What is Selenium
Selenium is one of the most widely used open source automation testing suite. It was developed by Jason Huggins in 2004 as an internal tool . Selenium supports automation across different browsers, platforms and programming languages.
Selenium can be easily deployed on platforms such as Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac. Moreover it supports operating system for mobile applications like iOS, windows mobile and android.
Selenium supports a variety of programming languages through the use of drivers specific to each language. It can be used with various other programming languages like Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, PHP etc
Selenium test scripts can be coded in any of the supported programming languages and can be run directly in most modern web browsers .It include Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari etc
Selenium can be used to automate functional tests and can be integrated with automation test tools such as Maven, Jenkins, & Docker to achieve continuous testing. It can also be integrated with tools such as TestNG and JUnit for managing test cases and generating reports.
Components of Selenium
Selenium Suite has 4 components namely:
- Selenium IDE
- Selenium RC
- Selenium WebDriver
- Selenium Grid
Selenium IDE
IDE — Integrated Development Environment
It is just a web-browser extension that you need to download and install the extension for that particular web browser and start working with it.
It can automate and record the entire automation process as well.
Selenium Remote Control
Selenium RC was built to automate the testing of web applications by simulating user interactions across different browsers and platforms.
It provided a way to browser automation remotely and execute test scripts written in various programming languages.
Selenium Web Driver
It is a powerful and enhanced version of Selenium RC which was developed to overcome the limitations of Selenium RC. Web Driver communicates with browsers directly with the help of browser-specific native methods thereby completely eliminating the need of Selenium RC.
Web Driver works closely with Selenium IDE and Selenium Grid resulting in reliable test execution at speed and scale.
Selenium Grid
It is a smart proxy server that allows QAs to run tests in parallel on multiple machines.
This is done by routing commands to remote web browser instances, where one server acts as the hub. This hub routes test commands that are in JSON format to multiple registered Grid nodes.
Selenium for Automation
Manual testing can be time-consuming and prone to human errors. Selenium Automation allows tests to be executed quickly and accurately, reducing the likelihood of human mistakes and ensuring consistent test results.
Selenium allows developers and testers to automate the testing of web applications across different browsers and platforms.
Language Support: Selenium allows you to create test scripts in different languages like Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, PHP etc
Browser Support: Selenium enables you to test your website on different browsers such as include Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari etc
Scalability: Automated testing with Selenium can easily scale to cover a wide range of test case, scenarios, and user interactions. This scalability ensures maximum test coverage of the application’s functionality.
Reusable Test Scripts: Selenium allows testers to create reusable test scripts that can be used across different test cases and projects. This reusability saves time and effort in test script creation and maintenance.
Parallel Testing Selenium supports parallel test execution, allowing multiple tests to run concurrently. This helps reduce the overall testing time, making the development process more efficient.
Documentation and Reporting: Selenium provides detailed test execution logs and reports, making it easier to track test results and identify areas that require attention.
User Experience Testing: Selenium can simulate user interactions and behavior, allowing testers to assess the user experience and ensure that the application is intuitive and user-friendly.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Selenium can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines to automate the testing of each code change. This integration helps identify and address issues earlier in the development cycle, allowing for faster and more reliable releases.
