Selenium- A Value Proposition Automated Web Application Testing Tool

Selenium is an open-source test automation solution that provides a playback or record tool for the authoring the web testing without learning the scripting language. The Selenium testing framework used for web applications also provides a domain-specific language that is Selenese. It employs platforms like Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Why Use Selenium?

Selenium has gained the advantage over the other automated testing tool as it comes within the budget of an organization. It has become the first choice of the testers or the QA analysts for testing of the functionality and the web application that are based upon the GUI. It is a unit testing tool for the JavaScript as it has been written in Java. Overall, the industrial usage graphs show its usage to be more than 14% in the IT companies, as the testers do not have to learn new scripting languages.

Competitive Edge over the Proprietary Tools

The companies that are involved with the development and testing of modern web browsers, for them Selenium is one of the cost-effective automated testing tools. If the IT companies are seeking for the testing budget then the Selenium is the efficient open-source budgetary testing tool. It provides a competitive edge over the other proprietary tools that are used for automated testing by the QA analysts. The tests can also be written in popular languages like Java, C #, PHP, Perl, Groovy, Ruby, Scala, and Python.

It is observed that the automation testing reduces the testing time. The testers do not have to check the long scripts to find the bugs and errors. In return, the automation open-source testing tool Selenium minimizes the availability time of the software to be provided to the clientele. Many organizations believe in rendering flawless services to the clientele, and it is only possible through the usage of the efficient automated tools. The companies are not investing in the commercial testing tools because of the higher licensing fee. Hence, Selenium offers the best solution.

Selenium Test Components

The Selenium automated testing package includes three major components that are used widely by the testers in the IT industries. These three components are as

• Selenium RC, which is used for running the tests on various systems and browsers.
• Selenium IDE is a Firefox extension that is used for recording of the test cases and the suites.
• Selenium Grid is used for running the multiple instances of the Selenium RC.
• Other than, the above-mentioned test packages, the Qualitia and the Tellurium are used as a wrapper for the Selenium engine.

Benefits of Using Selenium

As Selenium is a suite of software and is affordable for the organizations, the testers prefer using it for automated testing. It is not a single automation tool so it carries many beneficial effects. It can test particular software for the client and even an enterprise completely. Hence, there is no scope left for the vulnerabilities or any kind of flaws in the web applications. Here are some of its listed benefits:

• Open Source Tool

The Selenium goes according to the user’s requirements as it an open-source automation tool. The testers widely use it because it is not at all expensive like other commercial automated tools and being an open source the cost of the license is lowered.

• Choice of Testing Language

As it provides the domain-specific language so, it becomes easier for the Selenium Testers to use the testing language they are comfortable to use. They can use Ruby, Perl, Python, Java, etc. and employ it with the Selenium testing. This result in enhancing the productivity of the client’s software and the maximum benefit will be derived from other sources.

• Higher Scalability

Selenium being the multi-featured framework can be put to use to the higher level of evaluation purposes like the product-monitoring, load testing, etc.

• Easy Installation and Integration

It has become the primary choice of the QA analysts and the testers as it comfortable to handle and even install on the systems. It can be easily integrated with other languages and the frameworks that make it more straightforward too.

• Execution of the Test Cases

With the usage of the Selenium automated testing tool, the automated test cases can be integrated with the bug tracking system for identification and reporting the bugs. Even it assists in maintaining the history of the tracked bugs and errors for the future reference of the testers.

Conclusion

Most of the organizations prefer using Selenium because of its flexible nature as the testers can add functionality to the test scripts and customize the test automation. As it is an open-source automation tool, so the source code can be downloaded and modified accordingly. This makes Selenium stand out in the competition when comparing it with the other automation tools.