1. Automating GUI testing with Selenium WebDriver, Java and Eclipse
Selenium Basics
Automating GUI testing with Selenium WebDriver, Java and Eclipse
Tom Wimsatt, CTAL
Columbia Software Test Meetup
December 1, 2016 1

2. Selenium Basics - Agenda
Introduction to Selenium
Eclipse
JUnit
Selenium Environments
IDE
WebDriver
Browsers – IE and FF 2
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3. Selenium Basics - Agenda
Test Formatting
Test Case, Test Suite, Test Runner
Design Patterns
Making the Most of Test Automation
Handling Errors and Exceptions
Object Identification - Locators
Resources 3
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4. Selenium Basics - Introduction
Selenium is for browser automation
FireFox
Internet Explorer
Chrome
Etc.
Supports many languages
Java
Python
Ruby 4
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5. Selenium Basic - Introduction
Selenium leverages JUnit and is supported by Eclipse:
Asserts
TestCase, TestSuite, TestRunner 5
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6. Selenium Basics - Environments
Selenium IDE
FireFox Browser plug-in
Includes formatters for Ruby, Python, Java, C#
Useful for debugging – Locating objects in particular
Quick scripting of tests
Not recommended for long term or serious test development – inflexible (no looping, etc).

7. Selenium Basics - Environments
Selenium WebDriver
Works with Eclipse through jars
Step toward Selenium Grid – multiple machine and environment automation.
Ultimate in flexibility

8. Selenium Basics - Environments
Browsers
Internet Explorer – simple but somewhat inflexible browser for testing.
Tips
Object ID – F12 for Developer Tools
Compatibility View pre-IE 11

9. Selenium Basics - Environments
Browsers
FireFox – very flexible.
Profiles give the tester options for setting up the browser for different purposes.
Object ID – Developer Tools > Inspector
FireBug plug-in for older FF versions
Disable all add-ins for a clean profile for testing. Use that as the default.
firefox.exe -p

10. Selenium Basics - Environments
Browsers
FireFox (cont'd)
Create profiles or rename them for specific purposes
firefox.exe -p
Older versions of Selenium required separate FF jar
To get all FF preferences:
about:config in the address bar

11. Selenium Basics – Test Formatting
JUnit Classes
Test Case – Individual or collected tests
@Before or setUp – execute this method before every test
Initialize the browser with default timing
Navigate to initial home page to begin testing

12. Selenium Basics – Test Formatting
JUnit Classes
Test Case (cont'd)
@Test or testName – the actual test
One or more tests in a test class
@Before are executed for each test
@After or tearDown executed after each test method
Close the browser

13. Selenium Basics – Test Formatting
JUnit Classes
Test Suite – collection of Test Cases
Test Runner – Execution of test cases (main)

14. Selenium Basics – Test Formatting
Design Patterns
Classes for browser initialization
Include default timing parameters for page loads, object appearances, failure waits.
Default settings e.g. default certificate handling
Object Repositories
Repository class for each page
Collect in a separate package

15. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
The keys to GUI test automation are:
Handling errors – when the test fails.
Handling dynamic object names – the code may name the objects on the page as it loads or after compiling.

16. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Handling errors – capture the error and continue testing.
Define your initial condition for all tests
All tests in a suite begin at the same place
Return to the initial condition at the end of each test – reset to default.
Carefully plan tests that may have to build on one another

17. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Handling errors (cont'd)
If testing for errors, know what the possible errors could be:
Runtime exceptions
Error dialog – modal?
Browser crashing

18. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification – Locators
By ID, By Name,
By Xpath – Not as widely supported. IE and FF support Xpath.
By CSS Selector
Native support in most browsers.
Faster than Xpath

19. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification – Locators (cont'd)
The findElement() method
Locate a single element on a page
Perform actions on elements
click
clear
getAttribute and getText
sendKeys

20. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification - Locators (cont'd)
The findElements() method
Locate a list of similar elements on a page
Use to navigate down to the element you need
Narrows down the elements
Select the Nth element in a set
Example:
List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.cssSelector(“div.button”));

21. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification - Locators (cont'd)
The trick to locators is in the wildcarding:
Element div attribute id begins with 't'
by.cssSelector(“div[id^='t']”)
Element div attribute id ends with 't'
by.cssSelector(“div[id$='t']”)

22. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification - Locators (cont'd)
Combine attributes to better locate the element:
Element div attribute id and class ends with 't'
by.cssSelector(“div[id^='t'][class$='t']”)

23. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification - Locators (cont'd)
Iterate through a list using attributes:
List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(by.cssSelector...
for(WebElement element : elements) {
String attrib = element.getAttribute(“value”); }

24. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Object Identification - Locators (cont'd)
Iterate through a list using containing text:
List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(by.cssSelector...
for(WebElement element : elements) {
String attrib = element.getText(); }

25. Selenium Basics – Making the Most of Automated Testing
Selection
When presented with a list of options:
Select(WebElement).selectByVisibleText(“This One”);
Switching Windows
Set<String> handles = driver.getWindowHandles();
Driver.switchTo().window(handle);

26. Selenium Basics - Resources
Selenium HQ -
Rosetta Stone for Locators:
Selenium 2 Testing Tools
Selenium Testing Tools Cookbook
Selenium WebDriver Practical Guide
Packt Publishing:
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27. Selenium Basics - Resources
Robert T. (Tom) Wimsatt, CTAL
Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc.
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