Developers have been firm in continuously delivering upgrades and new features without defects as a result of the increased demand from users for the most recent versions of web applications. Automation testing is crucial for a successful application development lifecycle, guaranteeing a bug-free application and meeting user needs. This is due to the possibility of human error while manually executing test cases against diverse applications to identify issues and failures.
These modern web development solutions include a variety of programming languages, frameworks, and updates that are all intended to help developers produce top-quality work fast and accurately. Selenium is unquestionably one of the most extensively used and well-liked test automation frameworks suites worldwide for automating web browser testing.
We’ll examine the three most popular selenium frameworks—Data, Keyword, and Hybrid Driven—in this detailed tutorial. Let’s first comprehend testing frameworks before learning about the different types. After that, we’ll look more closely at Selenium and the Selenium framework.
Framework
A framework is an integrated set of tools, technologies, and a pattern that encourages task thought and clarity, assisting the team in doing the automation effectively and successfully. To test a specific functionality, a framework involves splitting the entire program into smaller units of code. The way the code is organized separates the “data set” from the real “test case” that will evaluate the web application’s functioning.
Frameworks aid in selecting the appropriate programming language, establishing the scene, and contextual approach, creating design patterns, and processing the relevant models for an automated test operation. A framework’s job is to simulate the actions taken by any test and its application state.
Selenium
Selenium is an open-source framework for the automated testing of web applications that works with various platforms and browsers. Due to its many advantages, it is a favorite among developers and testers all over the world. The flexibility to reuse generic scripts, the simplicity of maintaining codes, improved code readability, faster test execution, and simple reporting are just a few benefits of Selenium testing. Additionally, developers can create selenium Test Scripts in a variety of programming languages, including Java, C#, Python, C++, Ruby, etc., to perform automated testing.
The primary objective of Selenium is to automate web-based applications. It primarily consists of three components: the Selenium Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Selenium Grid, and Selenium WebDriver. Each part meets a specific need for QA testing. Selenium continues to be a popular testing tool because it satisfies the need for efficient and reliable testing, allowing organizations to save both money and time on testing.
Selenium Framework
In simple terms, Selenium frameworks are code structures that make code maintenance easier and faster. Without frameworks, users may store “code” and “data” together, making them both unusable and incomprehensible. With the help of Selenium frameworks, application developers may create test scripts in a variety of programming languages, including Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, Python, Perl, PHP, and Groovy, and run those scripts on various browsers.
In Selenium, the Data-driven test framework, Keyword-driven test framework, and Hybrid test framework are the three primary framework types.
The need for the Selenium framework in automation testing
Frameworks are crucial components for carrying out Selenium testing. It’s simpler to maintain code with the Selenium Framework coding standard. The entire test functionality will be covered by a single test case if there is no framework in place. This one test case can generate up to a million lines of code, which is extremely challenging to maintain and interpret. Additionally, it will be difficult for testers to adjust the code if they need to change any feature in the future.
There are several advantages to using a framework because it produces smaller yet more code.
More advantages of using frameworks include more code reuse, greater portability, fewer script maintenance, and better code readability, among others.
The Selenium framework benefits testers by preventing time- and labor-intensive, repetitive manual testing. Much of the work involved in creating and running tests can be automated with the aid of tools and libraries.
Types of Selenium Framework
Different frameworks come in different varieties, and they are appropriate for specific test tasks. Based on the functional approach, there are three primary categories of Selenium frameworks.
Data Driven Framework
In Selenium, the method of separating the “data set” from the actual “test case” (code) is known as a data-driven framework. This framework is entirely reliant on the test data provided as input. The various data sets are created and loaded into the automation testing tool from external sources like an Excel file, a CSV file, or any database.
The required input can be retrieved from the data set Excel sheet each time because these data sets are kept apart from the original script. As a result, testers can quickly change the test case for a specific functionality without affecting the data sets, or vice versa, greatly increasing the test’s reliability. In addition, testers have simple control over the quantity of data that needs to be tested. They can add more test parameters to the Excel file (or other sources) with ease.
Page-based testing is less extensive with data-driven frameworks. It provides a simple and easy data-driven approach to handling the test process proficiently. Here, each test case is implemented and run while accounting for each data collection. In comparison to XML, YML, or any other data interchange formats, it also performs well with heavier data compilation tasks, including greater data expressions. From external files like Excel, CSV,.XML, or some database tables, it is utilized to get test cases and test suites.
The benefits of a data-driven approach include-
- It allows the application to be tested using a range of data sets.
- Changes to the test scripts will not affect the test data since it separates the test case data from the executable test script.
- Hard coding test data is not required.
- Allows reuse of Actions and Functions in other tests because modules are independent of one another.
- Running more tests at once helps save time.
Testers can enhance their test cases for more efficient performance by adding Selenium data-driven testing. This shortens timeframes, makes their life easier, and results in applications that have been thoroughly tested and are of higher quality.
The Disadvantages-
- Coding abilities are necessary.
- Setting up the framework and testing the data takes more effort.
- Professional automation testers’ competence is required for framework design.
Keyword-driven Testing Framework
The Selenium Keyword Driven Framework is a technique for accelerating automated testing by separating keywords for a common set of operations and instructions. It is based on keywords that serve as the foundation of the functionality.
When a lot of functionality must be covered by the code, some of its sections may require repetitive coding. As a result, keywords are created to hide the code’s complexities. It uses a table format to define keywords or action words for each method to execute.
The script contains keywords that describe each action and set of instructions that must be carried out. These keywords are added to a separate file that resembles an Excel sheet. Because of this, testers may simply control and identify the specific features they want to test without interfering with others. This enables them to keep each functionality distinct. Table-driven testing and action word-based testing are other names for keyword-driven testing.
Advantages of using a Keyword Driven framework
- Test scripts function separately.
- Manual or non-technical testers can simply write test scripts for automation because they are saved in Excel, making them simple to read and comprehend.
- The same test scripts can be used for several use cases, allowing testers to reuse the code.
The Disadvantages
- Designing it demands more effort and appropriate test automation abilities;
- High setup costs.
Hybrid Driven Framework
A combination of data-driven and keyword-driven frameworks is used in Selenium’s Hybrid-driven framework. This framework is one of the best for advanced testing activities. It tries to utilize the benefits of other frameworks for the particular test environment it manages.
The inputs and function list are kept in separate files, and it uses various keywords and data sets. It utilizes the same code for many data sets, much like the data-driven framework, and, like the keyword-driven framework, it is a tool that uses a variety of datasets and keywords. The fact that the inputs and the functions are kept in separate files is another similarity.
With this simple-to-use framework, manual testers may easily develop test cases by just browsing the object repository, test data, and keywords without having to write any code. Any application can be tested automatically using this method. As a result, fewer hours will be spent manually implementing automation code because once a framework is made, it can be applied to several applications.
The Data-Driven Framework and Keyword Driven Framework drawbacks are both eliminated in the Hybrid Framework.
Application of these frameworks
When utilizing Selenium, a framework is a requirement for performing automated test tasks. The only thing that counts is selecting the appropriate framework based on the kind of test to be run on the necessary set of data, pages, or pages. The appropriate framework will assist in achieving the desired outcomes and in carrying out the automated test activities most effectively and efficiently. Running test scripts manually with various test data sets takes time and increases the risk of errors.
Therefore, it is advised to use a data-driven framework that isolates them from the real code when a huge amount of data needs to be evaluated for the web application.
When testing of additional functionality is required for the web application, the team should make use of a keyword-driven structure. In this system, operations are stored as keywords in a different database.
To avoid complexity when there are several data sources and functionalities, a hybrid-driven framework is advised. In situations where there are numerous data sources and functionalities, a hybrid-driven framework is a wonderful method to avoid complexity.
Testers can keep their data organized and their functionality distinct by utilizing a hybrid-driven structure. It will be simpler to handle the data and maintain proper functionality as a result. A hybrid-driven framework can also assist you in code reuse and help you write less code overall.
Start Automation Testing using the Selenium framework on LambdaTest
The Selenium Framework is favored throughout the organization over other testing frameworks because it provides viability, flexibility, and affordability. It’s the perfect technique to follow the continuous delivery methodology and create a consistent end-user experience.
Selenium-based automation testing satisfies the need for quick and accurate testing that covers a range of browsers and devices to ensure compatibility. , LambdaTest is a cross-browser compatibility testing platform that meets all the testing demands of testers, including cross-browser testing, data-driven testing, and manual exploratory testing with the capacity to automate Web, Android, iOS, and API testing on a single platform
Testing professionals can quickly begin writing and running their tests using this platform because everything is already set up in the cloud and no initial setup is required. With LambdaTest’s user-friendly interface, it is very easy to incorporate Data Driven Testing.
With the help of LambdaTest’s cloud Selenium Grid, developers and testers can test their websites and mobile applications across more than 3000+ Environments, including real devices, browsers, and operating system combinations. This cloud platform offers an extensive test automation environment along with a customized dashboard, dynamic test result reporting, analytics to take preventative steps for enhanced productivity, plugins to combine LambdaTest with other essential tools to achieve continuous testing, and many other features.
Conclusion
The above-discussed Selenium framework types are great to start when beginning an advanced automation testing project. The Selenium Framework is widely used in organizations and has an edge over other testing frameworks in terms of scalability, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. They work wonders for enhancing test automation and quickly finding code flaws.
