Selenium : The most sought-after tool for Automation Testing

In a challenging business scenario, it is imperative to build robust web applications that are robust, resilient, possess an excellent GUI and requires functionality that can make user friendly and engaging applications for the users. Thus it becomes important and extremely essential to test the fabricated applications before it is delivered. For this the process of Test Automation is invariably considered in the testing process for a number of reasons namely eliminating manual errors , speeding up the process , making the tests repeatable and building an overall cost effective approach.
A) What’s new In Selenium:
Selenium Automation Testing is updating often and coming with some new features.

• Experts and team recently added native events support in the latest few versions (Firefox 24, 31, 32, and 33).Native events are the signals sent by the browser to the computer when you are working- typing, mouse clicks, and scrolling.
• Visual Inspection of pages and seeing changes between the pages have been made easier by using this new Selenium Tool.

B) What is the Need for Automation Testing
For instance, there is a financial application that has to connect with multiple vendor sites , make payments, enable shopping and much more. What if this interface is not seamless and creates security issues while the transaction happens? This will directly affect the entire credibility of the application and the user might not land up on the site again. This calls for rigorous and repeated testing, which Test Automation enables.

• Software Testing ensures coverage of all these aspects and gets the application in the desired mode for the users. Test Automation paces up the process with the required efficiency to get the application faster to the market.
• Considering time is a critical aspect, Automation Testing ensures that the application is not half-baked.

C) What are the tools required for Software Testing:
Both Proprietary as well as open source tools are leveraged for automation, keeping the testing/ automation objective into focus.

• Proprietary testing tools such as HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) , TestComplete , Ranorex are names of the some established test automation tools.
• Open Source Test Automation tools such as Selenium, Watir, Sahi, Serenity, and Robot Framework have gained their own market share amongst enterprises and experts in the industry.

D) Why is Selenium considered a great tool for Automation Testing:
Selenium , an open source test automation framework for web applications comes with a suite of tools that support the development of automated testing for web application. The suite primarily includes:

• Selenium IDE: It’s a feature specifically for Mozilla Firefox that is normally used for recording, debugging and editing selenium scripts.
• Selenium RC: Also known as Selenium Remote Control, it is used to execute tests on various systems and browsers.
• Selenium Grid: It helps in executing and running diverse Selenium RC test cases concurrently and enables segregation of tests across browsers/devices for simultaneous execution
• Selenium Web Drive:  It is the latest version of Selenium that comprises multiple Selenium APIs.

E)  What are the Benefits of Using Selenium:
The reason to put together these features is to basically establish the benefits of Selenium. It is reusable , maintainable and stable. We weigh some key reasons that testify that Selenium is a great tool endorsed by industry connoisseurs for Web Application Testing.

• Compatibility across Operating Systems: This is the key reason why Selenium is considered a great tool testing web application. It helps in providing compatibility across different operating systems.
• Supports Multiple Scripting Languages: Selenium is known for supporting multiple scripting languages such as Pearl, Php, Ruby, .Net(C#), and Java.
• Test Scripts can be developed in any language: This could be one of the highlighted features of Selenium, as the framework enables you to build the program independent of the language used for building the website/web application.
• Supports running tests across multiple browsers: Testing for compatibility and UI across multiple browsers is critical today. This will determine end-user experience and success of the application. Selenium supports testing across key browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari.
• The Cost Factor: Selenium definitely can be leveraged for being free. Selenium is released under the Apache 2.0 license and enables users to download and use it free of charge. However, it is clear that there will be no dedicated support offered by the tool, as it is supported by an active developer community.

Thus Selenium Automation has been considered by enterprises for multiple benefits, and most importantly to meet the objectives of Test Automation. The framework helps make the software testing process robust, cost-effective, and helps pace up the market.