How Selenium is Continue to be the Best Tool for Web Applications?

How Selenium is Continue to be the Best Tool for Web Applications?
Selenium:
A framework that is very suitable for testing web applications is known as “Selenium”. It was developed in the year 2004 by Jason Huggins. The primary aim of using Selenium is to automate the web and browser interaction. Usually, Selenium can do all kinds of automation testing, but it was designed initially for browser-web testing. It can provide a domain-specific language called Selenese to write tests in different languages like Java, Python, Groovy, C#, Scala etc., During the development process of a web application, many testings must happen to check the accessibility, security, functionality, and usability of the web application.

Getting Started with Selenium:
Initially, the developer should analyse the application that he wants to automate. Then he should know whether it should be a record or automation of browser-based regression. If he doesn’t need a framework in a full-fledged method, then go for the record. It is implemented as Firefox Extension and Chrome. It has an intelligent field selection which is used to identify an unknown element using the class, ID profs, and Xpath.
In this process, there is a chance of debugging and also putting all the test cases in one project. It is very much simple to learn all the commands in Selenese without knowing any other programming language. The Selenium RC is also very much useful for writing web application tests which were automated. We can write tests against different programming languages like HTTP, JavaScript. It can be in two parts. In the first part, the server can automatically introduce the browser and can act as an HTTP Proxy. The second part is the client libraries and also serves as AJAX (web user interface).  
Selenium Web Driver is the extended version of Selenium which is also a potent tool. It has given support for many browsers like Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The combination of Selenium RC and Web Driver leads to Selenium 2.0. It can handle both Ajax calls and Web pages. The web driver is used to call the browser and then the entire test script can be executed using the browser’s capabilities and support. Its execution speed is tremendously faster than the Selenium RC. With the help of web driver, we can deal with complex web elements like alerts, drop-downs, and checkboxes.
The following are the seven steps in automating a web application.

• • Instance WebDriver Creation

• • Navigation of Webpage

• • Locating HTML element

• • Web element Action

• • An anticipation of Browse Response

• • Closing Browser section

• Recording Test Results

Instance WebDriver Creation:
The WebDriver creation is the initial point for the users in Selenium WebDriver. The first step in writing a Selenium test is the instantiation of an interface in WebDriver. We can create this by using a specific web browser constructors. These constructors’ names can be varied.
Example:
How to initiates the Internet Explorer WebDriver?
importorg.openqa.selenium.internetexplorer.InternetExplorerDrive;
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver();
Navigation of Webpage:
After the process of WebDriver creation, now we have to open the wanted web application to test. Here, URL() function is used for the navigation.
Example:
This example is for the navigation to the web page @ www.anjvetech.com.
driver.get(“http://www.anjvetech.com”);
Locating HTML element:
After landing on the web page, by using the HTML code we have to interact with the webpage. Using this HTML we can hyperlink the “anchor text”  <ahref=”http://www.anjvetech.com”>AnjveTech</a>
Example:
There are different ways to locate the elements. They are ID, class name CSS and XPath. We can take any help from developer tools and firebug to find the element.
WebElement login = driver.findElement(By.id(“loginForm”));
Web element Action:
When finding the web element is completed, now we have to do some action on that. We have to enter the username and password.
Example:
Suppose the username is “anjivelagana” and password is “selenium” then the code will look like
usernameElement.sendKeys(“anjivelagana”); passwordElement.sendKeys(“selenium”);
Anticipation of Browse Response:
To load the web page, the browser takes a lot of time. So, we should have the default wait time. It can be possible through selenium implicit wait process.
Example:
The below example applicable to all the web elements only by changing the time, but sometimes only one element needs a long time for loading.
WebDriverWait wait=new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);
Closing Browser section:
We can close the browsing section with the below command.
driver.close();
Recording Test Results:
Finally, after closing the browser section, we have to record the test results. These recordings can be done in different methods. We have to maintain a beautiful report generation framework, such that it is easily understandable for the viewers. We can take the POM, Maven, and Test NG. In this manner, we can able to run the test against any web-browser applications.
Cross-Browser Support:
The cross-browser issues are always found in the web-browser applications. A webpage rendered in the Chrome may have the chance of causing breakages in the Safari. The WebDriver saves time by automating cases for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and IE. By integrating Selenium with the test, the framework will save time. We can also automate AngularJS web applications by using Selenium WebDriver.
The following issues happen every time across different browsers.

• • The browser didn’t support HTML5

• • Mismatch in font size

• • Problems in Image Orientation

• • JavaScript not provided correctly

• • CSS codes are not supportive

• There is no compatibility between the operating systems

Cross-Device Testing:
At present, many people are using mobile phones to access websites. It is a very crucial point to note down that your web application is supported with maximum usage share by all the devices. To test the application manually across devices, it will take a lot of time. By using an emulator, we can make it easier. But there is a chance of not occurring actual device in the emulator. Now, the WebDriver comes into limelight. After completing the test write, it can be configured to execute. The Selenium WebDriver can run hybrid applications efficiently.    
Open-Source Tool:
The portability of Selenium is the most significant advantage, and it is freeware. Selenium is an open-source tool which is very cost effective, and it is a community-based tool. At present, to make automation testing faster and easier, it added some new features. Sometimes the testing tool may become problematic because the products are designing by the same vendor. As long as the tool is active, it is very independent and can also provide support if in case there is any troubleshooting.
Easy to Execute:
One of the primary function of an automation testing tool is that it is effortless to implement and execute. In some projects, there is always a chance of using Agile methodologies. After introducing the automation tool, it will take some time to get trained for the team to familiarise with the tool. It also allows users to create the test run very efficiently and it can enable manipulating and can develop extensions for some customizable actions.
Conclusion:
There are many languages to learn the programming domain, it can be developed using Python, Dot Net, Java etc. Selenium is very independent than comparing to other automation testing tools. It can also support some other languages like C#, Perl, JavaScript etc. In Selenium, there is a chance of adjusting the preferred languages for the developer. Selenium uses different operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux etc. Because of all these advantages, Selenium continues to be the best tool for web applications.
Author Bio:
Anji Velagana, a graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Technological University, Kakinada. He is currently is working as a Digital Marketing Analyst and Content Contributor for Mindmajix. He writes about various platforms like ServiceNow, Selenium, Business analysis, Performance testing, Mulesoft, Oracle Exadata, SaltStack, and a few other courses. Contact him via [email protected],  LinkedIn and Twitter.