Tutorial #3 – My first Selenium IDE script

AlexQin

Using Other Formats

Converting Selenium IDE test scripts to Other Programming Languages

Selenium IDE supports conversion test scripts into set of programming languages from a default type (HTML). The converted test scripts cannot be played back using Selenium IDE until and unless it is reverted back to HTML. Thus the conversion is beneficial and constructive only when we are executing it from other tools of Selenium Suite.

Step 1 – Click on the options tab under the menu bar and select the programming language format under format option in order to convert the test script into our desired format.

Step 2 – As soon as we select our Desired Programming language format (“Java / JUnit4 / WebDriver” in our case), a prompt box appears which says “Changing format is now marked experimental! If you continue, recording and playback may not work, your changes may be lost and you may have to copy and paste the test in a text editor to save. It is better to make a copy of your test cases before you continue. Do you still want to proceed?” Click “OK” to continue.

Thus, the above converted code can be executed by using WebDriver.

Mark that editing or modifying Selenium IDE test scripts from Source View is not advisable. If done so, the tool might introduce several repercussions. Several known bugs are already associated with it.

AlexQin

Selenium IDE Commands

Each Selenium IDE test step can chiefly be split into following three components:

• Command
• Target
• Value
  
  

Types of Selenium IDE commands

There are three flavors of Selenium IDE commands. Each of the test step in Selenium IDE falls under any of the following category.

• Actions
• Accessors
• Assertions
  
  

Actions

Actions are those commands which interact directly with the application by either altering its state or by pouring some test data.

For Example, “type” command lets the user to interact directly with the web elements like text box. It allows them to enter a specific value in the text box and as when the value is entered; it is showed on the UI as well.

Another example is “click” command. “click” command lets the user to manipulate with the state of the application.

In case of failure of an action type command, the test script execution halts and rest of the test steps would not be executed.

Accessors

Accessors are those commands which allows user to store certain values to a user defined variable. These stored values can be later on used to create assertions and verifications.

For example, “storeAllLinks” reads and stores all the hyperlinks available within a web page into a user defined variable. Remember the variable is of array type if there are multiple values to store.

Assertions

Assertions are very similar to Accessors as they do not interact with the application directly. Assertions are used to verify the current state of the application with an expected state.

Forms of Assertions:

#1. assert – the “assert” command makes sure that the test execution is terminated in case of failure.

#2. verify – the “verify” command lets the Selenium IDE to carry on with the test script execution even if the verification is failed.

#3. waitFor – the “waitFor” command waits for a certain condition to be met before executing the next test step. The conditions are like page to be loaded, element to be present. It allows the test execution to proceed even if the condition is not met within the stipulated waiting period.

Commonly used Selenium IDE commands

[td]

Command	Description	#Argu ments
open	Opens a specified URL in the browser.	1
assertTitle, VerifyTitle	Returns the current page title and compares it with the specified title	1
assertElementPresent, verifyElementPresent	Verify / Asserts the presence of an element on a web page.	1
assertTextPresent, verifyTextPresent	Verify / Asserts the presence of a text within the web page.	1
type, typeKeys, sendKeys	Enters a value (String) in the specified web element.	2
Click, clickAt, clickAndWait	Clicks on a specified web element within a web page.	1
waitForPageToLoad	Sleeps the execution and waits until the page is loaded completely.	1
waitForElement Present	Sleeps the execution and waits until the specified element is present	1
chooseOkOnNext Confirmation, chooseCancelOn NextConfirmation	Click on ”OK” or “Cancel” button when next confirmation box appears.	0

AlexQin

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we tried to make you acquainted with the creation of Selenium IDE scripts. We also briefed you about the usage of various Selenium features.

Here are the cruxes of this article.

• Test script in Selenium IDE can be created using Record and Playback feature.
• The script creation mechanism can be divided into 3 processes – Recording, Playing back and Saving the test script.
• Selenium IDE allows the user to execute a single test step within the test script without executing the entire test script. “Execute this command” is the option which makes this obtainable.
• User is leveraged to set the execution speed from the option within the toolbar.
• User can define any test step as a Start point. Thus, the execution will always initiate from that particular test step only.
• User can set multiple Break points to pause the execution at a certain test step.
• User can find and verify if the provided target value corresponds to the correct web element within the web page using Find
• Changing the source view to other formats is not recommended as there is a probability of loss of data.
• Remember to keep a copy of HTML test script before converting the test script into other non HTML formats.
• There are majorly three types of commands – Actions, Accessors and Assertions.
• Actions directly interact with the application and alter its state.
• Accessors are used to store an elements property in a user defined variable.
• Assertions are used to check if a specified condition is met or not.
• Assertions can further be categorized as verify, assert and waitFor commands.
• Verify makes sure that the test script execution is never halted if even if the verification fails.
• Assert lets no further execution of the test script in case of failure.
• WaitFor waits for a stipulated period for a certain condition to meet.
• Some of the Selenium IDE commands which are used commonly are:
  
  • open
  • assertTitle / VerifyTitle
  • AssertForElementPresent / VerifyForElementPresent
  • AssertForTextPresent / VerifyForTextPresent
  • type / typeAndWait / sendKeys
  • click /clickAt / clickAndWait
  • waitForPageToLoad
  • waitForElementPresent
  • chooseOkOnNextConfirmation / chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation
    
    
  
  

AlexQin

Next Tutorial #4: There is another tool which plays a very important role in assisting us to create effective test scripts known as “Firebug”. Firebug helps us in inspecting the properties of web elements and web pages. Thus the next tutorial is comprised of installation of Firebug and its usability. We would also create a test script manually using firebug and Selenium IDE.

Note: Do not miss the next tutorial because of its great importance with respect to our forthcoming tutorials on WebDriver.

AlexQin

Source

AlexQin

good job