The document provides an overview of getting started with Selenium and outlines 8 steps to write automated tests: 1. Define a test strategy by determining what to test and which browsers to support 2. Choose a programming language like Java and set up dependencies 3. Learn Selenium fundamentals like locating elements and common actions 4. Write a first test to log in to a sample site 5. Create page objects and a base page to make tests reusable and maintainable 6. Add waits to make tests more resilient when waiting for elements 7. Set up a test harness for centralized setup/teardown, reporting and parallelization 8. Add cross-browser testing by using browser drivers locally or remotely

1. Getting Started
with Selenium
by Dave Haeffner, @TourDeDave

2. http://www.wpclipart.com/geography/features/chasm.png.html

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_solutions_for_Rubik's_Cube

4. Write business valuable tests that are
reusable, maintainable and resilient
across all relevant browsers.
Then package and scale them for
you & your team.

5. Selenium Overview
• What it is — the Reader’s Digest version
• What it is and is not good at
• IDE vs. Local vs. Remote
• Slow, brittle, and hard to maintain?

6. Step 1
Define a Test Strategy

7. Test Strategy
1. How does your business make money?
2. What features of your application are being used?
3. What browsers are your users using?
4. What things have broken in the app before?
Outcome: What to test and which
browsers to care about

8. Step 2
Pick a Programming
Language

9. Programming Language
• Same language as the app?
• Who will own it?
• Build a framework or use an existing one?
• http://bit.ly/seleniumframeworks

10. 2a
Java, a brief primer

11. Java Setup
• Everyone setup?
• Java Software Development Kit (SDK)
• Maven
• Initial test repo from http://bit.ly/se-java-init

12. Java Concepts
• Object Structures (Variables, Methods, & Classes)
• Access Modifiers (public, protected, private)
• Object Types (Strings, Booleans, etc.)
• Actions (Asserts & Conditionals)
• Annotations
• Inheritance

13. Object Structures
• Variables
• Methods
• Classes

14. Object Structures
Variables
Objects where you can store and retrieve values

15. Object Structures
Methods
Where you can store common actions for reuse

16. Object Structures
Classes
Store the state and behavior of something complex

17. Access Modifiers
• When specifying an object (e.g., a variable,
method, or class) you can apply a modifier
• This modifier denotes what else can access the
object (a.k.a. scope)
• private -> protected -> public
• “need-to-know”

18. Object Types
• Strings ("")
• Booleans (true/false)

19. Object Types
Booleans

20. Actions
• Assertions
• Conditionals

21. Actions
Assertions
Allows us to test assumptions about our application

22. Actions
Conditionals
A way to break up the flow of code
so only certain chunks of it are executed
based on predefined criteria

23. Annotations
A form of metadata
Used by various libraries to enable additional functionality

24. Inheritance
Classes can connect together via a parent/child connection

25. Additional Java Resources
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-1 (Learn Java Online)
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-2 (Oracle Tutorials)
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-3 (tutorialspoint)
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-4 (Free udemy course)
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-5 (Java in a Nutshell book)
• http://bit.ly/learn-java-6 (Java for Testers book)

26. Step 3
Use Selenium
fundamentals

27. Selenium Fundamentals
• Mimics human action
• Uses a few common actions
• Works with “locators”
Locators tell Selenium which HTML
element to interact with

28. Common Actions
• get();
• findElement();
• click(); //or submit();
• sendKeys();
• isDisplayed();

29. Locator Strategies
• Class
• CSS selectors
• ID
• Link Text
• Partial Link Text
• Tag Name
• XPath
Good locators are:
• unique
• descriptive
• unlikely to change
That rules a few of these out

30. Locator Strategies
• Class
• CSS selectors
• ID
• Link Text
• Partial Link Text
• Tag Name
• XPath
Good locators are:
• unique
• descriptive
• unlikely to change
That rules a few of these out

31. Locator Strategies
• Class
• CSS selectors
• ID
• Link Text
• Partial Link Text
• Tag Name
• XPath
Good locators are:
• unique
• descriptive
• unlikely to change
That rules a few of these out
Start with IDs and Classes

32. Locator Strategies
• Class
• CSS selectors
• ID
• Link Text
• Partial Link Text
• Tag Name
• XPath
Good locators are:
• unique
• descriptive
• unlikely to change
That rules a few of these out
Start with IDs and Classes
Use CSS or XPath (with care)

33. Locator Strategies
• Class
• CSS selectors
• ID
• Link Text
• Partial Link Text
• Tag Name
• XPath
CSS vs XPath
http://bit.ly/seleniumbenchmarks
http://bit.ly/cssxpathexamples

34. Finding Quality Locators
• Inspect the page
• Verify your selection
• e.g., FirePath or FireFinder
• http://bit.ly/verifyinglocators
• Learn through gaming
• http://bit.ly/locatorgame
• Conversation

35. CSS Selectors

37. Step 4
Write your first test

38. Good Test Anatomy
• Write for BDD or xUnit test framework
• Test one thing (atomic)
• Each test can be run independently (autonomous)
• Anyone can understand what it is doing
• Group similar tests together

39. http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/login

40. A Login Example
1. Visit the login form
2. Find the login form’s username field and input text
3. Find the login form’s password field and input text
4. Find the submit button and click it
1. or, find the form and submit it

42. Your turn:
1. Create a new package called “tests”
2. Create a new file called TestLogin.java
3. Place this code in it
4. Run it to make sure it works
http://bit.ly/se-java-init2

43. Now to find an assertion
1. Login
2. Inspect the page
3. Find a locator
4. Verify it
5. Add it to the test
HINT:
Assert.assertTrue();
driver.findElement().isDisplayed();
Your turn
Add an assertion to your test

46. Exception Handling
• org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException:
Unable to locate element: {"method":"css
selector","selector":".flash.error"}
• Most common ones you’ll run into:
NoSuchElement and
StaleElementReferenceError
• A list of all WebDriver exceptions:
http://bit.ly/se-exceptions-java

47. Exception Handling cont’d
http://bit.ly/se-exceptions-howto

48. Step 5
Write reusable and
maintainable test code

49. Page Objects

50. Application Under Test
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
Need to update EVERY test :-(

51. Application Under TestPage Object(s)
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
Need to update JUST the page object :-D

52. Let’s look at a page
object for login

53. Your Turn
1. create a new package called “pageobjects”
2. create a new file in it called Login.java
3. add this code to it
4. update your TestLogin file to use it
5. run your test to make sure it still works
http://bit.ly/se-java-init2

54. And here’s what the test
looks like when using it

55. Page object helpers:
http://bit.ly/po-html-elements
http://bit.ly/po-page-factory

56. Base Page Object
a.k.a. Selenium Wrapper
or Base Utility Class

57. Selenium
Commands
Page
Object 1
Page
Object 2
Page
Object 3
Page
Object 4
Page
Object 5

58. Base Page
Object
Page
Object 1
Page
Object 2
Page
Object 3
Page
Object 4
Page
Object 5
Selenium
Commands
• Global reuse
• More readable
• Insulates you from
Selenium API changes
http://bit.ly/se-upgrade

59. Let’s take a look at a
Base Page Object

60. Your Turn
1. create a new file in “pageobjects”, Base.java
2. add this code to it
3. update your page object to use it
4. run your tests to make sure they still work
http://bit.ly/se-java-init2

61. And here it is
implemented

63. How everything fits together
Test TestTest
Page
Object
Page
Object
Base
Page
Object
Tests use page objects
Page objects inherit the
base page object
The base page object wraps
your Selenium commands

64. Step 6
Make your tests resilient

65. Waiting

66. Thread.sleep();
Implicit wait
Explicit waits

67. Thread.sleep();
Implicit wait
Explicit waits

68. Thread.sleep();
Implicit wait
Explicit waits
http://bit.ly/se-waiting

69. Explicit Waits
• Specify an amount of time, and an action
• Selenium will try repeatedly until either:
• The action is completed, or
• The amount of time specified has been reached
(and throw a timeout exception)

71. Your Turn
1. implement this code in pageobjects/Base.java
2. create a new page object to for dynamic_loading/1
• pageobjects/DynamicLoading.java
• http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/dynamic_loading/1
3. create a test to use the page object
• e.g., tests/TestDynamicLoading.java
http://bit.ly/se-java-init2

72. pageobjects/DynamicLoading.java

73. Browser Timing
Considerations

74. Recap
1. Test Strategy
2. Programming Primer
3. Writing Your First Test
4. Page Objects
5. Base Page Object
6. Waiting
Code from morning session:
http://bit.ly/se-java-init2
Code going forward:
http://bit.ly/se-java-init-3

75. Step 7
Prep for use

76. Test Harness
• Central setup and teardown
• Configurable at run-time (with sensible defaults)
• Reporting & Logging
• Parallelization
• Test Grouping

77. Central setup/teardown
More on JUnit Rules:
http://bit.ly/junit-rules
Your turn
1. Create a “Base.java” file in “tests”
2. Add this code to it

78. Updated test
Your turn
1. Update your tests to establish inheritance
2. Remove un-necessary setup & teardown
3. Run your tests to make sure they work

79. Simple config with defaults
Your turn
1. Create a new file in “tests”called Config.java
2. Implement it into pageobjects/Base.java

80. Reporting & Logging
• Machine readable
e.g., JUnit XML
• Human readable
e.g., screenshots, failure message, stack trace
Fantastic Test Report Tool
http://bit.ly/se-reporter (Allure Framework)

81. Parallelization
• In code
• Through your test runner
• Through your Continuous Integration (CI) server
#protip Enforce random order execution of tests
http://bit.ly/junit-random-order
Recommended approach:
http://bit.ly/mvn-surefire

82. Your turn
1. Open pom.xml
2. Add this to the bottom of it
3. Save the file
Run them
1. Open the command prompt
2. Navigate to the project dir
3. Run them with mvn clean test

83. Test Grouping
• Metadata (a.k.a. Categories)
• Enables “test packs”
• Some category ideas
• defect
• shallow & deep
• story number
More info:
bit.ly/junit-categories

84. Your turn
1. In “tests” create a new package called “groups”
2. Create an interface in “groups” (e.g., Shallow.java)
3. Annotate a test (or tests) to use this Category

85. Your turn
1. Open pom.xml
2. Add properties group
3. Add groups configuration
4. Save the file

86. Running Categories
Your turn
- Run your tests from the command-line

87. Step 8
Add in cross-browser
execution

88. Locally
http://bit.ly/se-chromedriver
http://bit.ly/se-firefoxdriver
http://bit.ly/se-iedriver
http://bit.ly/se-operadriver (12.16)
http://bit.ly/se-safaridriver (!Windows)

89. Locally with Chrome
Your turn
1. Create a “vendor” directory
2. Download ChromeDriver into it
3. Add this code to tests/Base.java
http://bit.ly/download-chromedriver

90. Grid
Grid Hub
Browser
Tests
All done with the Selenium Standalone Server
Just requires additional runtime flags
Grid
Node
Grid
Node
Grid
Node
Browser
Browser

91. Grid
Hub
Node(s)
Your turn
• Download the Selenium jar
• Stand up a grid with a node
http://bit.ly/download-selenium

92. Grid
Your turn
• Update tests/Base.java
• Run your tests on the grid
mvn clean test -Dhost=grid

93. More on Selenium Grid
• http://bit.ly/se-grid-docs
• http://bit.ly/se-grid-post
• http://bit.ly/se-grid-extras
• http://bit.ly/se-grid-scaler

94. Sauce Labs
Sauce Labs Browser
Tests

95. Sauce Labs cont’d
Your turn
1. Create a free trial account
• https://saucelabs.com/signup
2. Add this code to tests/Base.java

96. Sauce Labs
Additional Considerations
- Test name
- Pass/Fail status
- Secure tunnel
More on Sauce:
https://saucelabs.com/platforms
http://bit.ly/sauce-post
http://bit.ly/sauce-tutorial-java

98. Your turn
1. Add this to tests/Base.java
2. Re-run your tests in Sauce
3. Confirm that the test name is passed

102. Step 9
Build an automated
feedback loop

103. Feedback loops
• The goal: Find failures early and often
• Done with continuous integration and notifications
• Notifications
e.g., remote: Email, chat, SMS
in-person: audio/visual, public shaming

104. Code
Committed
Unit/Integ.
(pass?)
Deploy to
autom. test
server
(success?)
Run
automated
tests
(pass?)
Deploy to
next env.
yes
yes
yes
Notify team if no
Code Promotion
Bonus points: stop the line

105. Simple CI configuration
1. Create a Job
2. Pull In Your Test Code
3. Set up Build Triggers
4. Configure Build steps
5. Configure Test Reports
6. Set up Notifications
7. Run Tests & View The Results
8. High-five your neighbor

107. Simple CI configuration
1. Download “Latest and greatest” from
http://jenkins-ci.org/
2. Launch it from the command-line with
`java-jar jenkins.war`
3. Visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser
4. Create a job to run your Selenium tests on
a specific browser (e.g., IE8)
5. Manually run the job
6. High-five your neighbor
Your turn

109. Step 10
Find information on
your own
http://bit.ly/se-info-slides
http://bit.ly/se-info-video

110. Elemental Selenium (3)
Selenium HQ (1)
Documentation & Tips
Issue Tracker Guidance (23)
Straight To The Source (24)
IRC Chat Channel (25)
Selenium Testing Tools Cookbook (18)
The Selenium Guidebook (19)
Selenium Design Patterns (21)
All in-person Selenium Meetups (13)
How to start your own (14)
Selenium Developer Google Group (10)
Agile Testing Yahoo Group (11)
Selenium Wiki (2)
Books
Meetups
Mailing Lists
Forums
The good stuff
http://bit.ly/se-info-#
Videos
Selenium LinkedIn Users Group (6)
Stack Overflow (7)
Quora (8)
Selenium Users Google Group (9)
The Selenium Hangout (12)
Conference talks (15)
Meetup talks (16)
Selenium 2 Testing Tools (17)
Selenium Simplified (20)
Issue Tracker (22)
Blogs
The official Selenium blog (4)
“All” Selenium blogs (5)

111. Steps to solve the puzzle
1. Define a Test Strategy
2. Pick a programming language
3. Use Selenium Fundamentals
4. Write Your First Test
5. Write re-usable and maintainable
test code
6. Make your tests resilient
7. Package your tests into a framework
8. Add in cross-browser execution
9. Build an automated feedback loop
10. Find information on your own
Finished code at http://bit.ly/se-java-init-3

112. Write business valuable tests that are
reusable, maintainable and resilient
across all relevant browsers.
Then package them and scale them
for you & your team.

113. –Dave Haeffner
“You may think your puzzle is unique. But really, everyone is
trying to solve the same puzzle. Yours is just configured
differently — and it’s solvable”

114. http://ElementalSelenium.com

115. Get in touch
@TourDeDave
dhaeffner@gmail.com
DaveHaeffner.com