what is selenium testing framework?

What is Selenium?

Selenium is a free automated software tool for validating web applications across multiple browsers and operating systems. Selenium Test Scripts may be written in a variety of computer languages, including Java, C Language, and Python. Selenium Testing is the term used to describe testing performed with the Selenium testing tool. Selenium Tools is a suite of software, each piece serving a distinct organization's Selenium QA testing needs.

The following may be a list of tools.

• Integrated Development Environment for Selenium (IDE),
• Remote Control for Selenium (RC),
• Selenium Grid & WebDriver.

Who developed Selenium?

Jason Huggins invented selenium in 2004. He was a ThoughtWorks engineer working on a web application that needed an iterative method. He built a JavaScript program that would directly manage the browser's activities after seeing that the repetitive Manual Testing of their application was getting increasingly wasteful. This application was dubbed the "JavaScriptTestRunner" by him. Seeing the ability in this approach to assist in the automation of other online applications, he released JavaScriptRunner open-source, which was eventually rebranded Selenium Core.

The genesis of Selenium Remote Control (Selenium RC):

Due to the constraints enforced by the same origin policy, testers using Selenium Core had to install the whole software under test as well as the webserver on their own local machines. Yet another ThoughtWorks developer, Paul Hammant, decided to build a server that will operate as an HTTP proxy to "fool" the search engine into thinking Selenium Core and the web application being tested are of the same domain. The Selenium Remote Control, or Selenium 1, was the name given to this technology.

Selenium Grid's Inception:

Patrick Lightbody created Selenium Grid to answer the requirement to reduce test completion time as much as feasible. He first referred to the system as "Hosted QA." It was capable of taking browser screenshots for critical phases, as well as transmitting Selenium commands to many machines at the same time.

The Origins of the Selenium IDE:

Shinya Kasatani of Japan invented Selenium IDE, a Firefox plugin that can automate the search engine using a record-and-playback function. He came up with this concept to speed up the process of developing test cases.

WebDriver's Inception:

Simon Stewart built WebDriver about 2006, at a time when platforms and online applications were getting more capable while also becoming more restricted with JavaScript tools such as Selenium Core. It was the first cross-platform testing framework capable of controlling the search engine from the operating system level.

Selenium 2's Arrival:

In 2008, the Selenium Team as a whole chose to combine WebDriver and Selenium RC to create a more powerful tool dubbed Selenium 2, with WebDriver as its heart. Selenium RC is still being built at the moment, although solely in a maintenance mode. The majority of the Selenium Project's efforts are currently directed toward Selenium 2.

So, what is the purpose of the name Selenium?

The name Selenium was inspired by a joke Jason told his colleagues. During the development of Selenium, another automated testing framework known as Mercury Interactive was popular (yes, the company that originally made QTP before it was acquired by HP). Jason offered the name Selenium since it is a well-known remedy for Mercury toxicity, and his teammates adopted it. So that's how we arrived at the present-day name for this system.

A Brief Overview IDE for Selenium:

The Selenium Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the most basic structure in the Selenium suite and the most straightforward to grasp. It is a Firefox plugin that you may install just like any other plugin. Selenium IDE, on the other hand, can only be used as a prototype tool because to its ease. If you wish to construct more complex test cases, you'll need to utilise Selenium RC or WebDriver.

A Brief Overview Remote Control for Selenium (Selenium RC):

For a long period of time, Selenium RC was the flagship framework for building the whole Selenium project. This is the first automated web testing solution that allows customers to utilise their own software program. RC can now handle the following scripting language as of version 2.25.0:

• Java
• C Language
• PHP
• Python
• Perl
• Ruby

Grid of Selenium:

Selenium Grid is a solution that works in tandem with Selenium RC to conduct simultaneous tests on several workstations and browsers at the same time. Parallel execution entails executing many tests at the same time.

Features:

• Enables testing in different browsers and environments at the same time.
• Saves a lot of time.
• The hub-and-node concept is used. The hub serves as a central source of Selenium commands for all nodes that are linked to it.

How to Select the Appropriate Selenium Tool for Your Need:

Selenium IDE:

• To learn about automated testing and Selenium principles such as type, open, click and wait, assert, verify, and so on.
• Identifiers, names, xpaths, CSS selectors, and so on.
• Using runScript to execute customised JavaScript code
• Test cases can be exported in a variety of formats.
• To build tests with minimal or no prior programming expertise.
• To write basic test cases and test suites that can be exported to RC or WebDriver afterwards.
• To only test a web application using Firefox and Chrome.

Selenium RC:

• To create a test in a language that is more expressive than Selenese.
• To execute your test against many browsers (excluding HtmlUnit) and OS systems.
• Using Selenium Grid, you may distribute your tests across different environments.
• To put your application through its paces with a new browser that supports JavaScript.
• To put web apps through rigorous testing using sophisticated AJAX-based scenarios.

WebDriver:

• To construct your test case using a certain programming language.
• To put AJAX-powered apps through their paces.
• To run tests using the HtmlUnit browser.
• To generate personalised test results.

Selenium Grid:

• To run Selenium RC scripts in various browsers and OS systems at the same time.
• To run a large test suite that must be completed as quickly as feasible.

Summary:

The Selenium Software Testing Suite is made up of four parts:

• Selenium IDE is a Firefox add-on that can only be used to create basic test cases and test suites.
• Selenium Remote Control, commonly known as Selenium 1, was the first Selenium tool that allowed users to create sophisticated tests using programming languages.
• WebDriver is a modern innovation that allows your test scripts to connect directly with the browser, allowing you to manage it from the operating system level.
• Selenium Grid is a tool that works in tandem with Selenium RC to run simultaneous tests across many browsers and operating systems.
• Selenium 2 was created by combining Selenium RC with WebDriver.
• In terms of cost and versatility, selenium outperforms QTP. It also allows you to run tests in parallel, as opposed to QTP, which only allows you to run tests sequentially.