Web applications are getting more complex as a result of ongoing developments in digital technologies. Each website that seeks to succeed in today’s market needs to provide a flawless user experience. As a result, the requirement to thoroughly test new features across platforms presents additional challenges for QA engineers. The success of today’s agile and DevOps processes depends on test automation.
Developers utilize a variety of test automation tools and frameworks to execute test scripts effectively and provide high-quality releases more quickly. One of the most popular and extensively used open-source test automation tools is the Selenium, which enables QA engineers to run comprehensive tests more quickly. It provides accurate results for all tests and is most suitable for all web apps across all browsers. It is a simple tool with lots of useful features.
It is evident that automation testing greatly enhances and streamlines the life cycle of application development. Despite this, inappropriate automated test execution could result in application failure. Over the past few years, the use of agile software development and agile testing using Selenium automation testing has noticeably increased. The Agile SDLC technique, which places a strong emphasis on collaborative decision-making, has largely superseded the traditional SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) practices.
In this article, we will explore some Selenium testing best practices utilizing the agile development methodology. Let’s look at what Agile Testing and Selenium Automation Testing are before we get into our topic.
Selenium automated testing
The terms “Agile” and “Automation” are commonly employed in modern technology because of their tremendous benefits. The most popular open-source agile test automation technology is Selenium, which is used to automate any web-based application and carry out repeatable tests. Selenium automated testing is the term used to describe testing carried out with Selenium.
Selenium, however, is not just a single tool but a suite of tools each of which addresses various Selenium automation testing requirements. These tools include the Selenium IDE, Selenium Webdriver, and Selenium Grid. For both web interaction testing and software regression testing selenium testing is helpful. To deliver high-quality applications, Selenium provides a variety of testing functionality.
Selenium tests can be written in a variety of programming languages and run on a variety of operating systems and web browsers. Additionally, it allows you to export the recorded test scripts to languages like Java, C#, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and PHP.
Agile Testing
Agile software development’s guiding principles serve as the foundation for the testing process known as agile testing. To encourage continuous changes across the software development life cycle, many application developers have switched from Waterfall to Agile (SDLC). The agile methodology presents the crucial necessity for a collaborative team, which is not the case with the traditional testing processes, as development and testing processes proceed simultaneously.
Instead of waiting for the final release, the tight integration of testing with the development process aids QA teams in finding defects early in the application development and keeps testing ongoing throughout the entire process.
Agile testing enhances not just the development of high-quality applications but also the interaction and communication between developers, product owners, QA, and testers. Additionally, the agile development technique reduces the time to market and guarantees that all user needs are generated and acknowledged accurately.
Agile testing and Selenium automation testing have been briefly addressed above. However to receive effective results from Selenium tests in Agile Development Environments, one needs to be well-versed in the best practices.
Best practices for Selenium Testing in an Agile development environment
Early and frequent testing is essential for ensuring excellent quality in regular application releases. To make sure that everything is taken into account before deploying an application into production, Selenium automated testing must be coordinated with the agile development process.
Moreover, Selenium-based test automation during the continuous deployment phase aids in giving the development team quick feedback. Also, it aids in ensuring that the majority of quality assurance is finished as new features are produced throughout the sprint and that the new functionality does not interfere with the operation of the application’s existing features. Some of the Selenium test automation best practices are discussed below.
Understanding the application in the first place
To meet test coverage objectives, testers must have a thorough grasp of the application being tested. They must choose which test case to automate first after deciding on the aim. Before setting it up for Selenium test automation, consider the test cases or scenarios.
Selenium tools can be utilized efficiently if automation is needed for a web application. Also, understanding the underlying technology in use is crucial. Desktop applications may not perform well if they are put through selenium automation testing right away.
Use the right locators
QAS must be proficient at employing various locator strategies to test the appropriate web components of a certain application. If their test scripts are unable to recognize the proper elements, the tests will fail.
The Selenium framework includes web locators such as ID, Tag Name, Link Text, X Path, CSS Selector, and others that enable browser interaction such as navigating, clicking, typing, and verifying various objects.
Implement Page Object Model
A website’s UI is bound to change as a result of implementing new updates regularly, and locators corresponding to certain UI elements also change to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of users. This necessitates the creation of fresh test cases for the same page, which can be time-consuming for QAs.
The Page Object Model can be used to address this. It is a well-liked test automation design pattern for writing test scripts that can withstand even minor UI changes. The web pages are described as class files in this design pattern, and each class file contains the corresponding web elements. This page object model’s key advantages are improved test maintenance and minimized code duplication.
Prefer to use Selenium Wait Commands Instead Of Thread.sleep()
Individual web pages take a while to load in web browsers for a variety of reasons, including network challenges, server problems, system setups, and other factors. QAs frequently employ the Thread.sleep() method to address this issue, which pauses the automation script for a certain period to allow all the items to load.
Nevertheless, it is not the most effective approach. A web page may occasionally take longer to load than the allotted time. On the other side, a website may load more quickly than expected, slowing down the execution of the test.
Use of the implicit or explicit wait commands in Selenium is a superior, more recommended solution. The Wait command allows testers to ensure that all the web elements are present while their tests are being run on them without affecting the test time.
Using BDD framework
One of the most popular development methodologies when it comes to Selenium test automation best practices is behavior-driven development. Testers can simply create automation cases using plain English thanks to BDD. Which makes it simple to grasp for everyone without requiring any coding skills. This also assists in building a bridge between the organization and the technical team so that they can better grasp the test and requirements, which improves collaboration all around.
Logging Selenium test automation report
Improvement in Selenium test automation results can be ensured only if testers stay updated on what is happening during the testing process and how their tests are doing. To monitor the productivity of Selenium testing’s results, they must make sure that they are tracking its progress.
Report generating for Selenium test automation aids in monitoring the status of the test case and its outcomes. Reduces the time needed to manage and maintain the test data, improving the readability of test findings. Having better control over tests is made possible by managing test data in an orderly way. This gives testers the ability to examine test scripts and spot problems.
Take automated screenshots when a test fails
The Selenium test automation script would certainly experience some errors or bugs. Finding the cause of the failure, whether a defect is in the AUT or it is a programming error, is a significant problem in this regard.
In these situations, it is advised to use a Selenium Grid to automatically capture screenshots of the test script execution. This will save the testers time and effort by making it much simpler to look into and pinpoint the reason for test failure.
Run Selenium tests on LambdaTest real device cloud
Doing tests on actual devices makes a significant impact, even if there are numerous emulators for Selenium testing that are available online across various platforms. Applications must be tested under actual user circumstances to produce accurate results. This enables teams to find the most issues possible before releasing a reliable application.
Emulators are software programs that simulate a device’s operation. They work better for testing early-stage development modifications to the code. Also, it might not be possible to find emulators for every device and operating system combination, which makes it even harder for QAs to test on required combinations.
For that test teams can leverage LambdaTest, a digital experience testing platform that offers a Selenium Grid of more than 3000 real devices, browsers, and operating system combinations. It offers features, like simple test creation, tool integration, test maintenance, and test analytics. Moreover, using the cloud-based Selenium Grid enables testers to capture screenshots during Selenium tests without explicitly starting the process with code.
LambdaTest empowered the test team to perform Selenium testing online on the desired device-browser combinations. This makes it simple for QA engineers to carry out thorough cross-platform, cross-browser, and cross-device testing. Using CI/CD solutions like Jenkins, Travis, Circle CI, and others, testers may also easily integrate it into their test pipelines.
To put it briefly, LambdaTest is ideal for Agile and Continuous Delivery teams that wish to accelerate their testing process while still providing high-quality apps.
Conclusion
Agile is defined by its emphasis on speed. In addition to speed, the team has a responsibility to minimize risks and enhance performance. Selenium automation enables development teams to guarantee that their code changes are tested and validated before being delivered. The mentioned Selenium best practices are the only way to successfully conduct Selenium testing in an agile context.
Best practices are required since achieving a successful application with Selenium automation in Agile would be difficult due to issues including maintaining test scripts, failing tests, and blockages.
