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Selenium Tricks

This document provides tips and tricks for using Selenium. It discusses using headless browsers to speed up tests and for use on CI servers. It also covers visual testing, using a proxy server to manipulate traffic and test load, checking for broken images, interacting with password resets and A/B tests, uploading and downloading files, and highlighting elements on the page. Additional resources are provided for learning more about Selenium.

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meera555
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
82 views

Selenium Tricks

This document provides tips and tricks for using Selenium. It discusses using headless browsers to speed up tests and for use on CI servers. It also covers visual testing, using a proxy server to manipulate traffic and test load, checking for broken images, interacting with password resets and A/B tests, uploading and downloading files, and highlighting elements on the page. Additional resources are provided for learning more about Selenium.

Uploaded by

meera555
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Selenium

Tips & Tricks


by Dave Haeffner
@TourDeDave
New to Selenium?

• Selenium Bootcamp http://bit.ly/se-bootcamp

• Selenium Guidebook http://bit.ly/se-guidebook

• Weekly Selenium Tips http://bit.ly/se-weekly-tips


http://ElementalSelenium.com
etc.
http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/
Headless
Benefits:
- Speed
- Maintenance
- Screenshotting
Headless w/ Xvfb
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/38-headless
Why use it?

Ideal for running small test suites on a headless machine


e.g., a Continuous Integration (CI) Server
NOTE
- display port collisions
- use unique values
- e.g., CI build number
Headless w/ GhostDriver
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/46-headless-ghostdriver
http://phantomjs.org/
Why use it?

• Faster execution times


• Also useful for a CI server
• Not limited to just Linux
Step 1 - Download PhantomJS
http://phantomjs.org/download.html

Step 2 - Start PhantomJS w/ WebDriver flag

Step 3 - Connect Your Test to PhantomJS


using Selenium Remote

NOTE
You can also connect PhantomJS to a Selenium Grid
http://bit.ly/ghost-driver-grid
Visual Testing
A Visual Testing Primer
• check that an application’s UI appears correctly to its users

• goal: find visual bugs before the user does

• e.g., font, layout, rendering issues

• can also be used to verify content

• e.g., charts, dashboards, etc.

• hundreds of assertions for a few lines of code

• at least 16 open source solutions available to choose from


Visual Testing Challenges

• Managing complexity

• False positives

• e.g., shifting content, dynamic content, typos


Visual Testing Write-ups

http://bit.ly/se-visual-1 Getting Started

http://bit.ly/se-visual-2 False Positives part 1

http://bit.ly/se-visual-3 False Positives part 2

http://bit.ly/se-visual-4 Add Visual Testing To Your Existing Tests

http://bit.ly/se-visual-5 Add Visual Testing To Your BDD Tests


Selenium Grid Resources

• http://elementalselenium.com/tips/26-cloud

• http://elementalselenium.com/tips/52-grid

• http://elementalselenium.com/tips/70-grid-extras
Fun with a Proxy Server
Application
Proxy
Selenium Browser Under
Server
Test
HTTP Status Codes
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/17-retrieve-http-status-codes
Configuration

• Use a proxy server to capture the traffic from your


Selenium test(s)

• Find the status code for the action you’re interested


in (e.g., visiting a URL)

• Assert that the status code is what you expect


Blacklisting
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/66-blacklist
Configuration

• Use a proxy server to manipulate the traffic from


your Selenium test(s)

• Identify third-party resources that are slow to load


(which could negatively impact your tests)

• Blacklist them (e.g., make it so they don’t load)


Load Testing
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/68-load-testing-revisited
Configuration

• Use a proxy server to capture the traffic from your


Selenium test(s)

• Convert the HTTP Archive into a JMeter JMX file

• Run the new JMX file with JMeter to enact load on


your application (modify as needed)
Adapted from ruby-jmeter example from flood.io
https://github.com/flood-io/ruby-jmeter
Broken Image Checking
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/67-broken-images
Option 1 - Proxy Server

Option 2 - HTTP Library

Option 3 - JavaScript
Option 1: Proxy Server
Proxy Server Cont’d
Proxy Server Cont’d
Proxy Server Cont’d
Option 2: HTTP Library
HTTP Library Cont’d
HTTP Library Cont’d
Option 3: JavaScript
JavaScript Cont’d
JavaScript Cont’d
JavaScript Cont’d
Forgot Password
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/43-forgot-password
Configuration
• Use Selenium to trigger a forgot password workflow
(to a Gmail account) and keep the browser session
active

• Retrieve the e-mail and the password information


via the Gmail API

• Use the password information in the active


Selenium session (if applicable)
A/B Testing
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/12-opt-out-of-ab-tests
http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/abtest

• 3 page states available

• You can identify which state you’re in because


there is different header text for each

• When you’re in the control: A/B Test Control

• For the variation: A/B Test Variation 1

• When you’re not in a test: No A/B Test


Configuration

• You can easily opt-out of A/B tests by

• forging a cookie

• appending a query to the URL

• This way you get a known state of the page which


isn’t likely to change without your knowledge
File Management
Uploading a File
Workaround

• Rather than use something like AutoIt (which is a


bad idea)

• You can send the file path you want to upload into
the form input field (side-stepping the system
dialog entirely)
http://bit.ly/se-file-detector
Downloading a File
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/2-download-a-file
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/8-download-a-file-revisited
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/15-download-secure-files
Two approaches
• Configure Selenium to download to local disk, and
delete the file when done

• Use an HTTP library, perform a HEAD request, and


check the headers for the correct content type &
length.

Why?
• An order of magnitude faster using Selenium
• No need to download the file
With Selenium
With Selenium
With an HTTP library
With an HTTP library (for secure files)
Additional Output
Highlight Elements
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/65-highlight-elements
Growl Notifications
http://elementalselenium.com/tips/53-growl
New to Selenium?

• Selenium Bootcamp http://bit.ly/se-bootcamp

• Selenium Guidebook http://bit.ly/se-guidebook

• Weekly Selenium Tips http://bit.ly/se-weekly-tips


http://ElementalSelenium.com http://bit.ly/oss-es-tips
Get in touch
@TourDeDave

[email protected]

DaveHaeffner.com

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