Selenium IDE extension
Selenium IDE is a game-changing tool in test automation. This article will walk you through everything from installation to advanced techniques, helping you unlock Selenium IDE’s full potential.
Table of contents
- What is Selenium IDE?
- Key features of Selenium IDE
- Getting started with Selenium IDE
- Recording tests in Selenium IDE
- What are Selenese commands?
- How to playback in Selenium IDE
- How to convert test recording to WebDriver code
- Control flow in Selenium IDE
- Command line support in Selenium IDE
- Conclusion
What is Selenium IDE?
Selenium IDE, short for Selenium Integrated Development Environment, is a user-friendly tool designed for creating Selenium test cases. It’s a preferred choice for both experienced and beginners in the field of automated test case creation. You can easily add the extension to your preferred browser without complex setups. Selenium IDE has a simple and easy GUI (Graphical User Interface) that allows users to record their interactions with web applications effortlessly.
It allows users to easily create, edit, and manage test cases and suites based on their requirements.`Selenium IDE, short for Selenium Integrated Development Environment, is a user-friendly tool designed for creating Selenium test cases. It’s a preferred choice for both experienced and beginners in the field of automated test case creation. You can easily add the extension to your preferred browser without complex setups. Selenium IDE has a simple and easy GUI (Graphical User Interface) that allows users to record their interactions with web applications effortlessly. It allows users to easily create, edit, and manage test cases and suites based on their requirements.
Note
Selenium IDE is compatible with different browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
Key features of Selenium IDE
- Users can record their interactions with web applications and then replay them as test cases.
- It supports cross-browser testing. That means you can execute the test cases in multiple web browsers.
- You can edit and manage your test cases easily with the help of its syntax highlighting and auto-completion features.
- It provides a lot of easy-to-use Selenium commands for creating different types of test cases.
- It has the feature to arrange your test cases into test suites.
- Users can export their test cases to different programming languages and integrate them with testing frameworks.
- Run test cases directly from the command line interface.
Getting started with Selenium IDE
How to install Selenium IDE
Start by opening your preferred web browser. Go to the extension store or add-ons marketplace of your browser. For Chrome browser, this is the Chrome Web Store, while for Firefox, it’s the Mozilla Add-ons website.
In the search bar of the extension store, type Selenium IDE and press Enter. Locate the Selenium IDE extension in the search results and click on it to open its details page.
Then, click the respective add button to initiate the installation process. The extension will then be downloaded and installed automatically.
Once the installation is complete, you can access Selenium IDE from your browser’s toolbar or extension menu. Look for the Selenium IDE icon and click on it to launch the IDE.
How to create a new Selenium IDE project
Once Selenium IDE is open, click Create a new project in the IDE window.
In the dialog box, you will be asked to provide a name for your new project. Once you’ve entered the project name, click the OK button to create the new project.
After clicking OK, the new project will be successfully created, and its name will be displayed at the top of the page.
Lastly, click the save icon at the top right corner or press Ctrl + S
to save your newly created project.
Suppose you are already in the application; in that case, to create a new project, click on this highlighted button on the top right corner of the page.
How to open an existing project
Once Selenium IDE is open, click the option labeled Open an existing project.
This will prompt a dialog box to appear. In the dialog box, navigate to the location on your computer where your existing project file is saved. This file typically has a .side
extension.
Once you’ve located your project file, click on it to select it. After selecting the project file, click the Open button in the dialog box to open the project in Selenium IDE.
Selenium IDE will then load the project, and you should see the test cases and test suites contained within the project displayed in the IDE window.
And suppose you are already in the application; in that case, to open an existing project, click on this highlighted button on the top right corner of the page.
How to add tests and test suites in Selenium IDE
Launch Selenium IDE and create a new project.
To add a new test case, click the + icon next to the Tests section in the sidebar.
A new window will open, and we have to add a name for the test case by clicking the Add button.
You can rename the test case by right-clicking on it and selecting Rename.
To add a new test suite, select the option Test suites in the Tests dropdown.
Now, click the + icon next to the Test Suites section in the sidebar. Then, enter a name for your test suite, and it will be created.
Recording your first test in Selenium IDE
Once Selenium IDE is open and you have created a new project with respective tests, click on the Start recording button or ctrl + u
or the record button on the top right corner.
After clicking the record button, a new window will appear, asking you to add your base URL if you haven’t done so before. Enter the base URL of the web application you want to test and click on the START RECORDING button.
After that, Selenium IDE will start recording your interactions with the web application. This could include clicking buttons, filling out forms, or navigating between pages.
Once you’ve completed the actions you want to include in your test, click the Stop recording button.
Note
The base URL acts as the starting point for your test cases. It ensures Selenium IDE navigates to the correct webpage or application before recording starts. This specifies the context for executing accurate test cases.
What are Selenese commands?
Selenese commands are the building blocks of test scripts created using Selenium IDE. These commands help testers interact with web page elements and perform various actions. Here are some commonly used Selenese commands, along with their descriptions:
- click – Triggers an associated event by simulating a click on a web element, like a button or link.
- open – Navigates the browser to a specified URL, allowing testers to start their test scripts on a specific web page.
- mouseOver – Moves the mouse cursor over a specified web element, typically triggering hover effects or dropdown menus.
- type – Used to enter text into input fields on a web page, such as text boxes or text areas.
- sendKey – Used to send keyboard inputs to elements, but it can also simulate complex keyboard actions like key combinations (e.g., Ctrl + A).
- assert – Used to verify that certain conditions are met on a web page. For example,
assertText
verifies that the text of a specific element matches an expected value. - waitForElementPresent – Tells Selenium IDE to wait for a specified web element to appear on the page before proceeding with the test script execution.
- store – Used to store values in variables during test execution, which can be used later in the script.
- clickAndWait – Clicks on a web element and waits for the next page to load before continuing with the test script execution.
- assertTitle – Check whether the title of the current web page matches an expected value.
How to add Selenese commands in Selenium IDE
Launch Selenium IDE in your web browser and create your project. Ensure that you add some tests and a base URL inside your project.
In the Selenium IDE interface, locate the Command field.
To add Selenese commands in Selenium IDE, you can either type the command name directly into the command input field or open the drop-down menu and select it from the list.
When adding new commands to interact with elements, remember to include the target URL and the element locator in the target field. If you’ve set a base URL earlier, just add its relative path. If there’s no path or the base URL is the target, you can simply use a forward slash /
in the target field and click the enter button.
You can repeat these steps to add multiple commands.
How to playback tests in Selenium IDE
After the recording finishes, the test cases will be displayed with commands and targets, as shown in the image below.
You can use the playback tool to execute your test by clicking on the Run current test play button to execute the current test case or the Run all tests button to execute all test cases within the project.
After the run, the output page and the test logs will look like this:
How to convert test recording to WebDriver code
Selenium IDE offers a code export feature. After recording, right-click on the respective test case and click on the Export button to export the test case.
Choose the format that matches your preferred programming language, such as Java, Python, or C#, and click the EXPORT button.
Save the exported test case file to your computer. This file contains the recorded test steps in a format that can be converted to WebDriver code.
After exporting the test case, manually translate the recorded steps into WebDriver code using the appropriate WebDriver bindings for your preferred programming language (e.g., Java, Python, C#). For example, if you exported the test case in Java format, you would use Selenium WebDriver Java bindings to convert the exported steps into an executable WebDriver code.
Once the WebDriver code is written, execute it within your test environment to simulate the recorded interactions with the web application and verify its functionality. For example, in Java, you would compile and run the converted code using a Java development environment or by build tools such as Maven or Gradle.
Control flow in Selenium IDE
Control flow in Selenium IDE is all about how your test steps are organized and executed. You need to ensure your test steps are in the correct sequence for your test to work properly. But what makes Selenium IDE even more powerful are these control flow commands that help you to add conditional logic and looping to your tests.
Here’s a simplified explanation of control flow commands in Selenium IDE:
Nesting commands
Testers can use nesting commands within each other to create more complex control flow structures. This allows for greater flexibility and customization in test scripts. Commands within a loop can be nested to perform different actions based on each iteration. For example, an if block can be placed inside a while block and vice versa.
Conditional statements
Testers can introduce conditional command statements like if
, else
and else if
to add decision-making logic to their test scripts. These command statements allow tests to adapt their behavior based on specific conditions encountered during execution.
For example, testers can verify the presence of elements using if statements, handle alternative conditions with else statements, and introduce additional conditions with else if
statements.
In this example, we’ve used conditional statements, particularly if
, to locate the automateNow:Home
element in Google search results after searching for “automatenow”. We wait for results, verify the element’s presence via XPath, and store true in isAutomateNowPresent
. And if true, it shows success.
Looping structures
Selenium IDE supports using looping command structures such as while
, do
and for each
loops to repeat a set of actions multiple times. This is useful for scenarios where a series of actions need to be performed iteratively, such as testing multiple items in a list.
Programming languages supported by Selenium IDE
Selenium IDE supports various programming languages, allowing testers to convert recorded test cases into code for further customization and integration with other testing frameworks.
Here are the programming languages supported by Selenium IDE:
- JavaScript
- Java
- Python
- C#
- Ruby
Command line support in Selenium IDE
Selenium IDE offers command-line support, allowing users to execute test cases from the Command Line Interface (CLI) without opening the IDE. But to execute Selenium IDE test cases from CLI, you’ll first need to install the selenium-side-runner
package globally on your system using npm.
To install, open your command prompt and run the following command to install selenium-side-runner globally:
npm install -g selenium-side-runner
After the installation, install the web driver to run the selenium-side-runner successfully. For Chrome, users will need Chromedriver; for Firefox, they need Geckodriver; for Edge, they need Edgedriver; and for Safari, it will be Safaridriver. Use the following command to install the driver:
npm install -g chromedriver
CLI execution
Suppose you have a Selenium IDE test case named loginTest.side stored in a directory called tests. You can execute this test case from the command line using the following command:
selenium-side-runner "tests/loginTest.side"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Test suite execution
If you have multiple test cases organized into a test suite, you can execute the entire suite from the command line. For example, if you have a test suite file named testSuite.side containing multiple test cases, you can execute it with the following command:
selenium-side-runner "your_directory\testSuite.side"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output test results
This command will execute the test suite testSuite.side and save the test results in the test-results directory. You can replace your_directory/testSuite.side with the actual path to your test suite file.
selenium-side-runner --output-directory=test-results "your_directory\testSuite.side"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Specify a custom base URL for test case execution
This command helps you to specify a custom base URL for test case execution. This is helpful when you want to run the same test suite against different environments (e.g., development, staging, production) by changing the base URL dynamically during execution.
selenium-side-runner --base-url="http://example.com" "your_directory\testsuite.side"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Final thoughts on Selenium IDE
In conclusion, Selenium IDE is a powerful tool for testers helping on their automation journey. Its user-friendly interface, with features like recording and playback, variable support, and scripting capabilities, offers an accessible entry point for beginners doing the test automation. Selenium IDE streamlines manual testing processes by automating repetitive tasks such as filling out forms, clicking through workflows, and verifying UI elements, saving time and effort and providing many advanced features. Happy testing!
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