as Java, C#, and Python, as well as many browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
Components of Selenium WebDriver
- Selenium Client Library
- JSON Wire Protocol
- WebDriver
- Operating System Browser
Selenium WebDriver Architecture
1. Selenium Client Libraries
Testers write automation scripts in a language they know. Python, Perl, C#, Java, etc. written in their language. available. Many language options will make your work easier and faster. Additionally, the Selenium user library makes it easy to connect to the following features: Multi-language support. You can write automation scripts in languages where you know Selenium is written.
2. JSON Wire Protocol
The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) wire protocol helps transfer data between servers and clients on the Internet. It is a REST API service that enables RESTful web services to be transported and interpreted using JSON over HTTP.
- Messenger’s role: JSON Wire Protocol acts as a messenger between the website and the client (such as a web browser or mobile application).
- Data Transfer: It helps in transferring data between the server and the client. This information could be information about users, posts, or other aspects of your website’s performance.
- REST API: It’s a part of the broader concept of REST (Representational State Transfer) API.REST is like a framework for building flexible and scalable web services.
- JSON format: Messages exchanged between the server and the client follow the JSON format. JSON is a simple and readable way to organize data using key pairs.
- HTTP: Messages are sent via the HTTP protocol, which is the basis for communicating information on the Web. It’s the same protocol your browser uses to fetch web pages.
JSON Wire Protocol helps web servers and clients communicate effectively to understand each other’s messages. It seems to have a language (JSON) and a reliable way to transfer the description between them (HTTP).
3. Web Driver
The driver is useful for using browsers and completes automatic scripts for browsers. The browser driver is responsible for managing missing functions in the browser. Each browser has its version of WebDrivers.
Here are some steps for creating automatic scripts using specific browsers:
- Create HTTP requests for each script and send them to the browser driver.
- The specified driver received a request from the server.
- The server sends all instructions for the browser to operate.
When an automation script is executed the following steps occur:
- Each Selenium command makes an HTTP request and forwards it to the browser driver
- The browser driver uses the HTTP server to receive the HTTP request
- HTTP Server steps to take using the Selenium command
- Performs action steps in the browser
- Execution is sent back to the HTTP server
- HTTP server passes events back to the automation script
4. Operating System Browsers
The best thing about Selenium WebDriver is that it supports all major browsers like Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, IE, Edge, and Opera. Each browser has a special web interface for managing text. Selenium WebDriver provides specific drivers for each browser. So when you want Selenium to work its magic on Google Chrome, it has a special tool (driver) for that purpose. If you switch to Firefox, Firefox will replace its tools with tools designed specifically for Firefox.
What is Selenium Grid?
Selenium Grid is part of the Selenium testing suite that allows tests to be run across multiple systems and browsers. Selenium is an open-source framework used to make web applications mainly for testing purposes, but it can also be used for many tasks such as web scraping.
We have Hub and Node elements in Selenium Grid. The hub is installed on the computer where the test is performed. We can configure multiple hubs (think multiple processors/multiple computers) and multiple browsers to run tests on multiple nodes.
So in short, the Selenium grid works simultaneously on different machines and different browsers. Encourage successful testing. It allows you to run parallel tests in different browsers on different systems. That is, multiple tests are run simultaneously against different machines running different browsers and operating systems. Additionally, Selenium-Grid supports full testing. It allows testing to be performed in a complete testing environment.
While Using the Selenium Grid
- Run simultaneous testing across different browsers and operating systems. This will ensure that the app you are testing is compatible with multiple browsers.
- Save time with test packages. If you set Selenium Grid to run 4 tests simultaneously, the entire suite can run about 4x faster.
The grid concept was introduced to support the success of the experiment.
Advantages of Selenium Grid
- Short processing time: Reduces the total time required for the test suite due to its optimization. This is especially important in an agile development environment where providing immediate feedback on product quality is critical.
- Centralized Command: Provides centralized control and management even though the assessment is distributed across multiple nodes. This includes managing deployment data, focusing on test execution, and configuring nodes.
- Parallel execution of tests: One of its main features is the ability to run tests in parallel on multiple machines. This provides faster feedback to your application, reducing overall test execution time.
Conclusion
Selenium is like a superhero testing tool with three main functions. WebDriver helps you run the browser, IDE files and roll back your actions and Grid runs multiple tests simultaneously. Together they make Selenium a powerful automated testing suite for web applications.