Still relying on manual test cases to verify the functioning of your evolving applications? By now you must have realized that you are failing to meet not only the expectations of your customers but also the complexity of your apps. This is because the modern app industry requires the execution of automation testing practices using dedicated tools like the Selenium ChromeDriver.
Unfamiliar with automation testing and Selenium ChromeDriver? Don’t worry! We are here for you. Our article will give you everything that you need about the architecture, configuration, and best practices for using this tool. We will also help you understand some of the most common strategies that can be useful in the integration process.
Table of Contents
What Is Selenium ChromeDriver
If you are a new tester, it is only fair that you do not know about Selenium ChromeDriver. Let’s begin from there! The Selenium ChromeDriver is a standalone server which can implement the WebDriver Wire Protocol for the Chromium browsers.
With this, you can transfer all the Selenium commands to control any Chromium-based browser, including the Microsoft Edge browser.
However, you must remember that to ensure the proper execution of the test cases, the ChromeDriver version must be compatible with the version of Chrome that you have installed on your system for running the test cases.
To shed more light on the working process of this tool, we have mentioned its major workflow:
- The Selenium ChromeDriver will send HTTP requests through JSON wire protocol or the W3C WebDriver protocol to initiate the testing process.
- As soon as these commands are sent, the ChromeDriver will receive these commands and forward them to the Chrome browser using the Chrome DevTools.
- As soon as the browser receives these commands, it will execute all the functions and interactions that you have specified in them and return the test results accordingly.
- Depending on the results that you receive, you can either deploy the application for the end-users or perform the required debugging steps.
The Challenges Of Using Selenium ChromeDriver
Although the Selenium ChromeDriver is a very advanced tool, you should remember that it also has its own share of shortcomings. To ensure that you do not face these challenges during the execution process, we have mentioned some of the major ones below:
- Even though you are using Selenium ChromeDriver to automatically run all your test cases, you need to understand that there will be thousands of such test cases. If you aim to run them one by one, it will take you several weeks, if not months, to complete the entire test suite.
- It will be a challenge to implement cross-platform compatibility while using Selenium ChromeDriver, as it might not be readily compatible with multiple operating systems like Linux or Windows.
- As we already mentioned earlier, it can be a challenge to ensure that the version of ChromeDriver which you have downloaded is the same as the version of Chrome that you’ll be targeting through your test cases.
- Google Chrome has a reputation for using a large portion of processing and memory power to run the test cases. So, the resource consumption will be a major concern, especially if you’re using low-end devices to run the test cases.
- It might be a challenging process to integrate continuous integration and continuous deployment tools like Jenkins and GitHub Actions if you do not have prior knowledge about the workflow and setup process.
- Finally, if you are using a distributed testing network like cloud-based platforms or the Selenium Grid, keeping track of all the test cases and your supported configurations will be a massive hassle, especially with the new testers.
Headless Testing With Selenium ChromeDriver
As we already mentioned earlier, it can be a highly resource-intensive process to run your automation test cases using the Selenium ChromeDriver. To tackle this issue, you can use the headless testing approach that is natively supported by this tool.
In this approach, you will only initiate the command line for the test cases and not the graphical user interface. The major benefit is that it not only helps lower the memory and CPU usage but also increases the speed of the test execution processes.
If you’re using a headless approach to run your test cases, it will also be easier to scale the test cases in a centralized environment. Excited to perform this process? The following code snippet that we have given below, using the Python test script, will help you achieve this workflow:
Want one tip? With headless testing on Selenium ChromeDriver, always check that the Chrome version that you’re targeting for the test cases must support this workflow. Why? If you are using legacy versions of Chrome, there is a possibility that it might not be compatible with it.
Parallel Testing With ChromeDriver
Many testers often misunderstand Selenium as a single tool. In reality, it is a test suite consisting of multiple tools which aim to help you at different stages of the application testing process. Selenium Grid is one such tool that comes under the suite. The aim of this tool is to help you run multiple test bases on different configurations and machines at the same time.
To perform this parallel test execution, the Selenium Grid adopts the approach of a hub that is connected to several nodes. In this scenario, each element present on your web application represents the nodes.
To run parallel testing with Selenium Grid and Selenium ChromeDriver, you can either use the approach of threading and multiprocessing or use dedicated test management tools like TestNG.
If you choose to go by the first approach, we have given a sample code snippet using the Python programming language that can help you implement this process:
On the other hand, if you desire to use TestNG for running the test cases, we have also given a test script for this step. Here, we have used Java to create the required code snippet:
Irrespective of which approach you end up choosing, you must remember that you have to ensure that each test is independent and stateless. This approach will help you not only avoid flakiness but also ensure that the error in any test does not negatively influence the functioning of the other test cases as well.
Cloud-Based Selenium ChromeDriver Solutions
While you are focusing on improving your test cases using automation testing practices, it is also important to start improving your real device test cases as well. With this, you can ensure that the performance of the application does not change when it is exposed to the physical parameters of a device, like a low battery, a broken display, or even a simple user error.
Many testers often skip this process due to the high expense and hassle that comes with it. But what if we said that there was a more economical way of achieving this step with the same accuracy? Cloud testing platforms like LambdaTest allow you to run your test cases on thousands of different browsers and operating systems at the same time, using remote servers. To shed more light over this segment, let us use the example of LambdaTest as our discussion point:
LambdaTest is an AI-native test orchestration and execution platform that lets you perform manual and automation testing at scale with over 3000+ browsers, OS combinations, and 5000+ real devices.
You can easily integrate the Selenium ChromeDriver with LambdaTest to run automated cross-browser testing on your web applications. Excited to initiate this process? To help you understand it even more, we have given a sample code for this step:
Best Practices For Using Selenium ChromeDriver
Finally, let us divert our attention towards some of the best practices for using Selenium ChromeDriver. While creating these practices, we paid proper attention to incorporate all the use cases and tips that will help ensure a stable and scalable test execution process:
- The first thing that we would recommend you is to always use the latest version of not only the Selenium ChromeDriver but also the Chrome browser for running the test cases. With this approach, you can avoid flakiness that can arise due to version mismatch or some new features that might be introduced in the latest updates.
- You should use the WebDriver wait methods, like explicit waits and implicit waits, instead of hardcoding delays within the infrastructure of the test cases. With this approach, you will be able to easily verify the functioning of all the dynamic elements that change their positioning and functioning depending on various user interactions.
- After you complete the testing session, it is a good practice to clean up the session using the driver_quit() method. This approach will help prevent memory leaks or any form of testing dependency within the overall environment.
- We would recommend you to use continuous integration tags for organizing the test groups. This will be one step closer towards achieving better continuous integration and continuous deployment control.
- If you are working with certain test cases that have a high possibility of turning into a flaky testing scenario, it is a safer bet to run them separately. With this approach, you will be able to prevent continuous integration from failing due to nondeterministic issues of these test cases.
Apart from the above practices, we would also suggest you to constantly look out for certain practices and tips that might be useful depending on the specific requirements of the application that you’re working on. To properly perform this process, you should also have a clear idea about all the goals that you want to achieve with your app.
The Bottom Line
Based on everything that we have discussed in this article for the Selenium ChromeDriver, we can easily come to the conclusion that it is a very important part to not only run multiple tests but also ensure proper use of a testing infrastructure, configuration management, and smart automation testing practices.
If you’re setting up the Selenium ChromeDriver for a small project or an enterprise-grade application implementation, there is something for every use case in this article. You should also take a detailed look at our best practices, as they will have a very important role in improving the efficiency, quality, and scalability of your testing environment.
Finally, we would suggest you to start implementing automation testing practices with Selenium as soon as possible, as the market will only continue to become more and more dependent on this advanced testing practice.
