SELENIUM: Automation Testing tool

In today's highly competitive age, the market is swamped with many software and mobile apps that are routinely created and modified. A program or app needs to establish a favorable first impression on customers without sacrificing product quality. A single application crash might cause your clients to switch to your competition. To avoid such volatile user behavior and drive customers, developing a software testing plan to deliver bug-free software or apps is critical. This will leave a long-lasting impression on users since it responds to their immediate gratification needs.

Many, if not the majority, software programs?are now created as web-based apps that operate in a web browser. Each organization?has its testing technique. As a result, the efficacy of assessing various applications differs significantly. To ensure that its solutions satisfy business objectives and generate the desired end-user results, every company must have a compelling functional software testing scenario.

What is Functional Testing?

Functional testing refers to testing a software program?against business requirements to ensure that all functionalities work as intended. Because users are now vertically centred, functional testing is performed from the user's perspective to assure optimum coverage and reduce the danger of potential problems. Black box testing, in which quality assurance professionals focus solely on program?functioning without evaluating the code structure, is standard?in functional testing. This testing method of testing focuses exclusively?on software requirements and specifications, ignoring the system's design?and verifying just the functionality and behaviour?of modules. Functional testing is essential for every software since it is ready for release.

What is Selenium?

Selenium?is a web testing tool that uses simple scripts to run tests directly within a browser. In simple terms, “it automates browsers”. It is a portable software testing framework for web applications that provides a record/playback tool for authoring tests without learning a test scripting language (Selenium IDE).

It also provides a test domain-specific language (Selenese) to write tests in a few popular programming languages, including C#, Java, Groovy, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. The tests can then be run against most modern web browsers. Selenium can be deployed on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh platforms.

Selenium Extensive Features

Multi-platform support

Multi-browser support

Multiple programming language support

Supports cross-browser testing

Support test mobile web applications (through Android and iPhone drivers)

Open Source

Why should you use Selenium for functional testing?

Global organizations?face the challenge of enhancing performance and resolving crucial issues in an age of advanced dynamic and responsive software processes. To address the needs, several firms have embraced Agile techniques. Agile development, which has become a need for software projects, is built on test automation. Using the user's senses?of a software tool to execute repetitive tests against the application be tested is called toto test automation. It provides responsiveness for regression testing. Selenium is a free,?open-source testing tool with limitless reach and unlimited possibilities for test automation, allowing you to avoid the excessive?expense of automation testing solutions. In contrast to other options, selenium may be downloaded immediately from its website.

Selenium Test Life Cycle

1. Test Plan
2. Generate Test Cases
3. Run and Debug Test
4. Analyzing Test Results and Report Defects

How to get expertise in Selenium?

• At first, learn one of the programming languages like C#, Java, Python, etc.
• The best resource available to learn Selenium is from their official website “https://docs.seleniumhq.org/docs”
• Learn how to design a more effective automation framework
• Discover the various mechanisms used to locate web elements
• Cover basic to advanced concepts of WebDriver
• Acquire an in-depth understanding of each concept through practical code examples.

When to use Selenium Automation?

Selenium may be used to do functional and regression testing regularly. Every firm wants to cut the expense of manual testing and has thus begun to use Selenium. This automated testing toolan automated testing tool that allows you to avoid repetitive manual effort, get faster feedback, minimize?the cost of manual testing, save time running tests frequently, and verify that tests are done consistently with the same preconditions and expectations.

Who should use it?

• Developers:- For “browser” regression testing (and replace HTML unit/HTTP unit in some cases).
• Users (Business Analysts, Functional Tester, and Developer):- Can create automated keyword scripts using MS Excel or the Script Editor after getting familiar with the keyword repository.
• Quality Assurance professionals:- Enhance or use it to do regression test/cross browser testing on all platforms. QA can cover all types of functional testing (like a system, sanity, smoke, integration, etc.) and acceptance testing using Selenium until that has a GUI interface.