What is Selenium WebDriver? The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Web Automation

Considering to executive your test cases manually? Please rethink! With the current complexity of modern applications and the requirements of the target audience, it will not only be a massively resource-consuming process but will also be very risky if anything goes wrong. So what’s the alternative? You can consider using advanced web automation tools like Selenium WebDriver. But, there are many new testers who are still unaware of: What is Selenium WebDriver?

Are you one of them? Don’t worry! We’re here for you. Our article will help you understand everything about executing web automation testing with Selenium WebDriver. We will also discuss some of the most common challenges associated with it and their possible resolutions. Our best practices will help you create the best testing strategy for modern requirements.

What Is Selenium WebDriver

Let us address the basics of Selenium WebDriver before we dive deep into all the complex segments. In the most basic terms, it is an open-source library to automate web browsers. Selenium WebDriver is a part of the Selenium test suite. The suite also comes with other tools like the Selenium IDE, the Selenium Grid, and the Selenium client API. 

The interface of the Selenium WebDriver will help you write instructions which can interact with web pages just like a human developer. Some of the common interactions will include clicking buttons, entering text, selecting checkboxes, and so on. 

Since this tool gives you the ability to interact like a real user, it is a perfect option for maintaining the balance between automation testing with human elements.

Let us now divert our attention towards some of the major benefits of improving Selenium WebDriver for exhibiting modern web automation testing:

• This tool will give you the complete freedom to select your preferred programming language to create the automation test script. Some of the options that you can consider here include Java, Python, Ruby, and many others.

• Selenium WebDriver comes with cross-browser support. What does this mean to you? You can test the functioning of your app on almost all the known browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari, just to name a few.

• Since it is an open-source tool, it has a massive community of enthusiastic testers and developers. The advantage? You will have access to multiple rich documentation and support methods whenever you’re stuck with any feature of this tool.

• Using Selenium WebDriver, you can run the test cases in the native environment of your chosen browser. The result? You do not have to go through the hassle of setting up a dedicated test engine or a compatibility layer. Previously, it was required for the Selenium Remote Controller.

• Finally, you can easily integrate the Selenium WebDriver with any of your preferred testing frameworks like JUnit, TestNG, and PyTest for further improving the scope of the testing infrastructure.

How Selenium WebDriver Works

To further help you understand the functioning of Selenium WebDriver, let us go through some of the major architectural components of this tool:

• Selenium provides libraries for multiple programming languages. The Selenium WebDriver uses these libraries to allow you to write the automation test script in any other preferred programming language. After this, the Selenium WebDriver will use the client API to translate the test script into a language that the architecture will understand.

• Earlier, WebDriver used the JSON Wire Protocol to communicate with browser drivers. However, after the Selenium 4 massive update, the W3C WebDriver protocol is the new market standard. Using this WebDriver protocol, you can define how the client libraries and the browser drivers can communicate.

• Selenium WebDriver also uses dedicated browser drivers for every web browser to translate the commands into actions that the browser can perform. For example, it uses the ChromeDriver for Google Chrome and GeckoDriver for Mozilla Firefox.

• The final step in the workflow is the browser itself. This is the platform where Selenium WebDriver will execute the commands from the driver, like clicking elements, filling out forms, or navigating through the URLs.

In short, when you write a Selenium test, you will be sending the commands through the workflow “your script → Selenium Client Library → Browser Driver → Browser”.

Setting Up Your First Selenium WebDriver Project

To execute your automation test cases, you will have to go through a few prerequisites and also follow certain steps. To help the new testers with this process, we have mentioned all the prerequisites and the required steps in the correct order:

Pre-Requisites

• First, you have to choose your own programming language that you will be using to write the automation test scripts with Selenium WebDriver. During this step, you must be careful that you are using only the tool that is not only supported by Selenium but also familiar with your testing practices.

• You will also require a build tool if you are working with the Java programming language. Some of the common build tools include Maven or Gradle.

• Finally, you will require all the required browser drivers depending on the browser that you are currently targeting with the testing process.

Setting Up the Environment

Performed all the prerequisites? It is time to set up the testing environment. To easily explain the setup process, we will be using the example of Java to create the automation test scripts. We will also use Maven as our preferred build tool for this process.

1. First, install Java using the Java development kit. You must perform the installation process from the official website to avoid any possibility of data breaches or malicious attacks.
2. It is also important to install Maven as it will help you manage the dependencies and also the build of the project that you’re currently working on.

3. Finally, you also have to create a new Maven project using your IDE. You can choose IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse for this purpose. After creating the project, you have to add Selenium as a dependency within the project file “pom.xml.”

To further help you understand the setup process for this procedure, we have mentioned a sample code snippet that lays down the entire workflow:

4. You also have to download the browser driver for this process. Since we will be using Chrome as our target browser in this example, we will be referring to ChromeDriver throughout the setup process.

The First Selenium Test Script

Now that you have finished the initial setup process, it is time to create your first Selenium test script. Since we’re using the example of Java in this step, we have mentioned a sample test script using the Java programming language:

The above code snippet will help you to retrieve the page title and print it onto the console window. After executing this process, it will automatically close the browser session and display the results of the testing process.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

While implementing Selenium testing, you will come across certain challenges that might completely disrupt your testing procedure. To help you avoid these obstacles, we mentioned some of the major challenges with their effective resolutions:

ElementNotVisibleException / NoSuchElementException

This challenge mainly occurs when you’re working with a dynamic element and the system tries to execute the testing process before the element becomes visible and interactable. To avoid it, you must implement appropriate waiting strategies like explicit or fluent waits. 

StaleElementReferenceException

This error occurs when the element you’re interacting with is no longer present in the DOM. So, to eliminate this issue, you simply have to refresh the element references or implement robust waiting.

Brittle Locator Strategies

If you’re using brittle element locators, there will be a high possibility that the testing process will be inaccurate, and you will receive flaky test results. As an effective solution, we advise using stable attributes or carefully designing the CSS or XPath expressions. 

Best Practices for Selenium WebDriver

Finally, let us go through some of the major best practices that we recommend the testers to incorporate in the Selenium WebDriver testing process. These practices will help to improve the sustainability and quality of the entire testing infrastructure:

● Modernize The Tests

It is a good practice to break down the test into smaller and reusable functions. For example, you can consider using Page Object Methods. This approach will help you encourage the maintainability and readability of the entire testing infrastructure. 

● Use Page Object Models

We highly suggest the testers to confine the web elements and actions related to these elements within a specific page or component. These components must be present in separate classes. The advantage? It greatly reduces code duplication and makes the test scripts more simple. 

Page Object Models also help improve the readability of the test scripts so that they are understandable by even the non-technical members of the team. 

● Implement Cloud Testing

If you don’t know what is Selenium WebDriver and what is Selenium, there is a high possibility that you’re not aware of cloud testing practices. This is the process of implementing real device testing through thousands of devices accessible with remote servers.

Want to learn more about cloud testing in Selenium? Let us use the example of LambdaTest. LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you perform manual and automation testing at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.

The integration of Selenium WebDriver with LambdaTest unlocks the path for automated cross-browser testing in a parallel configuration. 

● Eliminate Hard Coding

We advise the testers to store repetitive configuration, relational data like URLs and testing initials in properties or configuration files. You can also store them as environment variables or test data management systems. 

The Bottom Line

Based on all the factors that we have put forward in this article, we can easily say the Selenium WebDriver has completely changed the way you automate your web apps. The language flexibility and browser compatibility make it the ideal choice for customizing your testing requirements. So, whether you’re just exploring the Selenium WebDriver or you are a seasoned developer migrating to it, it has something to offer.

By understanding the core components of Selenium, its workflow, and the best practices that we mentioned in this article, you can create resilient and maintainable automation test suites. With the evolving app testing industry, the Selenium WebDriver will continue to add new features to keep up with the requirements of the changing market.

Finally, we advise the testers to start small by automating a few test scripts and understand the various components of Selenium. Based on your practice and knowledge, you will be able to scale up your automation testing practices to create a fully capable testing environment.