In today's digital landscape, developers are tasked with ensuring that their content is displayed correctly across various devices and browsers used to access the internet. While manually testing content on each individual browser is possible, an agile development process encourages the automation of cross browser testing, which can be an otherwise time-consuming and repetitive task.

Selenium is the most popular option among developers for automating this procedure. This article discusses the principal difficulties and restrictions that may arise while performing Selenium testing on cloud and how to overcome them.

With the help of the well-liked open-source and free program Selenium, developers may plan and execute automated tests for web applications. Selenium does not require a license because it is an open-source tool. In addition, Selenium enables tests written in a wide range of web-based languages, such as JavaScript, Python, PHP, C#,.Net, and Ruby, among others. Selenium is a popular option for automating cross-browser tests because of these qualities.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is a powerful and freely available open-source testing framework that automates the validation of web applications on various browsers and platforms. With the flexibility of multiple programming languages, such as Java, C#, Python, and others, testers can create Selenium Test Scripts that effectively validate web applications.

Selenium Testing refers to the process of testing web applications using the Selenium tool. This type of testing enables testers to thoroughly examine the functionality of web applications, identify any bugs or issues, and ensure that the application works as intended across various browsers and platforms. As a result, Selenium testing plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality of web applications and improving the overall user experience.

WebDriver for Selenium

WebDriver, also referred to as Selenium 2.0, uses browser-specific drivers to carry out test scripts. It includes:

API

The Application Programming Interface (API) converts test scripts written in C#, Java, Python, or Ruby into Selenese, the Selenium scripting language.

Library

Library holds API and language-specific bindings. Selenium Java, Selenium Ruby, Selenium dotnet (or Selenium C#, available as.dll files), Selenium Python, and Selenium JavaScript are the major client-side bindings supported by the main project, despite the fact that many third-party bindings exist to support various programming languages (Node).

Driver

Opens a browser instance and launches the test script in the driver executable module. For instance, Google makes and updates Chromedriver for Selenium to provide automation for Chromium/Chrome.

Framework

Framework support libraries, such as Selenium with Cucumber or Selenium with TestNG, are used to integrate with test frameworks for programming languages or natural languages.

What types of testing are automated with Selenium?

The following types of testing are frequently automated with Selenium:

Compatibility testing

Compatibility testing is carried out by QA experts/testers to make sure the web application fulfills performance standards on various browser-OS combinations. For instance, testing on multiple devices (desktop and mobile) to ensure the front-end is scalable (responsive); testing on various browsers to determine if video advertising displays as it should on the pages.

Regression testing

Regression testing is a set of tests carried out to ensure that newly developed features are compatible with the current system. Let's use the same example to illustrate a new feature (promotional codes) that the product website introduces and automatically applies to qualifying items before checkout. To ensure it doesn't affect the rest of the checkout feature, the tester could create cases.

Performance testing

Performance testing is a series of tests carried out by QA experts or testers to ensure the project satisfies performance standards established by the stakeholders. For example, Tester creates a script that runs on several browsers and browser versions to see if all homepage items load in under two seconds.

Black Box Testing

Black box testing is also known as system testing, performed by QA/Testing experts without knowledge of the code or any previously run tests, usually concentrated on the workflow of a single user. Before being redirected to the bank website, the checkout procedure on a product website, for instance, entails authenticating user credentials, retrieving products from the cart, verifying their availability, and validating payment details. To ensure that the entire system is operational, the tester could build a script.

End-to-End Testing

End-to-end Testers and QA experts perform testing as well, usually from the user's perspective. The goal is to verify the functionality of each touchpoint in the web application. An example might be to create a set of test cases based on the previous illustration to ensure that sign-up, product search, checkout, product review, bookmarking, and all other features work as expected (and fail when invalid values are entered in input fields

Integration Testing

Developers perform integration testing to ensure that different units or modules that have been programmed to function independently also function when combined. For instance, the Parallel Test Calculator contains distinct levels. The output is calculated by business logic and sent back to the UI for display when the UI receives the input. If they are integrated, the tester might confirm whether they can relay data or output.

Why is Selenium Automation Testing necessary?

Let's imagine a scenario where a human tester needs to verify whether the signup page (www.example.com/signup) of a web application is registering a user correctly and validating input strings in the latest releases of Chrome and Firefox on Windows 7.

Assuming that the signup page contains boxes for username, email address, and password, the test participant will be given a Windows 7 desktop and instructed to complete the following actions in both the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox, in sequential order.

1. Insert the URL (www.example.com/signup) in the address bar.
2. Enter an incorrect string (such as an invalid email, username, or password) in each input field.
3. Verify that the input strings were compared to the corresponding regexes and any existing database values.
4. Enter valid strings into each input field and then click on the "Join Now" button.
5. Verify if the "Welcome, 'username'" page appeared.
6. Check if a new user ID has been created for the username in the system's database.

During the test, mark the signup feature as "passed" if it worked, and "failed" if it did not.

The current system test is quite basic. To meet the compatibility standards set, testers are required to thoroughly review all user workflows on www.example.com for any issues on as many OS-browser combinations as necessary.

The number of human testers involved and the comprehensiveness of the test cases will determine the time it takes to ensure that the web application is fully functional.

Contemporary product teams and developers can only set aside so much time for testing, and they need to put off thorough testing to release quickly. This is why they employ automation, powered by Selenium, to enhance their testing process.

Do you currently run Selenium tests on a regular basis? Then, let's talk about typical difficulties encountered when creating Selenium automation tests.

Pop-Up Management

Although pop-ups are generally not advised in favor of simpler alternatives, people who continue to use them could find it tiresome to have Selenium automatically build tests to handle pop-ups. Although pop-ups can be handled by the browser using WebDriver, OS-based pop-ups are outside the purview of Selenium testing, making them one of its main drawbacks. The request to keep a downloaded executable file is a typical illustration of a non-browser-based pop-up.

Although Selenium does not allow native OS-based dialogue windows, you can go around this limitation using extensions. For instance, One can integrate Selenium with AutoIT, a tool for automating Windows-based user interfaces. Depending on the language you use to write the script, you might need to use a bridge to connect Selenium and AutoIT, such as the Jacob COM bridge in Java.

Solution:

Managing pop-up windows in Selenium

Pop-ups can be handled in Selenium Webdriver using a variety of techniques:

• Using Driver.getWindowHandles();

You can use Driver.getWindowHandles() to navigate between the windows that Selenium Webdriver has opened.

• Using Driver.getWindowHandle();

You can use the driver to control the main window once the webpage has loaded.

getWindowHandle(). The current window, specifically identified within the driver instance, will be handled.

Captcha

The usage of captchas presents yet another difficulty in cross-browser responsive Selenium testing. A captcha is often used to ensure that only actual users access certain parts of your web application. Unfortunately, captcha-solving is not a feature of Selenium by default. So then, how do you use captchas?

Solution:

The solution to this issue is to isolate the testing environment variables entirely. Set up the test environment for your web application to support one of the following possibilities:

• Turn off the captcha module.
• Allow a dummy value for every captcha
• Send the captcha through the DOM of the page as a hidden value.

Regardless of the strategy you choose, be careful to configure it exclusively in the testing environment; otherwise, your website will be exposed to the possibility of bots evading your captcha module.

Page Load

Several items may load on some pages depending on the unique user behavior and trip. On the basis of the user's prior behaviors, specific components may occasionally appear in view. For instance, the cities dropdown will load when you select a country from the dropdown list of countries. The script might be unable to locate the element while running the Selenium test.

Solution:

To overcome this particular problem, we may use explicit waits in the Selenium script to give elements enough time to upload and to identify the element. It will allow us to handle the issue successfully.

Cross-Browser Testing

Cross-browser testing is a common practice in web app automation testing, and Selenium is a popular tool for this purpose due to its ability to support multiple languages and operating systems. However, during cross-browser testing with Selenium, developers often encounter discrepancies in how some aspects of the web app function across different browsers. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the web app performs well and accurately in every browser, as failure to do so can result in a loss of traffic.

Solution:

It is recommended to run the script on various browsers and analyze the results. For example, LambdaTest is a digital experience testing platform that allows you to run Selenium scripts on 3000+ desktop and mobile devices.

It allows users to run Selenium tests on a range of browsers, operating systems, and devices without the need for additional infrastructure setup. In addition, LambdaTest provides a scalable and secure environment for cross-browser testing, with instant access to over 3,000 real browsers and browser versions.

Scalability

Selenium allows you to run tests on any operating system or browser, but it is still constrained in terms of how many tests it can run concurrently and how quickly. One test at a time can only be run without a Selenium grid. With the use of remote WebDrivers, Selenium Grid makes it possible to scale your testing process and execute several tests concurrently. Nevertheless, you are unable to test your web application on various OS and browser combinations. Only one OS and one installed browser (on your computer) can be used to run tests at once.

Solution: To simultaneously test your apps across several OSes and browsers, you can utilize the cloud testing services of LambdaTest.

You can execute automation testing on more than 3000+ real devices running on operating systems by selecting digital experience platforms like LambdaTest. Also, users can test locally or publicly hosted web applications using this testing platform on a variety of devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Developers and testers may safely conduct all of their tests using LambdaTest's single integrated ecosystem. By doing this, you can increase test efficiency and coverage while lowering the price of setting up and maintaining test environments.

In conclusion, although Selenium is the leading tool for web testing, it can present certain challenges that need to be addressed. While automated test cases facilitate the swift detection and resolution of issues within an application's codebase, it is crucial to acknowledge that some problems require additional tools or alternative methods to be resolved effectively.

In essence, while Selenium automated testing is a powerful and widely used technique, it is vital to recognize the limitations and complexities involved in its implementation. By doing so, developers can optimize their testing processes and ensure that their web applications function seamlessly across different browsers and platforms.