Selenium WebDriver 2025

WebDriver Selenium

Selenium WebDriver is a web framework for performing cross-browser testing. This program tests web-based applications to ensure that they work as expected. To write test scripts, Selenium WdebDriver lets you choose a programming language. It cannot handle window components, although this limitation can be circumvented with programs such as Sikuli, Auto IT, and others. WebDriver is a programming interface that is supposed to be simple and concise, and it effectively drives the browser. WebDriver also allows you to write test scripts in a programming language (not possible in Selenium IDE).

Keep in mind that WebDriver works at the OS level. Also, keep in mind that different browsers interact with the operating system differently. When a new browser is released, it may communicate with the OS differently than other browsers.

Free Selenium WebDriver Practice Test Online

Selenio WebDriver is a version of Selenium RC that has been upgraded. It was released into the market to address the limitations of Selenium RC. Its architecture is fundamentally different from that of RC, even though it is an improved RC version. Selenium WebDriver, like Selenium RC, supports many programming platforms to enable greater flexibility and does not require knowledge of any programming language. The advantages of Selenium WebDriver are as follows:

  • It works with various languages, including Python, Java, Perl, Ruby, etc.
  • When compared to other tools, Selenium WebDriver completes test script execution faster.

  • It is one of the most widely used Open-Source tools for testing web-based applications and is simple to use. You can also run cross-browser compatibility tests using it.

  • API (Application Programming Interface) is more concise than Selenium RC’s.

  • Multiple operating systems are supported, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, etc.

  • Modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer are supported.

  • It may also be used with iPhoneDriver, HtmlUnitDriver, and AndroidDriver.

How to install Selenium WebDriver for PHP

The PHP-webdriver package is a Selenium WebDriver language binding that allows you to control web browsers from PHP. The library implements experimental W3C WebDriver support as well as JsonWireProtocol support. Although the W3C WebDriver support is not yet complete, it should allow for limited control of Firefox via Geckodriver and newer versions of Chrome and Chromedriver. A composer can be used to set up this project. Composer can be downloaded if you don’t already have it composer.phar binary:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

 

After that, install the library:

php composer.phar require php-webdriver/webdriver

 

8 Locators in Selenium WebDriver

Locators are used to identify HTML elements on a web page, and practically all UI automation tools can use locators for this purpose. Following the same trend, Selenium can employ “Locators” to identify HTML elements, commonly referred to as “Selenium Locators.” Selenium locators can be considered the foundation for every Selenium automation test script. The reason for this is simple: locators in Selenium WebDriver assist you in conducting the required interactions with DOM components. In Selenium Webdriver, there are eight different locators for finding components on web pages.

  • Id – The ‘id’ attribute, like class, can identify components.
  • partialLinkText – A portion of the link’s text can also be used to identify an element.
  • xpath – The language used to query the XML document is Xpath. The same can be used to uniquely identify a web element on any page.
  • ClassName – The ClassName operator uses a class attribute to identify an object.
  • linkText – The text in hyperlinks can also be utilized to locate an element.
  • tagName – A tag can also be used to locate elements.
  • cssSelector – CSS is a markup language that can be used to identify any web element and is used to establish style guidelines for webpages.
  • name – An element’s name can also be used to identify it.

Quit Selenium WebDriver Python

Close() and quit() are two webdriver commands that can end a browser session in Selenium Webdriver. Although these strategies are frequently used interchangeably, they serve different purposes. Multiple browsers with multiple tabs will generally open while working with Selenium, and the close() and quit() methods will be used to close these tabs. The close() method is used to close the currently focused browser window, whereas the quit() method is used to call the driver. dispose method gracefully dismisses all browser windows one by one and ends the WebDriver session.

Syntax:

driver.close()

driver.quit()

Selenium Benefits

How to close Popup Window in Selenium WebDriver using Java

Selenium can be used to close the pop-up window. The pop-up window is handled by the getWindowHandles and getWindowHandle methods. The getWindowHandle method stores the window handle of the pop up in focus. The iterator method is used to cycle across the window handles. The Selenium driver has control over the parent window by default. The java code that closes popups can be found here. Three approaches should be mentioned.

  • WebDriver.getWindowHandle() : This method retrieves the current browser handler, which can then be used to terminate the browser.
  • WebDriver.getWindowHandles() : To get all browser handlers, use this method.

  • WebDriver.switchTo().window(String windowHandler) : Before closing a web page, this procedure is used to switch to it.

Difference between Selenium WebDriver and Grid

Selenium Grid is a component of the Selenium libraries or the Selenium Framework. This command is used when you want to run your tests on a remote machine. Selenium WebDriver is a class from the Selenium Client library that you can include as a dependency in your project. Selenium Grid is a clever proxy server that allows you to run tests on numerous machines in parallel. This is accomplished by sending commands to remote web browser instances through a central server. Selenium WebDriver fills the same job as Selenium-RC, adding the WebDriver API and the original 1.x bindings. It refers to both the language bindings and the unique browser controlling code implementations. Unlike Selenium WebDriver, which allows you to test cases in different browsers/browser versions sequentially, a Selenium Grid setup allows you to simultaneously test cases in many browsers/browser versions.

How to Click on Next Button in Selenium WebDriver

The ‘.click()’ method in Selenium can do numerous mouse-based operations in your web application. The Selenium click button method can be used for various things, including selecting radio buttons and checkboxes, clicking on any button or link, dragging and dropping, clicking and holding, etc. Although the Selenium click button approach is one of the most basic drills, it is frequently misused. Even the most seasoned testers appear to overlook the full implementation of Selenium’s click mechanism. They grow preoccupied with developing elaborate test cases, forgetting that a random click in a web application’s UI can sometimes result in a bug.

Select the Language which is Supported by Selenium WebDriver

Java, Python, Ruby, C#, JavaScript, Perl, and PHP are all supported by Selenium WebDriver. There is a broad number of frameworks that can be utilized with WebDriver. JUnit, TestNG, RSpec, unitTest, PHPUnit, and FitNesse are just a few major supported frameworks. The following are a few considerations to consider while selecting a programming language for your Selenium Automation project.

  • Your firm or client may choose the programming language for building Selenium Automation scripts depending on their comfort level or perceived benefit from the language.
  • Selenium Automation scripts written in a programming language such as Java can be used to test Web applications built in various languages such as C#, Ruby, Python, and others.

Selenium WebDriver Best Practices

Selenium test automation best practices may assist you in creating well-designed and scalable test suites. When creating Selenium test scenarios, keep in mind that Selenium is designed for automation testing; therefore, do not use it for other types of testing because it may produce good results. The term “best practices” refers to principles for achieving superior results. If you’re new to Selenium and aren’t sure what it is, here are the best practices:

  • Implementing Page Object Model
  • Maximize the Browser Window
  • Use PageObjects Pattern
  • Avoid Blocking Sleep Calls.
  • Take Screenshots when a Test fails
  • Create a Browser Compatibility Matrix for Cross Browser Testing
  • Implement Logging and Reporting
  • Incorporating Wait Commands
  • Use BDD Framework with Selenium
  • Centralized Folder Structures

Selenium WebDriver Capabilities

DesiredCapabilities is a JSON object that contains a set of key-value pairs. Within Selenium test scripts, it assists QAs in defining basic test requirements such as operating systems, browser combinations, browser versions, and so on. When using Selenium automation testing to automate our test scripts, we must consider these factors to establish a specific test environment in which our website or web application should render well. Mobile devices, mobile browsers, desktop devices, desktop browsers, screen resolutions, and so on are examples of these contexts. We use the Desired Capabilities in Selenium or Appium testing to declare these environments in our Selenium automation testing script. Multiple methods in the DesiredCapabilities Class allow QAs to describe the required properties for desired test settings. We can set the properties of browsers by utilizing different capabilities from the Desired Capabilities class. For instance, the browser’s name, version number, etc. To set these capabilities for browsers, we employ key-value pairs. The methods accessible in the DesiredCapabilities Class are as follows:

  • setCapability();
  • getCapability();
  • setBrowserName();
  • getBrowserName();
  • setVersion();
  • getVersion();
  • setPlatform();
  • getPlatform();

How to Handle Authentication Popup in Selenium WebDriver

To access some servers, companies have their proxy settings. When you open a server in your browser, a popup window will appear, requiring you to provide user credentials to gain access. Even when using a selenium script to reach the same server, we must handle the prompt before manually accessing the server. Selenium can handle authentication popups. To accomplish this, we must include the user credentials in the URL. The username and password will have to be added to the URL.

Selenium Web Driver Question and Answer

Selenium WebDriver is a web framework for performing cross-browser testing. This program tests web-based applications to ensure that they work as expected. You can use Selenium WebDriver to develop test scripts in any computer language.

  • Download and install the Java Software Development Kit on your computer as the first step (JDK).
  • Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Get the latest version of Eclipse IDE for Java Developers as soon as possible.
  • Go to the website and download the Selenium Java Client Driver.
  • Set up Eclipse IDE with WebDriver.

The getWindowHandles and getWindowHandle methods handle the pop-up window. The getWindowHandles method saves all open window handles in a Set data structure. The getWindowHandle method stores the window handle of the pop-up in focus.

The click method in Selenium webdriver in Python can click a button. To begin, we must locate the button to be clicked using locators such as id, name, class, xpath, tagname, or CSS. The click technique must then be applied to it. The button tagname in HTML code represents a button.

It’s a web automation framework that lets us run tests across many browsers. It can run several tests across multiple browsers and operating systems. With WebDriver, you can write a test script in Linux and run it on Windows.

Regardless of the programming language used to write the code, “exception” is a standard term used by software programmers. As the name implies, a “exception” is an exceptional event or a rare case that disturbs the normal flow of program execution.

Selenium Script generates an HTTP Request for each selenium command and sends it to the browser driver. Browser Driver then sends an HTTP request to the server.

The method click in Selenium webdriver in Python can be used to click on an image. First, we must identify the picture using any of the locators available, such as id, class, name, CSS, XPath, and so on. The img tagname represents a picture in the HTML code. Let’s look at an image element’s HTML code.

sendKeys(Keys. TAB); This will enter the string to be passed and then press the “Tab” button.

Simply use the close() method in Selenium to close a browser.

A webdriver command that invokes the driver is quit(). discard shuts all browser windows and terminates the WebDriver.

  • Close the Firefox browser first. 
  • Type firefox.exe –p into Run (Windows key + R).
  • Select a user profile 
  • Make a profile; 
  • Give it a name.

In Selenium webdriver, we may get the attribute of an element. In an HTML document, the getAttribute() method is used to get the value of an attribute. The attribute and its value appear as a key-value pair in HTML code. Disabled, alt, id, href, style, title, and src are the most well-known HTML properties.

The SessionId class in Selenium webdriver can be used to acquire the webdriver session id. A session id is a unique number assigned by the server to the webdriver. The webdriver uses this number to establish connection with the browser.

  • Download the most recent ChromeDriver binary from the Chromium.org download page and save it locally.
  • Use System.setProperty(“webdriver.chrome.driver”, “chromeDriver.exe path”) to set the webdriver.chrome.driver property to the address of chromeDriver.exe.

The “execute script” method must be called, which then executes window. javascript open(‘about:blank’,’secondtab’). Then we must switch to that tab and provide any valid URL for that tab.

The dragAndDrop() method initially conducts a click-and-hold operation at the source element’s location. Move Mouse Action: The source element is then relocated to the target element’s location. Button Release: Finally, the mouse is released.

In Selenium webdriver, we may execute numerous test cases using the TestNG test suite. To run many test cases at the same time, we must enable parallel execution in TestNG. The TestNG xml file directs the execution of TestNG. The attributes parallel and thread count must be used to trigger parallel execution.

  • Open the File Upload / Choose File dialog by clicking the File Upload / Choose File button.
  • Copy the absolute path of your file to the clipboard.
  • In the File Upload dialog box, paste the file’s absolute path into the File name area.

Although there is no charge to download and install Selenium, it is not completely free. Selenium has a lot of hidden costs that can build up quickly. Consider what a tool’s total cost of ownership is. Adding that tool to your build process often comes at a cost that you’ll pay for years.

A headless browser is a browser simulator without a user interface. Performance is one of the major advantages of adopting headless browsers. Headless browsers are faster than traditional browsers because they lack a graphical user interface. HtmlUnitDriver in Selenium allows for headless browser testing.

The Implicit Wait directive tells the Selenium WebDriver to wait a set amount of time before throwing an exception. WebDriver will wait for the element after this time has been set before throwing an exception. Implicit Wait remains in place for the duration of the browser being open once it is activated.

The Selenium WebDriver API allows browsers and browser drivers to communicate. The Selenium Client Library, JSON Wire Protocol, Browser Drivers, and Browsers are the four layers of this architecture. The Selenium Client Library includes languages such as Java, Ruby, Python, C#, and others.

WebdriverIO is a NodeJS-based open-source testing automation framework written in JavaScript. It’s especially effective for testing online and native mobile apps on iOS devices.

2004: Selenium is launched

To get the newest version of the Chrome driver for Selenium, follow the steps below.

  • Go to https://sites.google.com/chromium.org/driver/ and open the ChromeDriver page. This page contains information about the latest ChromeDriver beta and stable releases. 
  • Select the Downloads option. Click the correct ChromeDriver version 
  • based on the version of Chrome browser you have installed on your PC. To obtain ChromeDriver for Windows, go to chrome driver win32.zip.
  • After downloading the zip file, unzip it to get the chromedriver.exe program.

The most crucial thing to remember before diving into Selenium WebDriver test automation is that you should be familiar with a programming language. Any of these languages can be learned. It makes no difference if you use Java, C#, Ruby, Python, or Javascript.

The Actions class in Selenium allows us to do double clicks on items. We’ll use the moveToElement() function first, then the doubleClick() method to complete the double click action. Finally, construct (). perform() will carry out all of the steps.

SoftAssert can be used to validate all of a form’s necessary fields using a single @Test annotation. When we run assertAll() at the end, even if any of the assertions fail, it will execute the next line and give us all exception caught in @Test.