Slides from a talk at softtest conference in Dublin Sept 23rd 2015

1. Python and WebDriver
Leveraging complementing technologies ...

2. Prerequisites
WebDriver basics
Basics of programming
Example code:
Python 2.7
Unittest

3. Python = Simplicity!
Minimise Ceremony
What we need to do before we can do what we want
to do
Ramp up testers quickly
Intuitive syntax (mostly!)

4. Use the power of the shell
Useful
to quickly build tests
Debug failing tests
validate locators

5. Triple A pattern
Arrange (& Destroy afterwards)
Act
Assert

6. Locating Elements
BY Selectors
id
name
CSS = I use these where possible
even if ‘id’ present for consistency
Art and Science
http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-30-css-selectors-
you-must-memorize--net-16048

7. Page Objects
Refactor tests to reduce maintenance
Keep ‘em DRY
Beware copy / paste
Locators designed as tuples
Locator type
Locator value
Need to explode tuple to consume it

8. Decorators
Functional Programming
Functions that
Accept functions
Return functions
Function Inception
Commonly used for logging

9. Descriptors
Bind behaviour
Get stuff for free every time you access a
variable
Complex topic
Very powerful
Leads to very succinct & DRY code

10. Handling Failure
Screenshots
grab in the ‘teardown’ only if test failed
Video
Careful Now!
Rerun with a flag on cli to capture video

11. Where Next?
Functional Programming
Sharpen the saw
www.codeeval.com
Docker
grid
test servers

12. Resources
http://repl.it/languages/Python
Read-Eval-Print-Loop

13. Contact Details
@colmharrington
github.com/windwaker

14. Q & A