Selenium 4 Features

Introduction

Web application testing has become increasingly complex with modern web development's evolving technologies and frameworks. Selenium, a widely used test automation framework, has been continuously updated to address these challenges. In the previous version, Selenium 3, certain limitations posed challenges for testers. For example, handling dynamic web elements, managing parallel testing, and efficient error handling and debugging capabilities needed to be improved.

However, these limitations have been overcome with the introduction of Selenium 4. Selenium 4 offers enhanced features and improved capabilities, such as advanced support for modern web technologies, a more robust and efficient Selenium Grid for parallel testing, improved error handling, and debugging capabilities. These features in Selenium 4 make it an essential tool for testers to effectively and efficiently automate web application testing and ensure high-quality software delivery.

What’s New in Selenium WebDriver 4?

Some of the cool and new features added in Selenium WebDriver 4 are:

• W3C WebDriver Protocol:
  Selenium WebDriver 4 now fully supports the W3C WebDriver Protocol, which provides a standard way of interacting with web browsers, ensuring better compatibility and stability across different browsers.
• Improved Selenium Grid:
  Selenium Grid has been enhanced with Docker support, making it easier to set up and scale Selenium Grid using containers. It also supports IPv6 addresses and HTTPS communication and allows configuration files to be written in TOML.
• Native support for Chrome DevTools Protocol:
  Selenium 4 comes with native support for Chrome DevTools Protocol, enabling QA engineers to use Chrome development properties and leverage APIs offered by Chrome DevTools for better testing and bug resolution.
• Upgraded Selenium IDE:
  Selenium IDE, the popular record and playback tool, has been revived with support for major web browsers like Firefox and Chrome and has improved GUI, enhanced element locator strategy, and the ability to export test cases in multiple language bindings.
• Improved Actions Class:
  The Actions class in Selenium has been enhanced with new methods for clicking, right-clicking, and double-clicking on web elements, making it easier to perform complex user interactions.
• Updated Selenium Grid GUI:
  Selenium Grid now has an updated, user-friendly GUI, making it easier to manage and configure Grid instances.
• Better error handling and reporting:
  Selenium WebDriver 4 includes improved error handling and reporting mechanisms, making it easier to diagnose and troubleshoot issues during test execution.
• Enhanced logging and debugging:
  Selenium 4 provides better logging and debugging capabilities, allowing QA engineers to diagnose and troubleshoot issues more effectively.

Features of Selenium 4

Selenium 4 comes with several exciting features that enhance the capabilities of this widely used web automation framework. Let's examine some of these features and how they can benefit your automation efforts.

Enhanced Selenium Grid

Selenium Grid has been enhanced in Selenium WebDriver 4 to provide better scalability, ease of setup, and improved user experience. Some of the notable enhancements in Selenium Grid include:

• Docker support:
  Selenium Grid now supports Docker, allowing developers or testers to spin up lightweight containers instead of heavy virtual machines to set up the Grid. This makes the setup process faster and more efficient.
• Kubernetes support:
  Selenium Grid can now be deployed on Kubernetes, a popular container orchestration platform, for better scalability and management of Grid instances.
• Simplified setup:
  Setting up Selenium Grid is now easier as there is no longer a need to set up and start hubs and nodes separately. A grid can be deployed in standalone mode, Hub and Node mode, or fully distributed mode, providing flexibility in configuration.
• Support for IPv6 addresses and HTTPS protocol:
  Selenium Grid now supports IPv6 addresses, allowing communication over IPv6 networks. Additionally, communication with the Grid can now be done using the HTTPS protocol, enhancing security.
• TOML configuration files:
  Configuration files for setting up Grid instances can now be written in TOML (Tom's Obvious, Minimal Language), making it more human-readable and easy to understand.
• Enhanced GUI:
  Selenium Grid now has an improved user-friendly GUI, making it easier to manage and monitor Grid instances.
• Compatibility with cloud platforms:
  Selenium 4 Grid is compatible with popular cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, and more, making integrating with existing DevOps processes easier.

Upgraded Selenium IDE

The Selenium IDE has been upgraded to version 4 to provide a more user-friendly and robust experience for recording and playing back test scripts. Selenium IDE, the popular record and playback tool, has been upgraded in Selenium WebDriver 4. The new Selenium IDE comes with several notable features, including:

• Improved GUI for intuitive user experience:
  The user interface of Selenium IDE has been improved, providing a more intuitive and user-friendly experience for testers.
• SIDE tool (Selenium IDE runner):
  Selenium IDE now comes bundled with a SIDE tool, which allows testers to run .side projects on a node.js platform. This SIDE runner enables testers to run cross-browser tests on local or Cloud Selenium Grid, providing more flexibility in test execution.
• Improved control flow mechanism:
  Selenium IDE now supports improved control flow mechanisms, allowing testers to write better "while" and "if" conditions, making the test scripts more robust and flexible.
• Enhanced element locator strategy:
  Selenium IDE comes with an enhanced element locator strategy, which acts as a backup strategy to locate elements in case the primary element locator fails. This helps create more stable test cases, reducing test failures due to element locators.
• Code export in multiple language bindings:
  Test cases recorded using Selenium IDE can now be exported in multiple language bindings, including Java, C#, Python, .NET, and JavaScript. This allows testers to choose the language binding that best fits their project requirements.

Relative Locators in Selenium 4

Selenium 4 introduces Relative Locators, a powerful feature that simplifies element locating with other elements on the page. With Relative Locators, you can easily locate elements based on their position relative to other elements, such as "above", "below", "to the left of", or "to the right of" a reference element. This makes element locating more intuitive and flexible, especially in dynamic web pages where element IDs or XPath change frequently.

There might be cases where you need to locate elements based on their position relative to other elements on the page, such as "above", "below", "to the left of", or "to the right of" a reference element. You can make use of the Relative Locators Selenium 4 feature to do so easily, as shown below:

Improved Documentation

Selenium 4 has improved documentation that provides comprehensive guides, tutorials, and examples for all aspects of Selenium, including the latest features and best practices. The enhanced documentation makes it easier for automation engineers to learn and use Selenium effectively, helping them save time and effort in their automation projects.

Support for Chrome Debugging Protocol

Selenium 4 now supports the Chrome Debugging Protocol, which allows you to interact with the Chrome DevTools API and access advanced debugging capabilities directly from your Selenium tests. This enables you to perform powerful debugging tasks, such as inspecting page elements, capturing screenshots, and tracing network requests directly from your Selenium scripts, making it easier to troubleshoot and fix issues in your web applications.

Selenium WebDriver 4 now provides native support for the Chrome DevTools Protocol, which allows testers to access various debugging and profiling features of the Chrome browser directly through WebDriver. Selenium 4 features allow you to leverage the power of Chrome DevTools API for troubleshooting and fixing issues in your web applications.

Look at the sample code below, which can be used for capturing screenshots using Chrome Debugging Protocol.

Here's an example of how you can use Chrome DevTools Protocol with Selenium WebDriver 4 in Java:

Better Window/Tab Management in Selenium 4

Selenium 4 introduces improved window and tab management capabilities, making handling multiple windows and tabs in your automation scripts easier.

Selenium 4 features introduce a new API called newWindow, making window/tab management easier and more efficient. With this new API, you can create and switch to a new window/tab without creating a new WebDriver object. Here's an example code for window management using Java:

Let's look at another code example that emphasizes tab management:

Deprecation of Desired Capabilities

Selenium 4 deprecates the use of Desired Capabilities for configuring browser options and instead introduces a new Options pattern, which provides a more flexible and standardized way to configure browser-specific settings. This change simplifies the setup and configuration of browser options, making it more maintainable and future-proof.

WebDriver 4 introduces Options objects for each specific browser, which can be used to set and configure the capabilities for that browser.

Here is the list of Options objects that are recommended to be used in Selenium WebDriver 4 for defining browser-specific capabilities:

• Firefox - FirefoxOptions:
  This class provides methods to set and configure the capabilities specific to the Firefox browser, such as setting Firefox binary path, setting Firefox profile, adding Firefox extensions, etc.

Example code using FirefoxOptions

• Chrome - ChromeOptions:
  This class provides methods to set and configure the capabilities specific to the Chrome browser, such as setting Chrome binary path, adding Chrome extensions, setting Chrome arguments, etc.

Example code using ChromeOptions

• Internet Explorer (IE) - InternetExplorerOptions:
  This class provides methods to set and configure the capabilities specific to Internet Explorer (IE) browser, such as ignoring security settings, setting initial URL, setting IE command-line switches, etc.

Example code using InternetExplorerOptions

• Microsoft Edge - EdgeOptions:
  This class provides methods to set and configure the capabilities specific to the Microsoft Edge browser, such as setting Edge binary path, setting Edge command-line switches, etc.

Example code using EdgeOptions:

• Safari - SafariOptions:
  This class provides methods to set and configure the capabilities specific to the Safari browser, such as setting Safari binary path, setting Safari technology preview, etc.

Example code using SafariOptions

Modifications in the Actions Class

Selenium 4 introduces modifications in the Actions class, which performs advanced user interactions, such as mouse and keyboard actions. These modifications improve the usability and functionality of the Actions class, making it more powerful and easier to use in your automation scripts.

In Selenium 4, the Actions class has been updated with several new methods for simulating input actions using the mouse and keyboard on web elements. These new methods provide a more intuitive and streamlined way to perform common actions. Some of the new methods added to the Actions class in Selenium 4 include:

• click(WebElement element):
  This method replaces the earlier approach of moveToElement(element).click() and allows you to click on a specific web element directly.
• clickAndHold(WebElement element):
  This method replaces the earlier approach of moveToElement(element).clickAndHold() and allows you to click and hold on a specific web element without releasing the click.
• contextClick(WebElement element):
  This method replaces the earlier approach of moveToElement(element).contextClick() and allows you to perform a right-click operation on a specific web element.
• doubleClick(WebElement element):
  This method replaces the earlier approach of moveToElement(element).doubleClick() and allows you to perform a double click on a specific web element.
• release():
  This method was initially a part of the org.openqa.selenium.interactions.ButtonReleaseAction class, but it has been moved to the Actions class in Selenium 4. It is used to release the pressed mouse button after performing an action.

These updates in the Actions class provide a more concise and convenient way to perform mouse and keyboard actions on web elements in Selenium 4.

Here's an example of using some of the new methods in the Actions class in Selenium 4 to perform click and right-click operations on a web element. It will help you to understand the discussion better.