Overview of Selenium WebDriver

Last updated on Dec 02 2021
Manikaran Reddy

Table of Contents

Overview of Selenium WebDriver

Selenium WebDriver is that the most vital component of Selenium Tool’s Suite. the newest release “Selenium 2.0” is integrated with WebDriver API which provides an easier and more concise programming interface.
The following image will offer you a good understanding of Selenium components and therefore the Test Automation Tools.

Selenium Web Driver
Selenium Web Driver

Selenium WebDriver was first introduced as a neighbourhood of Selenium v2.0. The initial version of Selenium i.e Selenium v1 consisted of only IDE, RC and Grid. However, with the discharge of Selenium v3, RC has been deprecated and moved to legacy package.
In WebDriver, test scripts are often developed using any of the supported programming languages and may be run directly in latest web browsers. Languages supported by WebDriver include C#, Java, Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby.
Before learning the concepts of Selenium WebDriver, you ought to be versed with any of the supported programming languages. Currently, Selenium Web driver is hottest with Java and C#. For this section, we are using Selenium with java.
Selenium WebDriver performs much faster as compared to Selenium RC because it makes direct calls to the online browsers. RC on the opposite hand needs an RC server to interact with the browser.
WebDriver features a built-in implementation of Firefox driver (Gecko Driver). For other browsers, you would like to plug-in their browser specific drivers to speak and run the test. most ordinarily used WebDriver’s include:
• Google Chrome Driver
• Internet Explorer Driver
• Opera Driver
• Safari Driver
• HTML Unit Driver (a special headless driver)

Selenium WebDriver- Architecture

Selenium WebDriver API provides communication facility between languages and browsers.
The following image shows the architectural representation of Selenium WebDriver.

Selenium Web Driver
Selenium Web Driver

There are four basic components of WebDriver Architecture:
• Selenium Language Bindings
• JSON Wire Protocol
• Browser Drivers
• Real Browsers
Selenium Language Bindings / Selenium Client Libraries
Selenium developers have built language bindings/Selenium Client Libraries so as to support multiple languages. as an example , if you would like to use the browser driver in java, use the java bindings. All the supported language bindings are often downloaded from the official website (https://www.seleniumhq.org/download/#client-drivers) of Selenium.
JSON Wire Protocol
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is an open standard for exchanging data on web. It supports data structures like object and array. So, it’s easy to write down and skim data from JSON.
JSON Wire Protocol provides a transport mechanism to transfer data between a server and a client. JSON Wire Protocol is an industry standard for various REST web services.
Browser Drivers
Selenium uses drivers, specific to every browser so as to determine a secure reference to the browser without revealing the interior logic of browser’s functionality. The browser driver is additionally specific to the language used for automation like Java, C#, etc.
When we execute a test script using WebDriver, the subsequent operations are performed internally.
• HTTP request is generated and sent to the browser driver for every Selenium command.
• The driver receives the HTTP request through HTTP server.
• HTTP Server decides all the steps to perform instructions which are executed on browser.
• Execution status is shipped back to HTTP Server which is subsequently sent back to automation script.
Browsers
Browsers supported by Selenium WebDriver:
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Safari
Selenium WebDriver- Features
Some of the foremost important features of Selenium WebDriver are:
• Multiple Browser Support: Selenium WebDriver supports a various range of web browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and lots of more. It also supports a number of the non-conventional or rare browsers like HTMLUnit.

Selenium Web Driver
Selenium Web Driver

• Multiple Languages Support: WebDriver also supports most of the commonly used programming languages like Java, C#, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Pearl and Python. Thus, the user can choose anybody of the supported programing language supported his/her competency and begin building the test scripts.
• Speed: WebDriver performs faster as compared to other tools of Selenium Suite. Unlike RC, it doesn’t require any intermediate server to speak with the browser; rather the tool directly communicates with the browser.

Selenium Web Driver
Selenium Web Driver

• Simple Commands: Most of the commands utilized in Selenium WebDriver are easy to implement. as an example , to launch a browser in WebDriver following commands are used:
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(); (Firefox browser )
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(); (Chrome browser)
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(); (Internet Explorer browser)
• WebDriver- Methods and Classes: WebDriver provides multiple solutions to deal with some potential challenges in automation testing.
WebDriver also allows testers to affect complex sorts of web elements like checkboxes, dropdowns and alerts through dynamic finders.
So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘Overview of Selenium WebDriver’ blog helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in Selenium and Automation Testing. If you wish to learn Selenium and build a career in Automation Testing domain, then check out our interactive, Selenium Certification Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period. Please find the link for course details:
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Tecklearn’s Selenium Certification Training enables you to master the complete Selenium suite. The Selenium Training is designed to train developers and manual testers to learn how to automate web applications with a robust framework, and integrate it within the DevOps processes of an organization. This Selenium Certification Training will also help you master important concepts such as TestNG, Selenium IDE, Selenium Grid, Selenium WebDriver, etc. Get hands-on experience on widely used automation frameworks such as Data-Driven Framework, Keyword-Driven Framework, Hybrid Framework, and Behavior Driven Development (BDD) Framework. Throughout this online Instructor-led Selenium Certification Training, you will be working on real-life industry use cases.

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• Global software testing market to reach $50 billion by 2020 – NASSCOM. Selenium tool supports more browsers and languages than any other testing tool.

What you will Learn in this Course?

Getting started with Selenium
• Introduction to Selenium testing
• Significance of automation testing
• Comparison of Manual and Automation Testing
• Installation of Java JDK, JRE and Eclipse
Setting the environment in Eclipse for Selenium
• Java Introduction
• Creating a Java function and executing
• Concepts of Java
• Properties File
• Reading Data from Excel File
• Database Connection
• Hands On
Advantages of Selenium automation testing
• Selenium Features
• Concept of Selenium Integrated Development Environment
• Understanding of the Selenium IDE features
• Addition of Script assertions and general commands
• Deploying the first Selenium Script
• Sample project IDE
• Recording Selenium test case
• Hands On
Selenium Web driver Automation
• Architecture of Selenium Web Driver
• Download and installation
• Creating a Java function using Selenium and execution
• Hands On
Deploying Web Drivers for scripting
• Getting the HTML source of Web Element
• Table and Form Elements
• Firebug extension and Fire Path installation
• Advance User Interactions and Cross Browser Testing
• Hands On
Deep dive into Selenium Web Driver
• Action Commands
• Web Table / Date Picker
• How to Implement Switching Commands in WebDriver
• Alerts
• Frames
• Hands On
Switching Operations in WebDriver using Window
• Selenium Web driver Wait
• Implicit wait, Explicit wait
• Deploying searching elements using the link text, name, using XPath
• Calendar
• Hands On
Introduction to TestNG Framework
• Introduction to TestNG
• Advantages of TestNG
• Installing TestNG on Eclipse
• Rules to write TestNG
• TestNG Features
• Annotations
• Grouping
• Sequencing: Prioritization and Dependency
• Enable/Disable a test case
• Parameterization: Using Xml file and Data Provider
• Parallel Testing & Cross Browser Testing
• TestNG Report: HTML Report, Console Report, XML Report
JUnit Operations and Test Framework
• Annotations, Methods in JUnit
• Junit Test Suites, ANT Build and JUNIT reporting
• Types of Test Automation Framework
• Module Based Testing Framework
• Data Driven Testing Framework
• Keyword Driven Testing Framework
• Hybrid Driven Testing Framework
• How to implement Testing Framework in Project
Object Repository
• Understanding of Object Repository
• Learning sample scripts using object repository
• Page Object Modelling
• Page Factory
JavaScript Functions
• Autosuggestion
• Headless Browser
• Sikuli
• XPath

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