selenium_test

This repo is used for learning how to use selenium from scratch.

Selenium

Website: https://www.selenium.dev/

Selenium is a popular open-source tool used for automating web browsers. It allows developers to write scripts in several programming languages like Java, C#, Python, etc. This can be used to automate processes like form submissions, clicking buttons, or testing for website bugs.

Available products

• Selenium WebDriver: robust, browser-based regression automation suites and tests, scale and distribute scripts across many environments.
• Selenium ID: Browser add-on simple to record and play (I have used this one before)
• Selenium Grid: Scale by distributing and running tests on several machines and environments from a central point. Test againts a vast combination of browsers/OS.

WebDriver API

Installation and Usage of Selenium on Windows

Selected language: JavaScript

1. Install Node.js:

   • If it's not installed on your system, download the installer from the official Node.js website (nodejs.org).
   • Run the installer, which includes the Node Package Manager (npm), and follow the installation prompts, making sure to include npm and add Node.js to your PATH if prompted.

   Note: Already installed? Check your version with the command node --version

2. Install Selenium WebDriver:

   • Open a command prompt (CMD) or PowerShell as an administrator.

   • Use npm to install the Selenium WebDriver package by typing the following command:

     npm install selenium-webdriver --save
     

   • The -save flag adds the Selenium WebDriver as a dependency in your project's package.json file.

3. Download Browser Drivers:

   • You'll need to download the WebDriver for the browser you want to automate. Each major browser has its own driver:
     • Chrome: ChromeDriver
     • Firefox: GeckoDriver
     • Edge: EdgeDriver
   • Download the appropriate driver for your browser and ensure that it matches the version of the browser you're using.
   • Extract the downloaded driver to a known location on your machine.

4. Update System PATH: You need to add the directory containing the WebDriver executable to your system's PATH environment variable. This allows your test scripts to launch the browser directly.

   • Right-click on 'This PC' or 'My Computer' on the desktop or in File Explorer.
   • Click on 'Properties'.
   • Click on 'Advanced system settings'.
   • In the System Properties window, click on the 'Environment Variables...' button.
   • In the System Variables section, scroll down and select the 'Path' variable, then click 'Edit...'.
   • In the Edit Environment Variable window, click 'New' and add the path to the folder where you extracted your WebDriver.
   • Click 'OK' to close each window. Note: check if the path is ok, open a command window and then type echo %PATH%

5. Create a Test Script:

   • Create a new JavaScript file to test your Selenium setup, for example, test_selenium.js.

   • Use the following example code to open a browser and navigate to a webpage:

     const { Builder } = require('selenium-webdriver');
     
     (async function example() {
       let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
       try {
         // Navigate to Google
         await driver.get('http://www.google.com');
     
         // Get the title and print it to the console
         let title = await driver.getTitle();
         console.log(title);
       } finally {
         // Quit the browser after the operation
         await driver.quit();
       }
     })();

   • In the script, replace 'chrome' with 'firefox' or 'edge' depending on which browser you want to automate. Note: if doesn’t work with ‘edge’ try ‘MicrosoftEdge’.

6. Run the Test Script:

   • Open a command prompt or PowerShell window, navigate to the directory containing your test script, and run it with Node.js:

     node selenium_test.js

   • This should open the browser, navigate to Google, print the page title, and then close the browser.