Tools in Selenium to find out the locators

Do we need to call Selenium RC and Selenium WebDriver as tools ?

The answer is No. Because you use Eclipse IDE software to write Java Programs which contains the commands of Selenium RC and Selenium WebDriver. So Selenium in not a software or tool instead Selenium RC and Selenium WebDriver contains just commands for operations like click, enter text, select etc.

Conclusion - Selenium Automation is nothing but using Selenium commands with the help of any programming language like Java.

Internet Explorer Browser -

1. Do we have to install anything in Internet Explorer? The Answer is No. Starting from Internet Explorer 7 to the latest version of the browser, IE Developer Tools are inbuilt in the IE browser.
2. Open www.google.com in any Internet Explorer Browser as shown in the screenshot  

     3. Press 'F12' key on your keyboard

     4. Ensure that 'IE Developer Tools' are displayed in the IE browser window as shown below

      5. At this point I would like to say that 'IE Developers Tools' shown above are used to identify the           locators while using the IE Browser. I am not going to explain how to identify the locators using the 'IE Developers Tools' as in all the cases I recommend using Firefox browser's FireBug and FirePath Tools to find out the locators. 

    

Chrome Browser -

1. Do we need to install anything in Chrome Browser? The Answer is No. 'Google Chrome Developer Tools' are inbuilt in the Chrome Browser
2. Open www.google.com in the chrome browser
3. Press 'F12' on your keyboard
4. Ensure that 'Google Chrome Developer Tools' are displayed in the Chrome Browser as shown below

     5. At this point I  would like to say the 'Google Chrome Developer Tools' shown above are used to identify the locators while using the Chrome Browser. I am not going to explain how to identify the locators using the 'Google Chrome Developer Tools' as in all the cases I recommend using Firefox browser's FireBug and FirePath Tools to find out the locators.

Validate elements using verify mechanism

As we've learnt in the previous post that verify mechanism will check whether the element is on the post, if it is not  available, the test will fail the step and continue executing the remaining steps. 

The following steps will show how verify mechanism validates elements:

Example: Check whether the Google Logo is available on the www.Google.com page. (i.e. The test will passes if the Google Logo exists on the Google page else it fails).

1. Launch Selenium IDE from Firefox Browser -> Tools Menu
2. Ensure that the Selenium IDE is launched and also ensure that 'Record' option is enabled by default.
3. Type www.google.com in the Firfox Address bar and press 'Enter' button on the keyboard
4. Ensure that the Google page is displayed in the Firefox Browser
5. In Google Page, right click on the UI element to be validated i.e Google Logo in this example as shown below:

6. In the right click menu options, select 'Show All Available commands' option as shown below:

7. Ensure that the sub-menu options for the 'Show All Available commands' option is displayed and select 'VerifyElementPresent' option as shown below:

8. In Selenium IDE -> Table tab, ensure that verifyElementPresent element is added as shown below:

9. Click on the 'Record' button to turn off the recording process as shown below:

10. Playback or Run the above recorded validation, by click on the 'Play current test case' option on the Selenium IDE as shown below:

11. After the test Run, ensure that the 'verifyElementPresent' command under the Selenium IDE -> Table tab is displayed in Green color (i.e.Green means the step got passed and the UI element is  present i.e. Google Logo in this example is present on the Google Page)  as shown below:

12. If the element is not present (i.e. Google Logo in this example), then the step will  fail and displayed in red color as shown below: 

13. If in case the test fails as shown in the step 12, all the steps to be executed after the failed step will also get executed

Note: - Verify commands in the right click menu and sub-menu options wont be shown if Selenium IDE is not installed on the Firefox browser

Viewing the source code of the steps recorded using Selenium IDE in our desired language

While working with Selenium 2 in future,we've to know how to write automation scripts by hand i.e. without recording . For example if you want to know how to write automation script for 'typing text into the search text box in Google Page' user action. But you don't know the Selenium command which types text into the text box. Lets find out the command using Selenium IDE Recording feature and use it in Selenium 2 in future.

1. Launch Selenium IDE from Firefox Browser -> Tools Menu
2. Ensure that the Selenium IDE is launched and Record button is enabled by default
3. Type www.google.com in the Firefox Browser -> Address bar and Press Enter key on the keyboard
4. In Google page, Type 'Selenium-automation-by-arun' text in the search box and click on 'Google Search' button
5. Click on 'Record' button to stop recording and ensure that the following commands are displayed under the Selenium IDE -> Table tab as shown below:

6. Now lets see the source code of the above recorded steps by following the next steps.
7. Maximize the 'Selenium IDE' and click on 'Source' Tab as shown below:

8. Observe that source code is displayed in HTML format as shown below:

9. For example I'm writing automation scripts in Selenium 2 in Java language, but how can this HTML code help me in understand the Selenium Command to be written in java language. It doesn't help, instead we've to view the source code in Java language. Follow the next steps to view the source code in Java language.

10. Select 'Options' option from the Selenium IDE -> Options Menu -> Options as shown below:

11. Ensure that 'Selenium IDE Options' pane is displayed and select the 'Enable experimental features' check box option to enable as shown below:

12. Click on 'OK' button on the 'Selenium IDE Options' to save the changes made to the options

13. Select 'Java/Junit4/WebDriver' option from the Selenium IDE -> Options Menu -> Format as shown below:

14. Read the text on the Confirmation dialog and click on 'OK' button as shown below:

15. Ensure the code displayed under the 'Source' tab is now changed to Java as shown below:

16. Search for 'selenium-automation-by-arun' text in the Java source code to identify the line which has   text typing command. I've identified this text in the Java source code as shown below:

17. In the above identified line, I have identified that '.sendkeys' is the command to be used in order to type text into the text box using selenium as shown below. So now I can use this command '.sendKeys' if it is required any where while writing automation scripts without recording using Selenium 2.... :)

18. So, by following the above steps you can learn selenium commands which are required to perform various User Actions like typing text into the text box etc.

19. After you finish viewing the source code in Java, please switch back the language format from Java to HTML. Until and unless you change the language format again to HTML, Recording options wont work and also 'Table' tab wont be clickable. (So click on Selenium IDE -> Options Menu  -> Format -> HTML option  to switchback to HTML)

Record and Playback using Selenium IDE

Recording Process:

1. Launch Firefox and open Selenium IDE from Tools Menu as shown below:

2. Ensure that the Selenium IDE is launched as shown below:

3. After the Selenium IDE is launched, ensure that the Recording Button is turned on by default. (i.e. Selenium IDE is in recording mode by default on launching) as shown below:

4. While the recording button is enabled, open any website say www.google.com in the Firefox browser as shown below:

5. In the 'Google' page, click on 'I am feeling lucky' button as shown below:

6. Turnoff the 'Recording' button on the Selenium IDE to stop recording as shown below:

7. Ensure that the recorded commands are displayed under the table tab as shown below:

Playback Process:

8. Open any other site say www.yahoo.com in the Firefox browser and Click on the 'Play current test case' button on the Selenium IDE as shown below:

Learning Selenium WebDriver

Selenium IDE Introduction

Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is a tool that we can use to develop automated test scripts. It has record-and-playback functionality, but we can also write the test scripts ourselves by manually entering the commands. It comes with a browser context menu with the most frequently used Selenium commands. It saves test execution time and is a good way to get familiar with test automation.

Further references

All the Selenium IDE commands are explained on the following location: http://release.seleniumhq.org/selenium-core/1.0.1/reference.html

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Using Selenium IDE for the first time

Selenium IDE comes as a Firefox plug-in and has an easy-to-use user interface. Although the interface is very intuitive the most frequently used parts are explained in this section.

Prerequisites

As we are going to use Selenium IDE for the first time, the first thing we have to do is to make sure that Firefox and Selenium IDE are installed properly.

1. Go to http://getfirefox.com and install Firefox.
2. Go to http://seleniumhq.org/download/ in the Firefox browser and install Selenium IDE.
3. Restart Firefox if requested.

In practice

We can now open Selenium IDE by using the following actions:

1. Open Firefox
2. Open Selenium IDE, via the Tools menu.

We just opened Selenium IDE and we can start recording test scripts by default..

There is more…

Selenium IDE is divided into sections which are numbered in the previous screenshot. Each section is explained below:

1. Menubar
   The menubar has options to add, open and save test scripts and test suites. It also has some general edit options and it is even possible to specify a preferred programming language.
2. Base URL
   Allows test scripts to be run across different domains.
3. Toolbar
   The buttons in the toolbar are used to control the test scripts. Each button is explained below (starting from the left):
   • Speed Control: Controls how fast your test script runs.
   • Run All: Run all test scripts in Selenium IDE.
   • Run: Run a single test script in Selenium IDE.
   • Pause/Resume: Pause a running test script.
   • Step: Step through the test script once it has been paused.
   • Apply Rollup Rules: This allows us to group a sequence of actions into a single action.
   • Record: The record button. It will be enabled when Selenium IDE is recording.
4. test script pane
   The test script commands are displayed in the test script pane. There is one tab which shows us the script in the three-column table format. The other tab shows us the script in a preferred language.
   The Command, Target and value textfields are corresponding to the three-column table structure. It is possible to edit the values by clicking on a specific row. Those three fields are explained below:
   • Command: This select box has a list of all the Selenium commands. It is possible to type into it to use the auto complete functionality or use it as a dropdown. Some reference information is shown in the reference pane at the bottom once a specific action is selected.
   • Action: The first parameter specified for a command in the Reference tab of the bottom pane always goes in the Target field.
   • Value: If a second parameter is specified by the Reference tab, it always goes in the Value field.
5. Test suite pane
   Shows the test scripts in the current test-suite along with the results.
6. Log/Reference pane
   The bottom pane is used for four different functions divided in separate tabs, like: Log, Reference, UI-Element, and Rollup information. Each function is explained below:
   • Log: Error messages and information messages are shown while the test is running.
   • Reference: Displays the documentation of the command actually selected.
   • UI-Element: Displays the UI-element mappings actually in use.
   • Rollup: Shows rollup rules.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Record a test script

In this tutorial we are going to record a test script with Selenium IDE.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the record button is enabled. Selenium IDE automatically opens in record mode, otherwise you need to click on the (red) record button in the right top corner.

In practice

1. Open the website under test in the Firefox browser. In this case we will use: http://selenium.polteq.com/testshop/.
2. Open Selenium IDE, via the Tools menu.
3. Start recording by pressing the record button in the right top corner, if needed.
4. Search for ‘iPod’ and click on the search button.
5. Validate that the text ‘iPod shuffle’ is present in the search results list. We can do that by selecting the text and opening the context menu (right-click) and select assertText.

The test script will end up like this:

COMMAND
open
type
clickAndWait
assertText

Selenese test cases are HTML based, so do not forget to add the HTML extension once you save the test case.

We can change the Locator Builder settings in Options -> Options… -> Locator Builders tab. It’s a good practice to put CSS on top.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Modify a test script

In this tutorial we will modify a test script by adding some commands manually.

Prerequisites

We can use the test script created in the previous tutorial, but now we want to change the language without recording the test again.

In practice

1. Open the previous recorded test script.
2. Select the row where we want to put an extra command.
3. Ensure that record mode is enabled.
4. Click on a specific language.
5. Disable record mode.

The test script will end up like this:

COMMAND
open
click
type
clickAndWait
assertText

We just added an extra command to our previous recorded test script.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Store information from the page

With Selenium IDE we can store data and use it later. There are a couple of actions to store data, like: store, storeValue, storeText.

In practice

We like to store the text from a specific link and print it to the log panel. Obviously you can also use the text (which is stored in a variable) in the next test step.

1. Open the previously recorded test script.
2. Select the last row.
3. Insert two new rows by opening the context menu (right-click) and select Insert New Command
4. Add a storeText command to store the text of a given element.
5. Add a echo command to display the content of the variable in the log panel.

The test script will end up like this:

COMMAND
open
type
clickAndWait
storeText
echo
assertText

The output of the script above is: [info] echo: iPod shuffle

Selenium uses a JavaScript map called storedVars to store the data.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Dealing with AJAX functionality

Some websites are using AJAX to modify the graphical user interface (GUI) without being reloaded. In this tutorial we are going to record website functionality which is using AJAX. We can use waitFor commands, like: waitForAlertNotPresent, waitForAlertPresent, waitForElementPresent, waitForElementNotPresent, waitForTextPresent, etc.

In practice

1. Open the website under test in the Firefox browser. In this case we will use: http://selenium.polteq.com/testshop/.
2. Open Selenium IDE, via the Tools menu.
3. Start recording by pressing the record button in the right top corner, if needed.
4. Add a product to the cart by performing the following actions: navigate to the ‘laptop’ category, view an item and click on the ‘add to cart’ button.
5. Verify that the product is added to the cart, by right clicking on the items name in the cart and select waitForText.
6. Delete the item from the cart, by clicking on the remove icon next to the item name.
7. Verify that the text ‘no product’ is present in the cart, we can do that by selecting the text and opening the context menu (right-click) and select waitForElementPresent.
8. Stop recording by clicking on the record button and try to execute the recorded test script by clicking on the play button.

The test script will end up like this:

COMMAND
open
clickAndWait
clickAndWait
click
waitForText
click
waitForElementPresent

Selenese test cases are HTML based, so do not forget to add the HTML extension once you save the test case.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Create test suites

A test suite is a collection of test scripts. In this tutorial we are going to take a closer look on how to create a test suite.

In practice

1. Create a test script as described in the previous tutorials.
2. Select File -> New Test Case to create a new test script. (or open the context menu from the left panel and select New Test Case)
3. Repeat step 1 and 2 as many times you want.
4. Select File -> Save Test Suite to save all test scripts.

Selenese test suites are HTML based, so do not forget to add the HTML extension once you save the test case.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

Exexute test scripts in different browsers

In this tutorial we are going to execute test scripts in different browsers.

Prerequisites

It is necessary to download the Selenium standalone server, IEDriverServer and chromedriver. (http://code.google.com/p/selenium/downloads/list)

In practice

1. We need to start Selenium standalone server by entering the following command in the commandline:
   rawcopyprint?
   

   1 2 3

   java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.39.0.jar -Dwebdriver.ie.driver=IEDriverServer.exe -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver=chromedriver.exe`

2. We need to enable WebDriver Playback in Selenium IDE. Options -> Options... -> WebDriver tab and check Enable WebDriver Playback
3. Specify in which browser we like to run our test scripts Options -> Options... -> WebDriver tab and specify the browser in the textfield. (chrome, firefox, internet explorer and so on)

Now you can run your test script with WebDriver in the specified browser.

This entry was posted in 01. Selenium IDE on June 15, 2014.

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