Is Your Code Selenium IDE Ready? 10 Things To Know

Developing the codes that match with the exact vision of the user is vital. And hence for testing it, you require a proper testing tool that has a dedicated framework. Thus, Selenium is the perfect choice for it. With Selenium IDE, the testers can easily test the features that they are looking for. Selenium ide is an application designed for recording and replaying the interaction with a web application. This extension can record test scripts against a single instance of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers. 

The Selenium IDE requires installation on a stand-alone basis as it won’t work as a plugin within other Chromium-based browsers. Selenium browser add-ons are available to download but they cannot be utilized without running Selenium IDE separately. Like many of the other automation testing tools, Selenium IDE is written in Java programming language and can run on any platform that has Java virtual machine installed. Being text oriented, this application provides a way to both look up and copy commands entered into the browser’s address bar or input text value of text fields within the page using the control panel on the left hand side at any time during recording or playback.

Introduction to Selenium IDE

Selenium ide is an add-on for existing Selenium framework and tests are written using the IDE. The extension records all the necessary interactions of the tester and can be reused as a test script. Recording of test scripts is done through a simple GUI interface with pre-defined controls for manipulating the web pages being tested. Selenium IDE is only supported to work on the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The Firefox add-on can be downloaded from the link given below. The same can be done with the Chrome extension by going through the steps given down here. 

It is an easy-to-use tool that lets you record your actions on a page and play them back on demand. By running Selenium IDE with Firefox, you can automate your manual QA tests – like clicking buttons, filling out forms or even walking through advanced scenarios from user stories. Selenium IDE can even be used by someone new to developing automated test cases for their web applications. One does not require any special setup to get started with Selenium IDE. You just need to add the extension of your specific browser.

Click here – Playwright vs Cypress: A Detailed Comparison

Things to know to make sure that the Code is Selenium IDE ready

Selenium IDE is primarily used for purposes of functional automation testing and has an add-on for Google Chrome, Opera and Firefox. These are called Selenium Remote Control (RC) or Selenium IDE or Selenium Web driver. Each browser has its own advantages based on the use case. 

  • The RC is an extension that enables recording in Web applications from your browser. It supports user authentication using HTTP authentication and HTTPS. It provides additional features to the Firefox browser, which helps in creating and managing Selenium test cases. 
  • Selenium IDE includes commands to open Firefox with a certain profile and to record and playback a test case. It also allows adding, editing, deleting test cases, suites and recording scripts. Furthermore, it fulfills the basic requirements of recording and editing of test cases. 

It enables developers to create test cases in multiple languages, including Java, C. Selenium IDE also provides the functionality of recording and playing back test cases in a step-by-step fashion. However, before running the code on Selenium ide, we have to make sure that these things are perfect.

You can begin your Selenium testing with LambdaTest – a complete test automation cloud, wherein you can test across a Selenium Grid Cloud of 3000+ desktops and mobile browsers. LambdaTest offer a wide range of device coverage, it allows you to run Selenium scripts on 3000+ desktop and mobile devices, while letting you debug on the go.

  • It handles the UI features well

Conditional logic offers a number of ways to handle intermittent UI features, like cookies and paywall prompts. There are times, however, where conditional logic doesn’t fully solve the problem in Selenium IDE scripts. Developers also have to put in workarounds which are not a part of conditionals. These are called ‘workarounds’ for lack of a better term and can be difficult to debug as well. Conditional logic can be a powerful tool for developers testing with Selenium IDE. By using conditional logic, you can create a script that functions correctly even if it encounters intermittent UI elements. Furthermore, if the UI elements are aligned, then it is a proper way to make sure that the viewers are having a perfect experience of using the website or the app.

  • CI Build Scripts should be present in the code

Selenium IDE is a must-have extension for every Selenium user. You can use it to record Selenium tests and run them from the IDE, and use it as a code editor. It also provides best in class debugging and Live Edit features, but the killer feature is the ability to create UI tests without writing a single line of code, using only a Web browser. By simplifying the technology requirements needed to execute tests, Selenium IDE can be integrated into more development workflows. If you do have Selenium IDE installed on your machine, try selecting a text field in Illustrator and clicking Debug Script in Selenium IDE’s main menu. Furthermore, the scripts present in the code should be displayed well.

  • Visualizing the responsiveness

Responsiveness is a proper feature of any application or a website where we see whether the displayed software is properly able to get through all the available screens easily. For the code to be SElenium ready, it is important that the responsiveness factor is always there as it will help the users to access every feature on the every device available with them.The Visual Grid feature available with the Selenium ide keeps the testers on edge and hence allows them to test the responsiveness of the code. For the users who are looking to test it on every device, they can get all the test cases passed and hence can easily check everything available in it.

  • Third Party Plugins should get importance in it

Building plugins to extend Selenium IDE will not be easy. It will require an understanding of the rich API that Selenium IDE provides and a working knowledge of Java. But once you get it you will never want to let go of it. Furthermore, Selenium ide lets you record user actions on a website, edit the actions to make them less redundant, and then play them back on any site you want in any browser or mobile device that Selenium supports. Even the third party plugins are important for the application or the website to run well as they allow the users to install everything they are looking for. While it may be designed as an end user tool, it is also useful for developers building on top of the Selenium project.

  • The code should be cross browser-ready

Automation is the logical response to teams facing ever greater testing demands, but it’s a challenge for the software industry to deliver the quantity and quality of tests necessary to ensure the quality of software. Selenium IDE is an open-source tool from SeleniumHQ that’s designed to help automate web application testing. With Selenium IDE, you can author scripts utilizing a simple point-and-click interface, then run these scripts against your browser. But the main responsibility that comes up while testing the code through Selenium ide is that it should be cross browser and hence the testers can use multiple browsers or platforms to test it easily with some of the best methods available with them.

  • Embedded Code is given priority here

Selenium IDE is a programmer testing tool. Selenium IDE helps developers write and run test scripts faster and easier. This can be done easily by building a supporting API in the browser. The objective of the API is to allow developers to write simple but powerful tests in HTML5. This API will work with the selenium RC technology for recording and executing test scripts. Moreover, with the embedded code, the priority should be given while running through the Selenium ide and hence it is advised that the testers are always given a space for the embedded code to test it properly. Embedded Code recognizes the browsers based on various characteristics such as extensions, user-agent, and available plug-ins.

  • Brittle Functionable codes should not be there

Selenium IDE protects UI tests from change by capturing multiple locators when you record your script. During playback, if a locator fails, Selenium IDE tries each of the other locators until a test completes successfully. Thus making sure that there are no more brittle tests to get the code into production. The Selenium IDE is an extremely helpful tool for developers recording tests with Selenium. It provides auto-completion, a basic editor and recorder, and most importantly locator management on-the-fly during playback. Furthermore, it captures locators using a friendly user interface. You can capture either locators from the elements that you see on your screen or by using “Find and Replace.”

  • No front-end bugs

For a code to pass through the Selenium IDE framework, it is essential that the code isn’t having any front-end bugs and thus it can easily get through all the tests. So, with Selenium ide, you can record test scripts visually, debug your scripts with the DOM Explorer, record video of real browsers, and test responsive sites. Furthermore, it lets you create reports that are easy to understand, even by non-technical stakeholders, showing them exactly what changed – and why it matters. This makes visual regression tests the ideal bridge between development and quality assurance. Delivered at your desk, directly to your inbox. The front-end bugs available with the code are usually detected at just the starting stage of testing.

  • The code should be run in limited time available

The new Selenium IDE has re-written all the waits that were in older versions of Selenium. That makes it very easy to understand. The tests are simple and easy to maintain. Sometimes you need to wait for something in Selenium. For example, you might want to wait until a page element is visible on the screen or it’s been loaded from the server. The traditional way of doing this is with a pause / wait command. But, that can make your tests hard to read and maintain. Furthermore, the code that is available should be executed in the limited time frame so that the code gets executed completely. It is advisable to wait for sometime as it might take some time to load the code and hence the Selenium ide makes sure that the code runs in the limited time frame.

  • The code should be available with code repositories

Selenium IDE is built on top of a new record-and-replay architecture that lets you capture tests in an open and human-readable format. Previously, it used internal binary file formats that made it difficult to inspect the test scripts or modify them independently. It is a web-based tool for creating and managing automated tests that are written in the Selenium WebDriver language. You can author, manage, and run tests straight from your browser. The IDE also comes with many conveniences to help you develop and debug your scripts faster. Furthermore, Selenium ide should have the presented code with the repository so as to allow the testers to easily access the code and hence to make the changes that are required in it.

Final Thoughts

Selenium IDE is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of the Selenium Test Suite. Selenium IDE is a tool that enables you to record test scripts and launch automated tests from any application. It provides you with a customizable GUI (Graphical User Interface), which allows you to create and edit your test suites using a web browser. Even the development environment also provides the capability of converting test cases to different programming languages, which makes it easier for the user and does not mandate the need for knowing a specific programming language. However, the codes that have to be tested in the Selenium ide should be of top quality so that they get easily passed through it.

Click here  – What Is An Unlisted YouTube Video?