Selenium WebDriver is an integral part of the Selenium automation testing tool that runs your test against different browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Though the use of Selenium WebDriver has simplified the testing of websites and web applications, a few problems remain the same. They have become the most common challenges for developers and testers using this framework. Do any testers need to understand what is Selenium WebDriver? First to start with automation.
The following article will discuss some of the most common issues when using Selenium WebDriver and their solutions.
The Importance of Selenium WebDriver
In this digital landscape, one must build high-quality web applications to render a seamless user experience across browsers and devices. Expectations for effective test automation increase multifold with the internet continually evolving to be more complex in features and functionalities, and this is where Selenium WebDriver shines.
Selenium WebDriver provides a powerful, flexible way of automating browsers that allows the development and testing of robust test cases. Browser automation via Selenium WebDriver allows a test to be created for cross-browser testing. Your web application will work as expected in various browsers and their versions.
In addition, Selenium WebDriver can be easily used in many programming languages, such as Java, Python, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript. This language flexibility allows the teams to employ Selenium WebDriver from the vantage point of their existing skills and use it as part of existing testing flows and CI/CD pipelines. You can automate browser interactions with Selenium WebDriver, therefore reducing manual effort and improving test coverage,
You can check that the user experience is consistent in various browsers and their versions. Run parallel tests in different browsers and devices to boost testing speed and efficiency.
You can also integrate the tests with other testing tools and frameworks to do a full-on testing strategy via, e.g., TestNG, JUnit, or Pytest. You will also get detailed reporting with logs for better analysis and test result debugging.
Nowadays, web application testing has gained immense importance, and Selenium WebDriver is among the essential tools for any modern software development team.
You will be able to master Selenium WebDriver by handling the common challenges elaborated in this article and be equipped to build more reliable, efficient, and effective test automation suites that result in the quick delivery of high-quality web applications.
Common Problems with Selenium WebDriver and Their Resolution
Selenium WebDriver makes the task of testing websites and web applications relatively easy. However, developers and testers often report many issues while working with this framework. Here are some of the most common issues one faces with Selenium WebDriver and their detailed solution to get over them,
Handling Dynamic Content
The most uncomfortable aspect of dealing with Selenium WebDriver can be the process of handling dynamically loaded content. Web pages usually have elements that turn invisible when one visits them.
This may be because the same page displays different content to different users, new content appears after some time, or it pops up with a click on the page. This may happen when an element is new in the locator. When such happens, the Selenium WebDriver will throw a “No Such Element Exception.”.
When we have dynamic content, we handle it using explicit waits. With explicit waits, you can define the time to wait before automation will perform a command. It allows enough time to load the page and identify the element for interaction.
Dealing with Flaky Tests
The most uncomfortable fact about dealing with Selenium WebDriver is the process of handling dynamically loaded content. Most web pages have elements that go invisible at a certain point in time when one visits them.
This might be because the same page displays different contents to different users, new content appears after some time, or it pops up with a click. This can happen if an element that is new in the locator at the instant has appeared. In such a scenario, the Selenium WebDriver will throw a “No Such Element Exception.”.
In the presence of dynamic content, treat it using explicit waits. The explicit waits would let you define how much time is needed before automation will perform a command. It gives enough time to load the page and identify the element for interaction.
Lack of Visual Testing Capabilities
Selenium WebDriver is focused on functional testing, meaning it is barely used for visual testing. Visual elements and contrast might differ drastically across browsers and devices. For example, misaligned elements, overlapping text, or incorrect color treatments can go unnoticed without visual testing.
The visual test implemented in Selenium WebDriver also requires third-party integration with a screenshot tool. Just to mention a few, Applitools, Percy, and Happo are in number. You can use such tools to take screenshots of your web pages and do a comparison to the baseline. You will not notice any visual regressions.
Alternatively, you could use a cloud-based testing platform that has visual testing features, where you can automatically take screenshots of your web pages on different browsers and devices. After that, a comparison with a baseline exposes the visual bugs.
Some of the best practices of visual testing are,
- Create a baseline for comparison that will reflect what your web pages should look like. Also, refresh your baseline often because the design can intentionally change, and employ a tool that will give you granular differences and highlight visual differences for easy scanning and debugging.
- By integrating visual testing for your Selenium WebDriver test suite, you can validate that your web application does exactly what it should and continues to provide the same visually compelling experience on any platform.
Limitations of Local Testing
Selenium WebDriver allows testing on various browsers and operating systems but is restricted by your machine’s local hardware and software configurations. If you need to test on a browser version or operating system that you are not running locally, you will have to find a workaround.
The possibility of escaping the limitations of local testing is through a cloud-based Selenium testing platform. A cloud-based one ensures wide access to immediate interaction with any browser and device setup, including legacy browsers and operating systems.
If automated Selenium WebDriver test cases have to be executed on the real device sets available to you in the cloud without managing infrastructure at your end, this is what you would do with a cloud-enabled solution.
The cloud-based testing solution you select must have large browser and device coverage, including mobile and real devices, and scalability to accommodate both large test suites and high concurrency. It should also have high reliability and stability considerations for consistent test results and easy integration with most CI/CD tools and popular frameworks.
Cloud-based testing platforms like LambdaTest will enable you to increase test coverage, reduce maintenance overhead, and ensure that your application runs as expected in most browsers and devices using its automated testing tools.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test automation platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ browsers and OS combinations.
Parallel Test Execution
Running the tests one by one makes the process excessively elongated, which could most likely be made more efficient. You probably run different tests that way on many browsers and devices, too. WebDriver has built-in support for running tests in parallel, but you can easily arrange a Selenium Grid and maintain the infrastructure.
Running your Selenium WebDriver tests in parallel is now cloud-based, which makes it easy to render solutions quickly. This scalable and reliable Selenium Grid allows users to run different test sets across numerous browsers and devices simultaneously. Easily configure testable enabled tests to be run simultaneously, reducing time execution and increasing coverage.
Here are some best practices to keep in mind when running tests in parallel,
- Use a test running and testing framework that would support parallel runs; for instance, TestNG and JUnit ensure tests are isolated, not dependent on the state or resources between each other.
- Also, enough resources, such as memory and CPU, should be allocated for the load of parallel execution. Keep an eye on your tests and infrastructure for performance issues and bottlenecks.
- Running the Selenium WebDriver tests in parallel will significantly reduce the time to execute your test suite, providing fast feedback on the quality of your web application.
Conclusion
To conclude, Selenium WebDriver is a powerful web browser automation tool that comes with challenges like dynamic content, flakiness tests, and local testing limitations. Solutions include explicit waits, test isolation, timeout handling, and third-party tools.
As web development grows, there’s a need for test automation. Cloud-based Selenium testing platforms offer improved features, parallel execution, and a variety of browser and device configurations, enhancing testing efforts and reducing overhead.