SELENIUM

Automated Testing Tool

Presenter: Lanette Nichole Braxton
October 21, 2014
 HISTORY

• Developed in 2004 by Jason Huggins as a JavaScript library used to

automate his manual testing routines
• Selenium Core is born whose functionality underlies the Selenium RC
(Remote Control) and Selenium IDE tools
• The Limitation of having a JavaScript based automation engine and
browser security restricted Selenium to specific functionality
• Google, who has been a long time user of Selenium, had a developer
named Simon Stewart who developed WebDriver. This tool circumvented
Selenium’s JavaScript sandbox to allow it to communicate with the Browser
and Operating System directly using native methods
• In 2008, Selenium and WebDriver merged technologies and intellectual
intelligence to provide the best possible test automation framework
 INTRODUCTION

• Selenium is a suite of testing automation tools used for Web-Base

applications: Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver and
Selenium Grid
• These tools provide a rich set of testing functions specifically geared
to varied testing scenarios of all types of Web applications
• The operations provided by these tools are highly flexible and afford
many options for comparing UI elements to expected application
behavior
• Selenium tests can be executed on multiple browser platforms
 WHY USE/LEARN SELENIUM

Increases you marketability

Has a lot of Java planks

Growing Industry standard

Assist with the deployment of defective-free code

Open source, web-based testing automation tool and cross-browser compliant

Muti-language backend support (Java, Ruby, Python, C#, PHP, ect…)

 SELENIUM TOOLS

• Selenium IDE
• Rapid prototyping tool for building test scripts
• Firefox plugin
• Can be used by developers with little to no programming experience to write simple tests quickly
and gain familiarity with the Selenese commands
• Has a recording feature that records a user’s live actions that can be exported in one of many
programming languages
• Does not provide iteration or conditional statements for test scripts
• Can only run tests against FireFox
• Developed tests can be run against other browsers, using a simple command-line interface that
invokes the Selenium RC server
• Can export WebDriver or Remote Control scripts (these scripts should be in PageObject
structure)
• Allows you the option to select a language for saving and displaying test cases
 SELENIUM TOOLS

• Selenium RC aka Selenium 1

• It ‘inject’ JavaScript functions into the browser when the browser is loaded and then uses
its JavaScript to drive the AUT within the browser
• Mainly supported in maintenance mode
• Provides support for several programming languages
• Selenium WebDriver
• Designed to provide a simpler, more concise programming interface in addition to
addressing some limitations in the Selenium-RC API
• Developed to better support dynamic web pages where elements of a page may change
without the page itself being reloaded
• Makes direct calls to the browser using each browser’s native support for automation.
• Has the Selenium 1 (aka Selenium RC) underlying technology for flexibility and Portability
• Migrating From Selenium RC to Selenium WebDriver
• Not tied to any particular test framework, so it can be used equally well in unit testing or
from a plain old “main” method.
 SELENIUM TOOLS

• Selenium Grid
• Scales the Selenium RC solution for large test suites and test that must be run in
multiple environments
• Tests can be run in parallel with simultaneous execution (different tests on
different remote machines)
• It allows for running your tests in a distributed test execution environment
• Used to run your tests against multiple browsers, multiple versions of browser,
and browsers running on different operating systems
• It reduces the time it takes for the test suite to complete a test pass
SELENIUM IDE
 SELENIUM IDE

Selenese Commands
Action
Manipulate the state of the application
Used with “AndWait” (clickAndWait)

Accessors
Examines the application state and stores the results in variables
Used to auto generate Assertions

Assertions
Similar to Accessors but verifies the state of the application to what is expected
Modes: assert, verify and waitFor
 SELENIUM IDE

Syntax
Has two parameters (both are not required)
Can view command requirements from the command reference tab

Parameters
Locators identify a UI Element on a page
Test Patterns are used for asserting or verifying
Selenium variable or Text Patterns that can be entered in input fields or drop down selections
 SELENIUM IDE

Selenese Command (continued)

AndWait
Tells Selenium to wait for the page to load after an action has been performed
Used when triggering navigation/page refresh (test will fail otherwise)
Command: clickAndWait
WaitFor
No set time period
Dynamically waits for the desired condition, checking every second
Commands: waitForElementPresent, waitForVisible, etc…
Echo
Used to display information progress notes that is displayed to the console during test execution
Informational notes can be used to provide context within your test results report
Used to print the contents of Selenium variables
 SELENIUM IDE

Store Commands and Selenium Variables

Selenium variables can be used to store constants at the beginning of scripts and values
passed to a test script from the command-line, another program or file
Store Command
Two parameters (text value and Selenium variable)
Uses ${} to access the value of a variable
Can be used in the first or second parameter or within a locator expression
Other Store Commands: storeElementPresent, storeText, storeEval, ect…
 SELENIUM IDE

JavaScript and Selenese Parameters

JavaScript uses script and non-script Selenese parameters
Parameters can be accessed via a JavaScript associative array “storedVars[]”
Script Parameters
Specified by assertEval, verifyEval, storeEval and waitForEval
A snippet of JavaScript code is placed into the appropriate field, normally the Target field (script
parameters are usually the first or only parameter)

Non-Script Parameters
Uses JavaScript to generate values for elements with non-script parameters
JavaScript must be enclosed in curly braces and proceeded by the label “javascript”
 SELENIUM IDE

Commonly Used Selenium Commands

open
click/clickAndWait
verifyTitle/assertTitle
verifyTextPresent
verifyElementPresent
verifyText
verifyTable
waitForPageToLoad
waitForElementPresent
 SELENIUM IDE

Locators
By Identifier
Used by default
Locator type is “identifier”
First element with id attribute value matching the location will be used
First element with a name attribute matching the location will be used if there are no id matches
By ID
More limited than the “identifier” type
Locator type is “id”
Use this type when you know the element’s id
By Name
Locates an element with a matching name attribute
Filters can be applied for elements with the same name attribute
Locator type is “name”
 SELENIUM IDE

X-Path
Used for locating nodes in an XML document
Elements can be located in regards to absolute terms or a relative position to an element that has a
specified id or name attribute
Can locate elements via attributes other than id or name
Starts with “//”
By DOM
Can be accessed using Javascript
Locator type is “document”
By CSS
Uses the style binding of selectors to elements in a document as a locating strategy
Faster than X-Path and can find the most complicated objects in an intrinsic HTML document
Locator type is “css”
 SELENIUM IDE

Matching Patterns
Text Patterns
A parameter required by following Selenese commands: verifyText, verifyText, verifyTitle, verifyAlert,
assertConfirmation, verifyPrompt, ect…
Globbing Patterns
Pattern matching based on wild card characters (*, [], -)
Uses the “glob:” label
Default pattern matching scheme
Regular Expressions
The most powerful pattern matching scheme
Prefixed with “regexp:” label
Exact Patterns
Uses no special characters, no need to escape characters
Prefixed with “exact:” label
 SELENIUM IDE

• Alerts, Pop-ups and Multiple Windows

• In Selenium, JavaScript alert and confirmation pop-ups will not appear, they are
overridden at runtime by Selenium’s own JavaScript
• Alert pop-ups, however, still have a presence and would need to be asserted with one
of the various assertFoo functions (assertFoo(pattern), assertFooPresent(),
assertFooNotPresent(), storeFoo(variable), storeFooPresent(variable), ect…
• Confirmation pop-ups select “Ok” by default and use assertConfirmation,
assertConfirmationPresent, ect.. functions
 SELENIUM IDE

• Debugging and Start Points

• Set a debug start point by right-clicking a command and toggle “break point/start
point”
• The Find button highlights the currently selected UI element on the displayed page.
From the Table view, select any command that has a locator parameter and click the
Find button
• To view portions of the Page Source, select the respective portion of the web page,
right-click, select view selection source
• In recording a locator-type argument, Selenium IDE stores additional information that
presents the user with alternative locator-type arguments
 SELENIUM IDE

• User Extensions
• JavaScript files created for customizations and features to add additional functionality
to Selenium IDE
• For Flow Control, install the goto_sel_ide.js extension
 SELENIUM IDE

Java Test Script Example

public void testGoogleTestSearch() throws Exception

{
selenium.open("http://www.google.com/webhp");

assertEquals("Google", selenium.getTitle());

selenium.type("q", "Selenium OpenQA");

selenium.click("btnG");

selenium.waitForPageToLoad("5000");

assertEquals("Selenium OpenQA - Google Search",

selenium.getTitle());

}
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Project Setup
Java
The easiest way is use Maven. Maven will download the java bindings (the Selenium 2.0 java client
library) and all its dependencies, and will create the project for you, using a maven pom.xml (project
configuration) file
You can then import the maven project into your preferred IDE, IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse.
From a command-line, CD into the project directory and run maven as follows: mvn clean install
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

• Commands and Operations

• To fetch a page you would use the “get” command
• driver.get("http://www.google.com");

• Locating UI Elements
• Language bindings expose a “findElement” and “Find Elements” method
• The “Find” methods take a locator or query object called “By”
• WebElement element= driver.findElement(By.id("coolestWidgetEvah"));
• List<WebElement>cheeses = driver.findElements(By.className("cheese"));
• WebElement frame = driver.findElement(By.tagName("iframe"));
• WebElement cheese = driver.findElement(By.name("cheese"));
• WebElement cheese = driver.findElement(By.linkText("cheese"));
• WebElement cheese = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("cheese"));
• Web Element cheese = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(“#food.span.dairy.aged”)) List<WebElement> inputs =
driver.findElements(By.xpath("//input"));
• WebElement element = (WebElement) ((JavascriptExecutor)driver).executeScript("return $('.cheese')[0]");
• Input and Navigation
• Select select = new Select(driver.findElement(By.tagName("select")));
select.deselectAll(); select.selectByVisibleText("Edam");
• driver.findElement(By.id("submit")).click();
• driver.switchTo().window("windowName");
• for (String handle : driver.getWindowHandles()) { driver.switchTo().window(handle); }
• driver.switchTo().frame("frameName");
• Alert alert = driver.switchTo().alert();
• driver.navigate().to("http://www.example.com");
• driver.navigate().forward(); driver.navigate().back();
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Page Objects
OO Library that separates test code into a MVC pattern bringing OOP to test scripts

Language neutral pattern for representing a complete page or position of a page in an OO manner

Requires Language specific coding

Used for maintenance, script cascading, enhanced script readability/functionality

 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Scripts and Page Objects

Scripts are more procedural while Page Objects are detail oriented
Locators appear once in all Page Objects of a page and do not cross Page Object
boundaries
Uses Elements, Actions and Synchronization
Order of Operation
Locator

Element Implementation

Add Elements to Page Objects

Actions
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Do not create the Page Object all at once, build test incrementally
Scripts Should
Not contain any synchronization code
Not contain any Driver API calls (promotes changes to Selenium or other technology without
changing the scripts)
Has asserts (determination of results)
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Driver Implementations
HtmlUnitDriver
The fastest and most lightweight implementation of WebDriver
HtmlUnit is a java based implementation of a WebBrowser without a GUI
For any language binding (other than java) the Selenium Server is required to use this driver
A pure Java solution and so it is platform independent
Supports JavaScript but emulates other browsers’ JavaScript behaviour
FireFox Driver
Controls the Firefox browser using a Firefox plugin
Runs in a real browser and supports JavaScript
Faster than the Internet Explorer Driver but slower than HtmlUnitDriver
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Internet Explorer Driver

This driver is controlled by a .dll files and is thus only available on Windows OS
Each Selenium release has its core functionality tested against versions 6, 7 and 8 on XP, and 9 on
Windows7
Runs in a real browser and supports JavaScript
XPath is not natively supported in most versions
CSS is not natively supported in versions 6 and 7
CSS selectors in IE 8 and 9 are native, but those browsers don’t fully support CSS3
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Driver Implementation
Chrome Driver
Chrome Driver is maintained / supported by the Chromium Project
WebDriver works with Chrome through the chromedriver binary (found on the chromium project’s
download page)
Runs in a real browser and supports JavaScript
Because Chrome is a Webkit-based browser, the Chrome Driver may allow you to verify that your site
works in Safari. Note that since Chrome uses its own V8 JavaScript engine rather than Safari’s Nitro
engine, JavaScript execution may differ
Slower than the HtmlUnit Driver
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Opera Driver
See the Opera Driver wiki article in the Selenium Wiki for information on using the Opera Driver

iOS Driver
See either the ios-driver or appium projects

Android Driver
See the Selendroid project
 SELENIUM WEBDRIVER

Example Java Implementation

LoginPage.java
HomePage.java
LoginTest.java
 SELENIUM RC

• In Selenium RC, the Selenium Server launches and kills browsers,

interprets and runs the Selenese commands passed from the test program,
and acts as an HTTP proxy, intercepting and verifying HTTP messages
passed between the browser and the AUT
• Client libraries which provide the interface between each programming
language and the Selenium RC Server.
• The primary task for using Selenium RC is to convert your Selenese into a
programming language
SELENIUM RC
 SELENIUM RC

Sample Test Script

open /
type q selenium rc
clickAndWait btnG
assertTextPresent Results * for selenium rc
 SELENIUM RC

/** Add JUnit framework to your classpath if not already there

* for this example to work
*/
package com.example.tests;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.*;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class NewTest extends SeleneseTestCase {

public void setUp() throws Exception {
setUp("http://www.google.com/", "*firefox");
}
public void testNew() throws Exception {
selenium.open("/");
selenium.type("q", "selenium rc");
selenium.click("btnG");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad("30000");
assertTrue(selenium.isTextPresent("Results * for selenium rc"));
}
}
 SELENIUM RC

Learning the API

setUp("http://www.google.com/", "*firefox");
The Browser is manipulated by a Browser Instance that is assigned to a program variable
This program variable is then used to call methods from the browser
Selenese commands are then ran by calling the respective methods from the browser variable -
selenium.type(“field-id”,”string to type”)
To utilize iteration and conditional logic, Selenium RC uses program language specific methods in
conjunction with Selenese commands
Use the getEval method of selenium API to execute JavaScript from selenium RC
 SELENIUM RC

• Server, Security and Browers Configurations

• Command line options can be used to change the default server behaviour.
• If your AUT is behind an HTTP proxy which requires authentication then you should
configure http.proxyHost, http.proxyPort, http.proxyUser and http.proxyPassword
• You can run Selenese html files directly within the Selenium Server by passing the html file
to the server’s command line
• When launching selenium server the -log option can be used to record valuable debugging
information reported by the Selenium Server to a text file
• When dealing with HTTPS in a Selenium RC test, there is a run mode that supports
handling security pop-ups and processes the security certificate for you
• When a browser is not directly supported, you may still run your Selenium tests against a
browser of your choice by using the “*custom” run-mode (i.e. in place of *firefox or
*iexplore) when your test application starts the browser.
 SELENIUM GRID

• A Grid consists of a single Hub, and one or more Nodes. Both are started
using a selenium-server.jar executable.
• The Hub receives a test to be executed along with information on which
browser and ‘platform’ (i.e. WINDOWS, LINUX, etc) where the test
should be run.
• Since the Hub knows the configuration for each registered Node, it selects
an available Node that has the requested browser-platform combination
• Selenium commands initiated by the test are sent to the Hub, which passes
them to the Node assigned to that test
• The Node runs the browser, and executes the Selenium commands within
that browser against the application under test
SELENIUM REFERENCES

PushToTest.com
SelenuiumHQ