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What Is Selenium? Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

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Selenium is one of the most used tools for people to aid themselves in automating work online. Selenium has become a big collection of tools that can do many things, ranging from simple tasks to very complex jobs. Let’s begin by understanding what is Selenium?.

Selenium works with various programming languages, including Python, Java, C#, and JavaScript. This implies that many developers and testers can use it. Again, the good thing is that Selenium can work effectively with all the leading web browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

Selenium is quite important in today’s fast world of software development, where companies are always trying to update and improve their products quickly. It helps ensure that websites are working well and reliably.

Understanding Selenium: An Overview

Selenium is a free tool made for making web browsers work automatically. It’s the only tool that specializes explicitly in testing web applications instead of mobile or desktop, as in the case of tools like Appium or QTP. A few parts are inside Selenium WebDriver, Selenium IDE, Selenium Grid, and Selenium RC (which is old now).

Each part does specific testing jobs. For instance, Selenium IDE is good for newbies as it lets you make test scripts without coding. Conversely, Selenium WebDriver is more advanced and allows users to write custom scripts using their favorite programming languages.

An important thing about Selenium is that it works on different browsers and systems. It’s cool with Windows, macOS, and Linux and runs smoothly on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. This flexibility is why people prefer Selenium for testing web apps. Apart from being functional, Selenium is updated regularly because a big community has developed it.

The History of Selenium

The history of Selenium traces back to 2004 when Jason Huggins, an engineer at ThoughtWorks, created it. He urgently needed a tool to easily assist him in doing repetitive web application work. At first, it was called JavaScriptTestRunner, but it later became known as Selenium because it could do much more than just that.

As more people started using Selenium, others joined in improving it. They developed Selenium Remote Control (RC), a solution that worked through a server. This allowed testers to write automated tests for web applications using different programming languages.

To fix these problems, Simon Stewart introduced Selenium WebDriver in 2006. So, what is Selenium WebDriver? and how did it help? Selenium WebDriver is a framework for automating web-based app testing. WebDriver changed how browsers were automated by talking directly to them using their language, removing the need for JavaScript. This upgrade made Selenium faster, more trustworthy, and able to handle dynamic web content easily.

In 2008, Selenium Grid was launched to help run multiple tests simultaneously on different machines, saving time. In 2009, the combination of WebDriver and Selenium RC led to Selenium 2.0, which was simpler and more effective. Throughout the years, Selenium kept growing, and the release of Selenium 4.0 brought improvements like better connections with browsers and a more user-friendly experience.

Key Components of Selenium

Four broad areas have been classified in Selenium, each serving a different purpose:

  • Selenium IDE: Selenium IDE is a Chrome and Firefox browser extension that helps record and replay the user’s activities on the web application. It allows users to replay the interactions as test cases and supports simple recording capabilities for those without programming knowledge.
  • Selenium WebDriver: The heart of Selenium automation lies in WebDriver. The users can write custom scripts using programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, and Ruby. In contrast to Selenium, WebDriver can interact directly with the browser drivers, allowing better control and compatibility with modern web applications.
  • Selenium Grid: Selenium Grid runs test cases simultaneously on multiple browsers and operating systems. It enables parallel execution, significantly reducing testing time and ensuring cross-browser compatibility.
  • Selenium RC: Selenium RC has long been obsolete. Nevertheless, it was the first tool to support multiple programming languages, and it has been replaced with WebDriver. However, there is a historical context to know with modern testers.

Why Use Selenium for Automation Testing?

Below, we have given different reasons that will explain why we use selenium for automation testing:

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  • Open Source: Selenium is free and a highly suitable choice for organizations working on tight budgets. Selenium is open-source and thus fosters community involvement, which helps keep the program updated and improved constantly. Through this, the tester or developer can use the automation frameworks without charging for licensing.
  • Multi-Language Support: Selenium supports several programming languages, like Java, Python, C#, and JavaScript. It is flexible enough to allow teams to use their favorite language, making integrating into existing development and testing processes easy. It ensures that testers can work in the most comfortable environment.
  • Cross-browser Compatibility: With Selenium, you can test your applications on all the major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. By testing your application across browsers, you ensure that it will work correctly everywhere. Cross-browser testing becomes a necessary step in reaching a large audience.
  • Cross-Platform Testing: Selenium runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Therefore, cross-platform testing is provided. This versatility ensures the application is tested in environments like users’ real scenarios. Hence, teams can test their preferred operating systems without a compatibility issue.
  • Integrate with CI/CD Tools: Selenium integrates well with other tools like Jenkins, GitLab, and Bamboo to support continuous integration and deployment pipelines. Testing automation via Selenium promotes shorter feedback cycles, assisting agile development processes and improving software quality.
  • Massive Community Support: Selenium has a large, lively community of users putting out tutorials, forums, and troubleshooting. The result is that it’s simpler for new users and old veterans alike to learn and troubleshoot. Continuous updates from the community keep Selenium modern and functional in this ever-changing tech arena.

What Types of Testing Can Selenium Automate?

Selenium is a flexible testing tool offering different types of testing. It’s the cornerstone of web application quality assurance. Flexibility allows teams to automate different testing types to increase efficiency and accuracy. Below are some of the key testing types that Selenium can automate:

  • Functional Testing: Selenium excels at automating functional testing, so all features within a web application work accordingly. It verifies the functionality of an application against defined requirements, covering aspects such as the submission of forms, navigation, and user interactions.
  • Regression Testing: Only regression testing assures that the present application functionality is not broken, even in newer applications or modifications. Selenium can be interfaced through the IDE, allowing a user to store the test case as a record, thereby saving time and effort in writing duplicate tests.
  • Cross-Browser Testing: Another strong feature of Selenium is that it supports running tests on different browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. This ensures that test cases will be run in a similar environment on all these browsers. The performance and behavior of the automated tests can then be easily measured in the different browser environments.
  • End-to-end Testing: Selenium enables end-to-end testing by simulating real user scenarios, from log-in to log-out. It checks that all elements of the application work properly and are in synchronization with each other. It validates workflows and interactions inside the web application.
  • Smoke Testing: Selenium can perform smoke testing to rapidly validate the heart of an application right after a build. This approach has to be stable before even getting into deeper tests.
  • Data-Driven Testing: Selenium supports data-driven testing through TestNG or JUnit; that is, multiple test cases would be executed using different input data. These are very important in application validation against various inputs by users.

How Does Selenium Work?

Selenium is a tool that helps with web browsing. It has parts like WebDriver, Selenium Grid, and Selenium IDE. WebDriver talks directly to the web browser using drivers like ChromeDriver for Chrome or GeckoDriver for Firefox. These drivers help Selenium speak to the browser and do things like clicking buttons or typing text.

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When you write a test in a language like Java or Python, Selenium tells the browser what to do through the driver. The driver changes these instructions into a language the browser can understand, letting it click on buttons or move to different pages. Selenium WebDriver helps with real-time actions, making it good for testing websites that change a lot.

Selenium Grid helps by running many tests simultaneously on different browsers and devices. This is great for checking if a website works well on different setups.

If you are new to testing, try Selenium IDE. It is easier to use because it records what you do and turns it into tests you can run. It’s not as strong as WebDriver, but it’s a good way to learn about Selenium.

Selenium behaves like a real guy using a website, ensuring every part works. This helps find some issues before regular users do, ensuring the website is reliable and works well.

Enhancing Selenium Testing with LambdaTest

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale across 3000+ browsers and OS combinations. This means you can perform testing thoroughly. You can run the Selenium tests online, covering all major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera.

LambdaTest lets us run tests simultaneously on Windows, Linux, and macOS. This saves us time and makes sure our tests are reliable. It also lets us test on real Android and iOS devices, improving our coverage on different platforms.

This platform lets you work with different automation frameworks like Selenium, Appium, and Cypress. It also supports popular programming languages like Java, Python, and JavaScript. It has incredible features like geolocation testing for over 120 regions and secure tunnels for local testing. It connects with over 120 CI/CD tools and project management platforms, making it a flexible solution.

Conclusion

Selenium is an inevitable tool in web automation testing, which provides flexibility, compatibility, and the most cost-effective support. Its advanced features and community support are accessible to any level of user, from a novice to an expert. You can use Selenium to deliver flawless web applications when you understand its components, setup, and applications.

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