Executing Selenium Tests

Advanced website testing is essential for building a website packed with advanced features. Testing web applications is the only method to be sure that the website or web app is functioning and performing as planned. It identifies significant problems with the website, such as compatibility problems, device configuration problems, performance bottlenecks, etc.  Therefore, it’s crucial to test the web application for compatibility to ensure that users have a seamless experience while visiting the website.

Cross browser testing, commonly referred to as browser compatibility testing, is essential in determining if websites and web applications are compatible with all relevant browsers, operating systems, and hardware.

Cross-browser testing is a laborious, complex, and time-consuming task with all the rich functionalities of a web application across various browsers, devices, and operating systems. However, with the advent of test automation, teams now find it much simpler to work on repetitive and advanced testing processes.

In addition, advanced web testing automation tools like Selenium offer a strong framework for implementing tests across the range of operating systems and browsers on the market as well as with various kinds of data to increase test coverage.

We will learn how to use LambdaTest to run Selenium tests on several browsers in this article. Before we dive deeper into the subject, let’s quickly review what Selenium automation and cross-browser testing are and explain why LambdaTest is used for this purpose.

Selenium automation testing

Cross-browser testing can be efficiently automated with the help of the open-source Selenium testing framework. It can verify the compatibility of websites and web apps with various operating systems and browser settings. No matter what operating system or browser they are using, this guarantees that every user has the same experience. With the help of Selenium, developers can create test scripts using a single interface and a language such as C#, Python, Node.js, or Java.

Selenium is the most well-known automated testing framework and offers reliability and safety. The fact that there are no licensing fees associated with using Selenium is its greatest benefit.

Cross Browser Testing

The technique of evaluating a website or app across many browsers is known as cross-browser testing. This testing is done to make sure that the website or app renders flawlessly in a variety of browsers and operating systems without losing its quality. This will make it easier to see where it falls short and what has to be done to make it better so that more users, regardless of their device, operating system, or resolution, can access and use it.

Image orientation, user input location and validation, font size, and page alignment are just a few of the variations found between browsers. In addition, some operating systems are incompatible with specific browsers. Cross-browser testing enables testers to identify and fix these problems, enhancing the user experience.

As we’ve already mentioned, starting cross-browser testing manually may be expensive and extremely time-consuming, especially given the numerous browser, operating systems, and device combinations that need to be tested. These tests can be run simultaneously and much more quickly if they are automated using Selenium.

Additionally, it eliminates any problems caused by human error. Selenium is a suitable option for cross-browser testing since it is a suite of three components, including the IDE, WebDriver, and Selenium Grid, rather than a single tool. Here, we’ll execute tests concurrently using Selenium Grid.

What is a Selenium Grid?

One crucial client-server-based technology in the Selenium suite is called Selenium Grid. Users using Selenium Grid can simultaneously run tests on various computers using various browsers and browser versions. This makes testing easier and helps test suites scale as they grow.

The Selenium grid is organized in a Hub and Node style. In a selenium grid, the client computer is known as the “Hub,” while the server or servers are known as the “Nodes.” By running the tests simultaneously on several machines, a selenium grid greatly aids in speeding up time-consuming and extensive test suites.

However, the key difficulty here is setting up and maintaining local infrastructure for Selenium Grid on the local system to carry out cross-browser testing across several browsers, operating systems, and devices. Because it takes time and requires extensive Selenium knowledge to set up a Selenium grid on the system or to create the infrastructure for one.

A better alternative to setting up Selenium Grid on a local system is to use Online Selenium Grid, which can solve all cross-browser testing issues and doesn’t need any kind of setup to run tests on different machines.

LambdaTest is one such AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that offers an online Selenium Grid that simplifies the complete testing process by offering all browsers and operating systems in the cloud. There is no need to download or install browsers on the local system as a result. Testers may quickly and effectively test for manual and automated cross-browser compatibility in the browser on the cloud using Lambda Tests Selenium grid.

From a quick introduction to Selenium, Selenium Grid, and browser testing Let’s move on to how LambdaTest’s online Selenium grid facilitates the execution of Selenium tests across several browsers.

Why use LambdaTest to test on different browsers?

Currently, just a few popular browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, account for the majority of browser usage. But in addition to that, there are a wide variety of alternative browsers on the market for different platforms, including Android, Mac, iOS, and Windows, as well as desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Any browser, any operating system, and any device can be used to visit the website.

Therefore, testing for cross-browser compatibility must be done across almost all platforms, operating systems, and browsers. LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that offers an online Selenium Grid that enables users to conduct automated testing for publically or locally hosted web apps using a combination of more than 3000 real devices, browsers, and operating systems with their corresponding versions.

The ability to test your web app manually and automatically is one of the best things about LambdaTest. While the automated technique automatically tests the web application across all configurations, the manual way lets users choose certain browsers, operating systems, and devices from a list on the server.

There are numerous other advantages of using the LambdaTest online Selenium grid. They are covered below.

Benefits of using LambdaTests online Selenium Grid

There are many advantages to using the LambdaTest online Selenium Grid for automated cross-browser testing. Let’s examine some of the main advantages.

  • One of the major advantages of using LambdaTests online selenium grid is that it offers immediate support for the most recent updated versions of operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and browsers like Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
  • The LambdaTest online Selenium grid also offers the capability to scale testing based on particular requirements. The virtual machines will be created based on the needs of the online selenium grid, which is constantly ready. Testers have the option to run the test simultaneously on any number of different browsers.
  • Because the LambdaTest online Selenium grid is accessible 24/7, developers may conduct testing at any time, which helps to increase productivity.
  • One of the essential steps in the cross-browser testing process is debugging. Debugging is made significantly simpler with LambdaTest because it provides debugging capabilities for any browser and any necessary browser version. With the help of these tools, testers can keep track of bugs that arise while testing and fix them to prevent them from happening again.
  • Additionally, using an online Selenium grid provides a variety of feedback techniques, such as screenshots, logging, and video support, which can shorten the debugging process.

LambdaTest’s additional features

LambdaTest has numerous other cutting-edge features that make it simpler for developers and testers to carry out cross-browser testing for web applications. LambdaTest is the top choice for Selenium automation website testing due to its rich features. 

24/7 support

Every user wants ongoing assistance from tech professionals. LambdaTest offers its users technical support 24×7 from qualified automation experts who assist in troubleshooting any issues that arise in real-time or with the tool itself, as well as cross-browser testing.

Automated screenshot capture and recording

While running test cases, LambdaTest offers a Chrome Extension that enables testers to capture the entire set of web pages on various desktop and mobile browsers. These screenshots aid in accelerating the testing of web pages and web apps for cross-browser compatibility. Additionally, it has a screen recording feature that enables testers to capture live browser compatibility testing and observe the complete process in a video format.

Built-in bug tracker

A built-in issue tracker tool is available in LambdaTest to find flaws in web apps. The tool for managing bugs enables effective handling of the found bugs. Full management over defects is provided by the built-in issue tracker, including assignment, tracking, exporting to PDF, and sharing with other users. Other bug-tracking tools like Asana, Trello, Bitbucket, Jira, Slack, GitHub, and many others may be quickly and easily integrated with LambdaTest with just one click.

Continuous collaboration during testing

It frequently occurs for testers to be unable to communicate with other team members while undertaking cross-browser testing. However, because LambdaTest is a cloud-based testing platform, testers can register issues as they arise while testing a web application and discuss those issues via email, slack, or even directly in various tracking tools.

Visual testing

Developers frequently run into issues with element placement, text, padding, and icon size while resolving issues. Visual testing involves assessing the responsiveness of various screen sizes without sacrificing the visual appeal of the website. They may quickly assess the visual attractiveness of their web application using LambdaTest. Additionally, it enables the execution of automated visual regression testing to confirm that the web page layouts are flawless and to find any faults that can impair the functionality of the website.

Utilizing LambdaTest Online Selenium Grid to test on different browsers

As was already mentioned, LambdaTest enables parallel testing across browsers, allowing testers to execute test cases simultaneously on numerous machines and maintain multiple concurrent sessions. This increases productivity while also saving them time.

Let’s see how LambdaTest Online Selenium Grid may be used for parallel testing.

Learning how to build up required test capabilities is the first and most important step before beginning to execute the test script on the LambdaTest online grid. Like the necessity to set the build name, and test name, or add the ability to have network logs and record browser console logs at various points. Or the need to execute the tests across multiple browsers, browser versions, resolutions, operating systems, etc.

LambdaTest Capabilities Generator makes it simple to set up all of these things.  The LambdaTest capabilities generator’s best feature is that it automatically generates code for the necessary capabilities after the language and capabilities are chosen.

When the capabilities are ready, write the code and launch the script on LambdaTest’s online Selenium grid by selecting the run button. The test will begin running on the LambdaTest platform right away, and at the end of it, users can inspect the test’s logs by going to the LambdaTest automation tab.

Conclusion

In conclusion, LambdaTest offers a variety of cutting-edge capabilities that make executing and debugging Selenium scripts simple. Additionally, the advantages it offers make it among the top platforms for Selenium Automation.