What is Selenium WebDriver?

Selenium Webdriver Overview

Selenium Webdriver is a free and open-source API suite that has the ability to test web applications. Selenium Webdriver is a device for automating the testing of web applications to ensure that they function as expected. It works well with most browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer. It also enables cross-browser testing.

Before going into the depth of Selenium Webdriver, let us quickly have a look at the topics we will be discussing:

Points at a Glance:

• What is Selenium Webdriver?
• Selenium Webdriver Architecture
• Commands for Selenium Webdriver
• Difference between Selenium RC and Webdriver
• Advantages of Selenium Webdriver
• Disadvantages of Selenium Webdriver
• Conclusion

Before reading ahead, we suggest you go through the YouTube video so that you get familiar with the topics to be discussed ahead.

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What is Selenium Webdriver?

• A web page is composed of various web elements such as text boxes, checkboxes, and buttons. The task of web automation testing is to optimize the tasks that need to be performed on those web elements. Selenium WebDriver is a well-known web-based automation testing framework that is primarily used to automate Web UI testing tasks.
• Selenium WebDriver does not directly interact with web elements on a page. A browser-specific Selenium WebDriver connects the test script to the web browser. Selenium WebDriver is the main element that interacts with the web browser. Selenium locators are used to locate elements on a page so that appropriate interaction methods can be used.
• The majority of programming languages used by developers and testers, including Python, Java, C#, Ruby, and others, are supported by Selenium WebDriver. It works with popular operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris.
• Mozilla Firefox is the default web browser for Selenium WebDriver.

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Selenium Webdriver Architecture

Selenium WebDriver APIs are used to communicate between programming languages and web browsers.

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The Selenium WebDriver architecture consists of the following elements:

• Browser Drivers
• JSON Wire Protocol
• Browsers
• Selenium Client Libraries

• Browser drivers

Browser drivers are primarily responsible for interacting with the associated web browser. Each browser has its own browser driver, which must be installed on the machine that will be used for automation testing.

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• JSON Wire Protocol

JavaScript Object Notation is abbreviated as JSON. On the web, JSON Wire Protocol is used to transfer data between the server and the client. It’s a REST (Representational State Transfer) API for transferring data between HTTP servers.

Each web browser has its own browser driver, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer (or HTTP Server).

• Selenium Client Libraries

Developers can use Selenium to perform automation testing with popular programming languages, as previously stated. This multi-language support is enabled by Selenium Client Libraries.

The Selenium Python tutorial will teach you how to use Selenium with Python. Python language bindings would be required as a result. Language drivers for programming languages such as Python can be obtained from the Selenium website.

• Browsers

Selenium is compatible with numerous browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. The framework is incompatible with browsers that lack a browser driver.

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Commands for Selenium Webdriver

1. Acquiring a homepage
   • Using the Get method:
     driver.get("www.intellipaat.com")
   • Using Navigate method
     driver. navigate().to("https://intellipaat.com/selenium-tutorial");
2. Reload or refresh a website
   driver. navigate().refresh();
3. Locating and transmitting forms and user input
   driver.findElement(By.id("lst-ib")).sendKeys("intellipaat tutorials");
4. Executing the Click event
   Use the click() method to perform a click operation on any web element.
   driver.findElement(By.id("btnK")).click();
5. Remove User Input
   Use the clear() method to remove all user inputs from the text.
   box.driver.findElement(By.name("q")).clear();
6. Transitioning Between Frames
   driver.switchTo().frame("frameName");
7. Data Extraction from Any Web Element
   In order to perform assertions and debugging, we occasionally need to retrieve the text written over a web element. The getText() method is used to retrieve data written over any web element.
   driver.findElement(By.id("element342")).getText();
8.  Using the Browser’s History to go back in time
   driver. navigate().back();
9. Navigating the Browser History to move forward
   driver.navigate().forward();
10. Changing Windows
    driver.switchTo().window("windowName");

Also, check out the blog on assert and verify in Selenium.

Difference between Selenium RC and Webdriver

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Advantages of Selenium Webdriver

• Open Source and Free

To begin with, the fact that Selenium WebDriver is open source is a significant benefit. It includes all of QTP’s features and more, and it is completely free. It can be downloaded directly from the official website, and because it is community-based, there is also support for the tool.

• Compatibility with a Variety of Operating Systems

One of the major advantages of Selenium Webdriver for automation testing with Selenium over previous versions is that it is compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows. Using their solution suite, you can create a customized testing suite that can be used on any platform. WebDriver lets you create and run test cases on Windows and Linux.

• Cross-Device Testing support

Another significant benefit of Selenium WebDriver automation testing is cross-device testing support. Automated test cases for testing on iPhones, Blackberries, and Android devices can now be written, assisting with cross-device issues.

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• Community Assistance

The majority of Selenium’s support is provided by the community, allowing for regular upgrades and updates. All updates are available whenever they are required and require no special training. As a result, Selenium WebDriver is both affordable and versatile. Future Career Scope of Selenium Testing In 2023 (intellipaat.com)

Also, check out the blog on frames in Selenium.

Disadvantages of Selenium Webdriver

• Selenium has difficulty with frames and pop-ups.
• Selenium has significant issues with timeouts, synchronization, and page load.
• Selenium does not support captcha automation.
• Barcode automation is not supported by Selenium.
• Because Selenium is open source, no vendor support is available right away.
• Selenium users must be fluent in a few programming languages.

Also, read about Maven in Selenium.

Conclusion

Selenium is a low-cost and versatile tool that developers can use to automate web application testing.

The ability to test applications across multiple web browsers is the software’s most intriguing feature. This prevents websites from crashing or malfunctioning in certain browsers.