By Hardik Shah – Selenium is one of the most widely used tools for testing web-based applications. It is an easy-to-use test automation tool with all kinds of testing functionality to deliver high-quality applications.With today’s digital acceleration and advancement, web applications are becoming increasingly complex. And with development models like agile poses new challenges for extensive and faster testing. It is where reliable and established tools like Selenium come into the picture. It helps in automation and minimizing manual testing efforts.
However, QAs must follow the right practices for Selenium test automation to make the most out of it. This article highlights a few best practices that can enhance the automation testing process.
What is Selenium automation testing?
Selenium is a free, open-source test automation framework. It is used to automate the testing of web applications across various platforms and browsers. It is compatible with multiple programming languages and operating systems. It also provides multi-browser support and parallel test execution.
Selenium has a suite of tools to meet the different QA and testing needs of an organization. The tools include Selenium IDE, Remote Control, WebDriver, and Selenium Grid.
Despite its immense benefits, it is essential to remember that it will only bring out the desired results if used correctly. So, let’s examine some of the best automation testing strategies and practices to follow.
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Best Practices for Automation Testing Using Selenium
Plan and Design Tests Before Automation
It is important that QA engineers think about all logical scenarios and then create test cases before automation. It is also essential to understand the application and the underlying technologies being used beforehand.
QAs often dive directly into automation and emphasize verifying if the test scripts are run successfully. But it does not ensure foolproof testing of web applications. Therefore, prior planning and design of test cases are vital to the success of selenium testing.
Identify and Prioritize Test Cases
For better testing management and strategy, identify certain critical test cases and prioritize their execution. This practice eases the testing of complex web applications and achieving test coverage goals. Furthermore, when you know what to automate first, it avoids repetitive and mundane tasks. For example, testing the login page on priority is ideal because it performs an important function and is vital to every web application.
Use Parameterization to Achieve Data-Driven Testing
Data-driven testing helps you use the same code with different inputs. These inputs can be a combination of browsers, devices, and operating systems. It can be achieved by using parameterized tests that allow you to execute test cases with different input combinations.
Separate coding for an extensive data set is not scalable, incurs repetition, and may reduce test coverage. Thus, parameterized tests are a better solution.
Leverage Page Object Model
Page Object Model (POM) is an object-oriented design pattern where web pages are defined as classes, various page elements are defined as variables, and user interactions are defined as methods. So when the UI of a page changes, only the code within the page object needs to be changed and not the whole test.
POM gives a clean separation between test code and page-specific code. It has a single, central repository of all services and operations offered by the page.
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Avoid Test Dependencies
It is an excellent practice to write test cases that are not interdependent. It avoids creating chained and brittle tests. Tests should be written as small as possible and for only a single action or process. Otherwise, they might not be suitable for agile or CI models.
Also, using mock external service can improve the speed and stability of tests by eliminating external dependencies.
Refrain from Using Thread.sleep()
Often, web applications take time to load due to machine and server performance, server location, or network issues. To tackle this, Thread.sleep() function is used to pause the test script for a specified amount of time. But it is unreliable because you cannot predict the load time of an application or element.
Instead, you can use the dynamic Wait commands such as Explicit Wait or Implicit. Explicit Wait pauses the test execution until an expected condition is met or time expires. Implicit Wait halts execution for a specified time until the desired element is located on the page.
Run Tests on Real Devices
When web applications or websites are tested in real user conditions, they can give accurate results. It also allows you to detect maximum bugs and, therefore, roll out a robust application.
Although multiple emulators are available, they are suitable for testing in the early stages of development. Moreover, emulators for every device-OS combination may not be available, so it is challenging to test desired combinations for the QAs.
Conclusion
Indeed, the adobe-mentioned best practices list is not definitive. But it covers significant points that QAs must keep in mind for Selenium automation testing. On top of that, organizations must have experienced selenium test automation engineers and experts. And it is also an excellent choice to opt for an independent testing services provider to make the best out of Selenium test automation.
Meanwhile, please share other valuable best practices with us that you follow in the comments section below. Happy testing!
Hardik Shah is a Tech Consultant at Simform, a leading custom software development company. He leads large-scale mobility programs that cover platforms, solutions, governance, standardization, and best practices. Connect with him to discuss the best practices of software methodologies @hsshah_
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