Selenium Test Tool

Selenium is a set of tools that supports development of test automation for web-based applications. Selenium supports multiple browser platforms.

Selenium can be used for Functional and Performance Test Automation for web based Applications.

Selenium Components

Selenium is composed of three major tools. Each one has a specific role in aiding the development of web application test automation.

Selenium-IDE

Selenium-IDE is the Integrated Development Environment for building Selenium test cases. 

Selenium-RC (Remote Control) 

Selenium-RC allows the test automation developer to use a programming language for maximum flexibility and extensibility in developing test logic. 

Selenium-RC provides an API (Application Programming Interface) and library for each of its supported languages: HTML, Java, C#, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. 

Selenium-Grid

Selenium-Grid allows the Selenium-RC solution to scale for large test suites or test suites that must be run in multiple environments. 

Supported Browsers

o Firefox 3.x, Firefox 3, Firefox 2

o IE 8, IE 7, IE 6

o Safari 4, Safari 3, Safari 2

o Opera 10, Opera 9, Opera 8

and Google Chrome


* Tests developed on Firefox via Selenium-IDE can be executed on any other supported browser via a simple Selenium-RC command line.

** Selenium-RC server can start any executable, but depending on browser security settings there may be technical limitations that would limit certain features.

Extensibility

Selenium is highly flexible. There are multiple ways in which one can add functionality to Selenium’s framework to customize test automation for one’s specific testing needs. 

Selenium-IDE allows for the addition of user-defined “user-extensions” for creating additional commands customized to the user’s needs.