For web app automation Selenium is my tool of choice
Updated March 13, 2019
For web app automation Selenium is my tool of choice
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Selenium
We use a Selenium based test automation framework (developed in-house) for testing of our web-based application using variety of browsers.
Pros
- I have used selenium in several technology organizations and one strength that I see is that Selenium can be integrated into frameworks written using different programming languages which allows for native support from organizations development teams and eliminates the need of introducing other languages.
- Selenium has a powerful object identification mechanism which provides the ability to create custom object repositories and map out entire application interfaces before the tests are even developed.
- The Selenium community is extremely helpful and even for beginners there are answers available for most questions and challenges that may come up.
Cons
- As some web applications update content dynamically I have experienced "stale element exception" quite a lot and it would be a helpful feature if selenium had a find element retry mechanism embedded into the framework itself.
- In one of the companies I have implemented automation using selenium decreased testing time by 70%.
- It helped us convert large data source files into production data through automating data entry process using Selenium as a driver.
- QTP
QTP is a good tool to be used by beginner automation engineers with no prior experience in test automation. However unlike selenium, QTP is limited by its architecture and VB Script. Selenium allows for being integrated in any framework using any of the most popular languages which makes it very versatile and flexible. Selenium is free.
Using Selenium
5 - Quality Assurance. Selenium based framework is used for automated testing of our web products in a Jenkins based CI environment.
4 - Basic knowledge of C# programming language an understanding of test automation principles. Direct Selenium knowledge is not required as the framework handles all Selenium interactions through convenience function layer.
- Production monitoring
- UAT
- Early automation while products are still in development
- Data set-up through web interface for entering multiple accounts into the system instead of manually executing the same tedious task
- Mobile testing though mobile browser drivers
Evaluating Selenium and Competitors
- Price
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
I would not change anything. This tool would be my choice again if necessary
Selenium Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - We developed main engine first.
Then reporting engine while already utilizing main framework for testing.
Over the course of multiple years developed Database, API and other engines to help with expanding testing needs.
Then reporting engine while already utilizing main framework for testing.
Over the course of multiple years developed Database, API and other engines to help with expanding testing needs.
Change management was minimal
- Browser version compatibility. Chrome and IE had a completely different way of handling certain functions (like clicks and entering text). We had to perform research and multiple improvements to support all browsers with the same code-base.
Selenium Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success | None |
No - We do not require support from selenium. Most of the issues that come up with browser updates are fixed very quickly and there is no need to open tickets.
Using Selenium
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Convenient Feel confident using | Lots to learn |
- All basic web page control functions are pretty straightforward.
- One would need to learn how to handle exceptions gracefully in order to use selenium tests in a stable environment.
- Selenium does not have support for various browsers out of the box. You need to learn how to instantiate and configure each web driver for every browser and they are all different.
- Entering text in windows pop-up (like file save and load dialogue) is not supported as well, I had to use workaround like actions to do that which is not very reliable.
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