10 Tips for Optimizing Selenium Test Suites for Maximum Efficiency

Application testing is one of the most critical aspects that can help developers improve the efficiency and quality of the final application. In this competitive app development market, app developers must provide the best end-user experience to their customers. 

Testing is one such practice that helps developers to elevate their app testing practices. Selenium is one of the most popular names in the field of application testing. This popular test automation suite has managed to maintain one of the top positions for almost 10 years now. 

However, the process of integrating Selenium into the application test bench can be complicated for developers who are new to this market.

With this article, we’re going to take a detailed look at some of the best tips that can help developers to optimize Selenium-based automation test cases. This process will help app development companies to improve the efficiency of the automation test bench. We will also discuss some of the best platforms and tools that enable developers to enhance the simplicity of the application development lifecycle.

Understanding the Core of Selenium and Test Automation

In simple terms, we can easily understand automation testing as a process of eliminating human involvement in the test case execution process. For this purpose, the system will use a data file consisting of all the critical parameters and requirements to interact with the application like a normal user. 

Based on these interactions, the system will generate a report that will show the functioning and stability of the application. Based on these reports, the developers can analyze whether the application is ready to be released to the open world. 

It is worth mentioning that while executing automation testing, the developers can customize the test cases according to their requirements. Moreover, it is also straightforward to reuse specific segments of the automation test case in future app development projects.

However, while introducing test automation, the developers must be prepared for the high introductory expenses that will cover the charges for integrating various tools, plugins, and libraries that are critical for the proper functioning of test automation. Selenium is an open-source test automation suite that helps developers to verify the proper functioning of web applications. 

A common misconception regarding Selenium is that it is a standalone tool. However, in reality, Selenium is a test suite consisting of different tools that help the developers at multiple stages of the application testing lifecycle. 

In the beginning, Selenium was termed JavaScriptTestRunner as it massively depends on this well-known programming language.

Selenium also has a massive disadvantage. This is because while using Selenium, the developers can only initiate test automation on web apps and no other applications like native apps, hybrid apps, and cross-platform apps. 

Now let us take a brief look at the purpose of different tools present in the Selenium test automation suite:

1. Selenium WebDriver is the most important component of this suit as it helps the developers start the testing process and allocate them to the target elements of a web application. The Selenium WebDriver replaced the previously present Selenium remote controller. The advantage of this WebDriver is that it can natively interact with all the components in a web application.
2. Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment) helps developers easily create automation test cases. With this tool, the developers have to interact with the web application like a normal user to create test cases. Based on these interactions, the system will generate a test case in real time since the test cases are generated in real-time and based on real user interactions. They’re very accurate in determining the usability of a web application.
3. Finally, Selenium Grid helps developers to improve the efficiency of the test case execution process. This is because, with this tool, the developers can execute the test cases in a similar format. The developers can initiate multiple test configurations simultaneously in a parallel testing configuration. It uses the principle of a hub connected to several nodes.

10 Best Tips to Optimize and Improve the Efficiency of Selenium Test Cases

Various practices can help developers to improve their testing efficiency and optimize test results. Based on our research, we have created a list containing some of the best tips. They are as follows:

1. The developers must use explicit waits when necessary. This method will help the system to automatically pause the test case until the completion of the previous one. It is an essential process for testing the performance of certain elements that rely on the stability of other elements.
2. It is essential to use parallel testing when working with Selenium-based automation test cases. This is because, with the help of parallel test cases, the developers can efficiently verify the proper performance of complex web apps. These applications consist of thousands of different elements that cannot be efficiently verified one by one.
3. App developers should try headless browsers to verify the performance of web applications. This is because while working with headless browsers, the developers do not have to rely on the graphical user interface for rendering the web pages. This practice will help the developers to reduce the overall testing time for the application massively.
4. While creating Selenium-based test cases, the developers must reduce the test dependencies for these files. This means the developer should try limiting the dependencies on various third-party databases or APIs. This will help to massively improve the efficiency of the test cases and quickly forward the application to the production phase.
5. Using page objects can help developers to improve the efficiency of the test cases. This is because page objects are a part of the object-oriented programming method that allows the developers to reduce the duplication in the test code. Moreover, page objects can help developers to make the test cases more maintainable and readable.
6. Data-driven testing is a form of testing that relies on data sets for executing the test cases. By initiating Selenium-based automation test cases in these formats, the developers can massively improve the overall test coverage. This is an important feature that can help application development companies to improve their audience base by increasing the compatibility of the web application.
7. Optimizing the test cases is a necessary process that can massively improve the efficiency of the test cycle. This is because, in this process, the developers have to sort the test cases according to their priority and dependability on the code framework of the application. This can ensure that even in the worst-case scenario, the basic functions of the application are accessible to the users and do not result in a complete crash.
8. The developers must use the test reporting feature available with Selenium. It can provide important data regarding the current activity log of the Selenium test case. It also shows the status of the application, bugs detected, and certain key points. The test reporting feature also helps during the debugging process.
9. The app developers need to review the Selenium-based test cases regularly. This is because when the developers are reusing the test case over time, they become bloated and irrelevant. So regularly reviewing these test cases will allow the developers to ensure that they’re still relevant and necessary according to the current status of the application.
10. It is also useful to use test tags. These tags will help to group the tests and selectively execute them. Tests are usually grouped according to their similarities. 

Integrating Platforms in Tools in a Selenium Test Bench

Different tools and platforms can help developers to improve the efficiency of automation test cases. For instance, cloud platforms can help developers to initiate and execute test cases over the Internet. The advantage of this process is that the developers can eliminate the hassle of maintaining an onsite device testing lab. 

This is because, with this testing mechanism, the developers can achieve similar test results. Moreover, cloud platforms can eliminate geolocation barriers and allow developers to initiate their test cases from anywhere around the Globe. We can improve our knowledge about the influence of cloud platforms by moving our focus toward LambdaTest as a benchmark:

To introduce LambdaTest to new developers, it is a secure and unified digital experience testing platform to execute modern, cross-browser testing on web apps allowing developers and testers to perform automation testing over more than 3000+ browsers and OS configurations. 

Considering the state of the app market, cross-browser testing has become the new standard for ensuring that you provide the best services to your customers. 

This is because, with the help of this advanced testing process, the developers can ensure a stable performance irrespective of the user change in the operating system, device version, or the entire system specifications.

LambdaTest also helps to improve the test efficiency by almost 15 times with parallel testing configuration. Other than importing the test cases from LambdaTest, it can also work with popular frameworks like Playwright and Cypress. 

It can efficiently execute Selenium automation test files on more than three thousand unique browser versions. With LambdaTest, the developers can efficiently verify the proper functioning of internally hosted web apps for a company’s internal operations. 

Lastly, the inclusion of real device testing with existing thousands of simulation software helps developers to rely on the test results comfortably.

Conclusion

The primary goal of this article was to spread adequate awareness regarding the execution of Selenium-based automation test cases. By improving the efficiency and quality of the test cases, the developers can improve the app performance and massively increase their audience reach. These are two of the most critical parameters that can help companies to survive in this market. Moreover, we are slowly proceeding toward the app development market, and automation testing practices will entirely dominate.

So, app developers need to prepare themselves by keeping their knowledge updated regarding all the innovations and additions in this segment. The app companies can also spread awareness regarding the use of proper tools for implementing efficient automation testing practices.

Share