Selenium

Automated Web Testingwith

Selenium

Deepak Mittal

Dec 15, 2007

www.XebiaIndia.com 2

Agenda

• Introduction to Selenium• Quick Demo• Different ways of using Selenium• Best practices with using Selenium• Questions & Feedback


Quick Poll

• Do you do Web Testing?• Do you do automated Web Testing?• Do you need to support & test your web-

app on multiple browsers?• Which automated web-testing frameworks

do you use?


What is Selenium?

• A JavaScript based

• Open Source

• Web testing tool

• That supports testing Web 2.0 applications

• On multiple browsers

• And multiple Operating Systems


What is Selenium

• Acceptance Testing tool for web-apps

• Tests run directly in browser

• Implemented entirely using browser

technologies - • JavaScript• DHTML• Frames


Origins of Selenium

• Developed by ThoughtWorks to test new

time and expenses system

• Selenium is the key mineral to protect body

from mercury toxicity

• http://www.openqa.org/selenium


Selenium Modes

• Test Runner Mode• test cases in HTML tables

• Record-Playback mode (Selenium IDE)

• Selenium Remote Control (RC) Mode• test-cases in your language of choice


Selenium Modes





Test Runner Mode


Selenium HTML Tests

• Selenium tests are HTML files

• Selenium interacts with the DOM served to

browser

• Selenium is agnostic of server side

technology

• Selenium HTML language is called

Selenese


Selenese

• Selenium declarative DSL : Selenese

• Selenium understands two types of HTML

files (which have simple HTML tables):–Tests–Test Suites

• Every test is contained within a test suite

• Point TestRunner.html at the test suite to

run it


Format of a Selenium Test

• HTML Table with 3 columns –First Column: Selenium command–Second Column: Target of command–Third Column: Optional parameter


Selenium Concepts

• Element Locators : specify HTML elements

• Patterns : for pattern matching values

• Action : manipulate app state

• Accessors : store results in variables

• Assertion : verify that the app is in a certain

state


Test Runner Demo

• See Demo suite

• Look at tests bundled with Selenium

• Running selenium test in slow and fast

mode


Problems with HTML Tests

• Selenium is sensitive to the format of the

table

• No separation of concern

• Duplication is a major issue

• Tests need to be deployed with AUT

(Application under Test)


Selenium Modes





Selenium IDE

• Very useful tool for beginners

• Firefox extension which allows record/play

testing paradigm

• Automates commands, but asserts must be

entered by hand

• Creates the simplest possible Locator

• Based on Selenese


Selenium IDE Demo

• Look at firefox extension

• Look at various possible commands

• Record a test on AUT and play-back

• Save the test at HTML file

• Export the test as Java / Ruby


Selenium Modes





Selenium RC Mode


Selenium RC Mode Demo

• Run selenium server• Look at sample tests


Maintaining Selenium Tests

• Test code is just like production code

• Needs re-factoring, abstraction

• API for the application

• Can build tests from API building blocks

• Try to maintain meaning – in test names,

variable names, comments, and suite

organization


Selenium with Continuous Integration

• Run Selenium tests as part of the build

• Can generate HTML reports, published to

entire team

• Helps catch bugs ASAP


Ajax Support

• Selenium supports testing Web 2.0

applications

• Monitor the DOM for completion of Async

calls

• waitForCondition(script, timeout)


Useful Selenium Tools

• Chris Pederick's Web Developer toolbar

• XPather

• Firebug

• Xpath Checker


Selenium Best Practices

• Use Ids wherever possible (xpaths make

the tests brittle)

• Use data-driven tests. Use a JSP/PHP

page to generate tests

• In order to generate unique Ids, use

timestamp

• Use the right level of granularity


What have we not covered?

• Continuous Integration set-ups

• Creating screencasts using Selenium

• Testing of Ajax applications

• Selenium Commands in detail

• User Extensions

• Using Python/Ruby/C# ...


Selenium Limitations

• Slow when testing all the edge cases

• Slow for testing fine-grained features – set-

up and tear-down are called for each test


Selenium Strengths

• For testing Ajax applications

• Multiple browsers

• Test full-stack


Interesting Possibilities

• Delivering Selenium Screencast as

Documentation to end-users

• Creating a report with screenshots

• A Server having VMWare images of various

OS/browser and each submitting a report

back


Summary

• Selenium is a testing framework for Web

Applications

• Drivers allow web testing in language of

choice

• Test scripts are code: need maintenance,

re-factoring


Summary

• Can be used on Developer machines

• Most valuable when used with CI set-up

• Can be used to make screen casts

• Tests run on real browser – most people

use it to test their JavaScript works

predictably on all browsers


Summary

• Can be used for unit-testing, regression

testing, smoke-testing, integration and

acceptance testing


References / Attribution

• Neal Ford's presentation on Selenium

• Selenium site

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/


Feedback

[email protected]

Technology

Selenium