Automation testing has become one of the most important practices in the app development market. This is because the applications have become so complex that it is almost impossible to verify the proper functioning with complete manual testing processes. Moreover, an application consists of thousands of elements that need to work properly side-by-side to ensure smooth functioning.
So, with complete manual testing processes, the companies would take several months to complete the verification process for all of these elements. Similarly, test automation can help developers to complete this process in only a few days. Selenium is one of the top contenders in the automation testing industry for almost 10 years now. Since its initial release in 2004, Selenium has managed to maintain its top position.
With the help of this article, we will understand some of the efficient Selenium commands that can help developers to improve the interactive nature of their automation test cases. We will also try to focus on some of the best Selenium practices scripts, tools, and platforms that can help to improve the testing experience with this automation test suite.
Understanding Automation Testing
For understanding the benefits and influence of test automation, we must have a basic understanding of this modern testing trend. As the name suggests, it is the process of eliminating any form of human involvement from the test cases. Automation testing is highly beneficial in the repetitive test cases that are repeated almost every time whenever an update is released for the application. Automation testing can also benefit other test cases like end-to-end testing and unit testing. Many experts suggest that the new developers must initiate automation test cases with unit testing. This is because unit testing is one of the basic parts of the application as it divides all the components of the app into several small elements. Therefore, it is very easy to automate this testing process without any form of error.
While using automated test files, the testers will use multiple test files consisting of various predetermined parameters and random data for verifying the interactive nature of the application. However, these test cases also allow the developers to customize all these datasets according to the requirements of the development project. While using automated test cases, the application testers can also easily store and maintain the test codes for further app projects. Therefore, we can easily say automation testing helps companies to save a lot of resources in the long run. However, while on the topic of automation testing, we must mention that like any other entity in this world, it is also not devoid of its shortcomings. This is because the initial charge of getting started with test automation is quite high. So, it might not be welcoming for individual creators and small startup companies.
Moreover, with the present state of technology, even with automated test cases, it is not possible to eliminate the need for human developers. This is because various test cases require the knowledge and experience of a human developer. The best examples to justify these claims are visual test cases and exploratory test cases. So, the companies must maintain the proper synchronization between both of these testing processes to utilize the full potential of their modern testbench.
Developing an Idea for Selenium
Selenium is an umbrella project of an open-source test automation suite. It is a test suite because it consists of multiple different tools for performing different tasks related to the automation testing lifecycle. We will learn more about the individual functions of all the tools present in the Selenium test suite in the latter part of this article. Selenium was initially released in 2004 with the unique name of JavaScript test runner. The reason behind this naming scheme was that it was based on this popular programming language. As it is open source, the developers can access all the features of Selenium without having to pay any charge. Moreover, due to its open-source nature, Selenium has a massive community of tech lovers who are always ready to help new developers.
However, the massive drawback of Selenium is that the developers can use the test suite to only initiate and execute automation test cases on web apps. Analyzing the variety of apps that are presently available like native apps, cross-platform apps, and hybrid apps, this limitation can massively cripple the development abilities of modern application development companies. Now, let us shift our focus toward the importance of all the tools present in this suit:
- The Selenium client API helps the developers to write all the test scripts in their preferred programming language. This is a massive advantage as the developers can choose from multiple popular languages like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby. It also helps developers to improve their innovative capabilities. However, during the initial years of Selenium, the developers only had to write the test cases in the Selenese language. It crippled their development abilities.
- The Selenium WebDriver is the most critical component of the Selenium test suite. This is because it is not only capable of starting the test cases but also running them on the target elements of a web app. With the recent Selenium 4 update, the functionalities of Selenium WebDriver have been massively improved and increased. The Selenium WebDriver is far superior compared to the Selenium remote controller as it can directly interact with all the elements present in a web application. Therefore, the developers do not need any native engine for using this tool.
- The Selenium integrated development environment helps the developers to create the test cases based on user interaction. This means that while using this tool the developers simply have to use the web application like a normal user and it will continue to generate test cases in real-time.
- Lastly, the Selenium grid helps developers to initiate parallel testing on web applications. With the help of parallel testing, the developers can initiate multiple test configurations at the same time. It is an important process to massively reduce the application development time.
Understanding Important Selenium Commands
Now let us take a quick look at some of the important Selenium scripts that can help the developers to improve the efficiency of the Selenium automation cases. They are as follows:
- It is very important for automation testers to use the right locators while using Selenium automation testing. This is because, with the help of these locators, the developers can identify the proper placement and location of all the elements in the web application.
- The developers must use the page object model command that is available with Selenium. This is because it can help the app developers to treat the entire application as a class. Therefore, whenever an update is released and some of the elements change their position and feature, the developers do not have to create completely new test cases for verifying their functioning.
- The screenshot feature is another important feature available with Selenium that can help the developers to massively simplify the testing process. This is because, during the execution of the test cases, the developers must take a proper screenshot whenever a failure occurs. This process will help the developers to keep track of all the test cases and their issues. This is a very important process to seamlessly conduct the debugging process on the web application.
- Lastly it is very important for the developers to conduct the Selenium test cases on real devices. In case the developers cannot afford to have an onsite test bench, they can use cloud platforms to serve this purpose. We will learn more about the influence of cloud platforms in the latter part of this article.
Role of Platforms and Tools in Selenium Automated Testing
The process of automation testing can be overwhelming and also confusing for developers who are new to this segment. However, the easiest way to solve this problem is to integrate different platforms and tools that are easily available in the present market. However, due to the massive variety of options available, the developers must carefully choose the correct alternative that suits their development requirements. Moreover, it is also important to understand that various tools and platforms offer additional services to improve the testing process. For instance, various platforms help developers to initiate cloud testing and eliminate the need for an onsite device test bench.
On-site device test benches consist of multiple devices from different manufacturers to ensure that your web application is functional on these devices. It is a very important process as it helps the developers to improve the test coverage and expand their audience space. However, it is a very expensive process and also very hectic as thousands of new devices come on the market every year. However, cloud platforms help to serve this similar purpose with the help of devices present on multiple servers. It also helps the developers to execute unlimited test cases while eliminating the barriers of geolocation. This means the developers can initiate the test cases from anywhere.
We can understand and improve our idea of cloud testing by bringing LambdaTest to the limelight:
To begin the discussion, we can define LambdaTest as a secure and safe platform to conduct automated cross-browser testing. With the present state of the application development market, cross-browser testing has become one of the most necessary forms in the application development and testing process.
This is because, with this testing process, the developers can ensure that the application maintains its best performance irrespective of changes and shifts in the OS edition or the browser version. This platform also has various modern features to improve the testing process like the initiation of parallel testing. With this feature, the developers can initiate different testing configurations side-by-side. LambdaTest can import automation test files from several popular automation tools like Selenium, Playwright, and Cypress.
While using Selenium test cases, the developers can execute them on over three thousand individual browsers. Lastly, it produces highly dependable test results by combining multiple reports from different simulators, emulators, and multiple real cloud devices.
The Final Verdict
So, while concluding, we can say that Selenium is highly beneficial for integrating and initiating automation test cases in modern test benches. There are various commands and scripts of Selenium that can help the developers utilize the full potential of the automation test builds. It is also important for the developers to understand the need of using proper tools and platforms in their test bench. So, it will be a good idea for automation companies to spread proper awareness through seminars regarding this segment.
