The Good and the Bad of Selenium Test Automation Software

Who does not enjoy a deep-background naming story? In the early 2000s, a company called Mercury Interactive dominated the test automation globe with Astra Quick Test, its tool. It was not the best merchandise imaginable.

For instance, you could only run tests on Windows computers, just a few of browser versions have been encouraged, and you needed to use a single language to write scripts -- VBScript. When applications engineer Jason Huggins assembled a new, innovative test automation tool, he called his production by clarifying the compound component and supplement advocated as an antidote for mercury poisoning -- selenium.

Intro to Selenium

Selenium is a suite of open source software testing automation tools that has become the de facto merchandise in the quality assurance globe. With a list of several programming languages, all main operating systems and browsers encouraged, Selenium is currently used in production from such businesses as Netflix, Google, HubSpot, Fitbit, and much more. The entire suite provides a range of solutions for different testing problems and needs. Further in the guide, we will discuss these testing programs, as well as also the reasons Selenium remained relevant following ten years since its production. But for now, let us examine what it is about Selenium that made it such a big thing.

Jason Huggins' 2004 production has been a JavaScript framework geared toward preventing its founder from repetitive manual testing. The item that was predictably named JavaScriptTestRunner could perform evaluations directly in a browser, push interactions on the webpage, and rerun them without manual input. This JavaScript tool took off after Huggins realized its possible, made it open source and renamed it Selenium Remote Control. The innovative part of it was that no other tool before it enabled testers to speak to the browser into their programming language of choice.

Pros of using Selenium

Ultimately, it is time to discuss how good old Selenium remains afloat with numerous terrific testing tools appearing on the market every year.

Selenium is only one automation testing tool on the current market, but it is the only free one that may compete with paid products. As you may have noticed in our automatic testing tools comparison, Katalon Studio is the only viable alternative but it does not supply that big of a language option, does not operate on Linux, and just doesn't have a fanbase behind it. Selenium's open source status makes a tool using a steep learning curve a very low entry point for startups and independent programmers. No real surprise that even bigger businesses do not hurry to switch to paid options and give away a couple thousand bucks and upkeep when Selenium still stays up.

+ Integrated with Agile, DevOps, Continuous Delivery workflow

Selenium was following the Agile and DevOps narrative before these words were even put into practice. The entire character of Selenium falls perfectly into the key principles behind Agile, DevOps, or Constant Delivery. What is this accomplished?

As It's portable across all platforms and often does not require learning new languages, Selenium allows for an unmatched flexibility

Parallel testing with Selenium Grid allows developers to obtain feedback much faster and work on the changes immediately instead of waiting overnight for a test pass.

+ Supports mobile testing

Using Selenium, you might also test hybrid, native, or web mobile programs, though you'll need additional software. There are two chief options -- Appium and Selendroid. They are both based on Selenium so that programmers already versed in it can apply the very same principles when analyzing mobile programs.

Both programs are open source and have good community service. The most important difference is that Appium supports iOS, Android, and Windows devices, whilst Selendroid focused entirely on Android. Selendroid also bundles with Appium so that when you examine for Android versions 2.3 through 4.3, the application will automatically switch to Selendroid.

It may seem that using Appium is a more logical choice as it doesn't restrict you to one OS. However, it makes more sense to just use Selendroid if you're planning to test Android exclusively. It also has a couple of nifty features like"hot plugging" -- you can plug devices and detach them without disrupting the tests, raising the number of emulators or hardware devices that can be analyzed at precisely the exact same moment.

+ Huge community

IDataLabs, data-driven research company, offers an intriguing insight into the software testing applications marketplace. It is possible to observe that Selenium takes a shocking 30.59 percent market share of software testing tools, using its closest competitor UFT taking just over 12% -- data that is amazing.

Cons of using Selenium

We never praise a software product without mentioning a few pain points that come with it. Selenium has a few of those, too.

Among the automated testing trends is codeless testing. Some testing tools like TestComplete, Ranorex, or Tricentis provide this choice by constructing a user-friendly UI on top of the code layer and additionally enabling switching between 2 modes. Testers can write scripts and get detailed feedback but skip the coding component if necessary.

Selenium, however, doesn't permit for codeless testing. You want a fantastic grasp of one of those programming languages which narrows down the pool of people which could be engaged in the testing process. Many companies, especially startups, tend to employ their own best coders to write product attributes and engage less skilled folks in automated tests. This won't work with Selenium.

• No built-in image contrast

From the QA process, there are difficulties in automating image affirmation. The easy and most effective approach to determine whether a picture is displayed properly on the display is to check manually. While it's normal for many productions to use a combination of manual and automated testing, this really is a big source of bugs because the task soon becomes repetitive and testers have a tendency to test less often.

One of the usual answers to this problem is image comparison. You have a mockup of your picture that the program should compare to the one exhibited during the test. TestComplete, Ranorex, Katalon Studio, and some others have this operation contained. To perform this in Selenium, you will need a third-party software. Sikuli is a frequent option. It's an image-based recognition tool that integrates nicely with Selenium but its limitations.

• it must be running on the same virtual or physical screen and does not recognize animations.

Searching for help with Selenium testing is a sword that is pleated. The bad side of this is that it is the community that provides help, not the product creators. Finding a solution for your unconventional problem or assist with custom orders is possible, but hard. In case of need, you can contact consulting or support firms for commercial service. Selenium gives a short list of such companies in their ecosystem.

Testers, programmers, project managers -- that they need access to test results, rather visualized in the kind of charts, tables, and supported by screenshots. What's the purpose in writing scripts and performing tests when the final information can be lost or not conveyed to the people who need it the most?

I am a technical content writer at testingxperts, interested in writing articles on the latest IT related topics.