Introduction to Selenium WebDriver:

Earlier in this series, we published tutorials that focused more on Selenium IDE and its various aspects. We introduced the tool and discussed its features. We also constructed a few scripts using Selenium IDE and Firebug. From there, we moved on to different types of web elements available and their locating strategies.

Now that we are well versed with Selenium IDE, let us move our learning curve towards creating more advanced automation scripts using Selenium WebDriver. WebDriver is one of the most compelling automation testing tools. Let us discuss it in detail.

Overview of Selenium WebDriver

WebDriver is one of the most powerful and popular tools in the Selenium toolkit. WebDriver comes as an extended version of Selenium RC with superfluous advantages and addresses many of its limitations. WebDriver extends its support to many latest browsers and platforms, unlike Selenium IDE.

WebDriver also doesn’t require the Selenium server to be started before the execution of the test scripts, unlike Selenium RC.

Selenium RC in aggregation with WebDriver API is known as Selenium 2.0. Selenium was so developed to support dynamic web pages and Ajax calls. It also supports various drivers to exercise web-based mobile testing.

WebDriver Architecture

WebDriver is a web-based testing tool with a subtle difference from Selenium RC. Since the tool was built on the fundamental where an isolated client was created for each of the web browsers; no JavaScript Heavy lifting was required in our very first tutorial.

WebDriver directly calls the Web browser and executes the entire test script in this fashion. WebDriver uses the browser’s support and capabilities to automate.

Unlike Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver doesn’t essentially require Selenium Server to be started before launching the test script execution. The user can leverage the benefit and may or may not require Selenium Server if he/she desires to perform the test execution on the same machine where the browser is residing.

Exceptional Cases when Selenium Server is required with WebDriver:

• When the user wishes to execute test scripts on the remote machine.
• When the user wishes to execute test scripts on the HtmlUnit Driver.
• When the user wishes to execute test scripts on multiple platforms.

WebDriver is a purely object-oriented framework that works on the OS layer. It utilizes the browser’s native compatibility to automation without using any peripheral entity. With the increasing demand, it has gained a large popularity, and user base and has become by far one of the most extensively used open-source automation testing tools.

Features of Selenium WebDriver

Browser Compatibility

WebDriver supports a diverse range of web browsers and their versions. It supports all the conventional browsers besides some unique and rare browsers like HtmlUnit browser, unlike Selenium RC and Selenium IDE.

HtmlUnit Browser executes the test scripts analogous to other browsers except for the fact that it runs in the headless mode, i.e. GUI-less mode and the user won’t be able to view the test script execution. Said that the test script execution transpires in headless mode, thus the execution speed takes a roll and quickens the execution.

WebDriver also supports web-based mobile testing. Thus it provides AndroidDriver and IphoneDriver to back web-based mobile testing.

Note: WebDriver doesn’t readily support new browsers.

Language Support

Earlier in the sessions, we learned to create scripts using record and playback functionality. We also saw how to create them manually using Selenese commands. While creating such test scripts, we come across various constraints.

Some limitations imposed by Selenium IDE are:

• Doesn’t support iterations and conditional statements
• Doesn’t support loops
• Doesn’t support error handling
• Doesn’t support test script dependency

The above impediments can be troubleshot programmatically. WebDriver facilitates the user to choose between the different programming languages and build their test script in the designated language.

Selenium WebDriver-supported programming languages are:

1. Java
2. C#
3. PHP
4. Pearl
5. Ruby
6. Python

Thus, the user can pick any of the programming languages (provided the language is supported by WebDriver) based on his/her competency and can start building test scripts.

Speed

When compared to other tools of the Selenium suite, WebDriver turns out to be the fastest tool of all. The communication is not channelized via any external intervention; rather, the tool directly communicates with the browser same as that of any user. Thus, WebDriver takes advantage of the browser’s native compatibility towards automation.

Other tools from the Selenium suite like Selenium RC don’t communicate directly with the web browser. Client libraries (test scripts are written in any programming language) communicate with the Selenium Remote Control Server and Remote Control communicates with a Selenium Core (JavaScript Program) which communicates with the web browser.

Hence, this sort of twisted communication results as a hindrance to execution speed.

Drivers, Methods, and Classes

WebDriver offers a wide range of solutions to some potential challenges in Automation Testing. It helps us to deal with complex types of web elements like checkboxes, dropdowns, and alerts with the help of dynamic finders.

With the advent of the mobile era, WebDriver API has also matured and introduced some of the key technologies to enter this horizon. WebDriver enables the user to perform web-based mobile testing. It provides two of the essential drivers to perform web-based mobile testing.

• AndriodDriver
• IphoneDriver

Moreover, WebDriver API is fairly simple and easy. It doesn’t include repetitious commands. Selenium RC embodies many of the tautological commands.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we tried to make you acquainted with Selenium WebDriver by outlining its architecture, features, and limitations.

Here are the cruxes of this article.

• Selenium suite comprises 4 basic components; Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, WebDriver, and Selenium Grid.
• With WebDriver, users can automate testing for web-based applications. WebDriver is a different tool altogether that has various advantages over Selenium RC.
• WebDriver supports a wide range of web browsers, programming languages and test environments.
• WebDriver directly communicates with the web browser and uses its native compatibility to automate.
• WebDriver’s support isn’t only limited to the periphery of traditional user actions. Instead, it supports efficient handling mechanisms for complex user actions like dealing with dropdowns, Ajax calls, switching between windows, navigation, handling alerts, etc.
• The user can conduct web-based mobile testing with WebDriver. To support the same, WebDriver introduces AndroidDriver and iPhoneDriver.
• WebDriver is faster than other tools of Selenium Suite because it makes direct calls to a browser without any external intervention.

Next Tutorial #9: In the next tutorial, we will discuss the installation procedure to get started with WebDriver initiating from scratch. We would also discuss the diverse range of drivers provided by WebDriver, each catering to different needs.

Till the time our next tutorial is under construction, the readers can visit Selenium’s official website. A detailed documentation concerning Selenium WebDriver is implemented on its official website.

If you have any specific requests/queries about this or any other tutorial in this Selenium online training series, let us know in the comments.