In the recent times, there are a lot of applications which are web-based and which run in a browser. Testing such applications manually take up much time hence automated testing is the way to go. Automated Testing is said to enhance the functionality, the usability and the efficiency by identifying the flaws in the application.

The effectiveness with which the applications perform varies diversely among the ways in which it is put to use and automated testing is the easiest and affordable option to monitor such web-based applications.

Here we will see the utilization of all these four tools and the right way to choose them according to your need.

Selenium WebDriver

Selenium WebDriver is the first cross-platform testing framework that could control the browser from the level of operating system. This Selenium automation tool provides a seamless testing experience with object oriented API. Selenium WebDriver does not rely on JavaScript for automation; instead, it communicates with the browser and controls it directly.

It has faster execution time when compared to Selenium IDE and Selenium RC and it is easier to install when compared with Selenium RC but complicated when compared to Selenium IDE. It also offers great flexibility in porting the results.

One of the disadvantages is that it does not have any built-in mechanism for generating tests and logging in runtime messages. It can work on the following programming languages: Java, C#, PHP, Python, Perl, and Ruby.

Selenium IDE

Selenium Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is one of the easiest testing tools to learn and install. This is the prototyping tool for building test scripts.

One does not need much programming knowledge to work with Selenium IDE although one may need the knowledge of HTML and DOM to work with it. Selenium IDE is available for use in Firefox and Chrome as extensions but it is a little slow in executing tests when compared to Selenium RC and Selenium WebDriver. Selenium IDE has a separate reporting module with in-built test options to help run the tests. One disadvantage is that the iterations and the conditional test options are not supported by Selenium IDE.

Selenium RC

Selenium Remote Control (RC) was actually the mainstream project for Selenium for a long time. Selenium RC is the first automating tool for web applications that allowed users to choose and work on the programming language they preferred.

Selenium RC can work on the following programming languages: Java, C#, PHP, Python, Perl, and Ruby. This is mainly used for looping and performing conditional operations. It has the ability to support new browsers and has a complete API with data-driven testing approach.

One must have knowledge of programming to work with Selenium RC but it has slower execution time than WebDriver and the server of Selenium RC server should be up and running to use it to conduct tests.

Selenium Grid

The main functionality of Selenium Grid is to run multiple tests on the various platforms simultaneously from multiple environments. There is a central hub that acts as a command centre and there are multiple nodes that are conducted with the hub.

Selenium Grid can greatly reduce the amount of time you spend on testing with the option of multiple parallel testing operations. You can scale the test suites according to your requirements with different levels of scalability in multiple platforms.

This is used in combination with Selenium RC to run parallel tests. If you have a slow test suite, you can use Selenium Grid to enhance its performance by dividing the tests and running it between different operating systems at the same time.

How can you choose the right Selenium tool?

For those who do not have any prior experience with programming, then the best way to start with application testing is by using Selenium IDE to create simple tests and get results faster.

But it isn’t recommended to run all the tests by using Selenium IDE. You can go for Selenium RC or Selenium WebDriver to perform efficient tests but both of it requires programming knowledge. If you faster execution of test cases, go for Selenium WebDriver.

If you want to use an automated testing tool that will be compatible to support new browsers, then Selenium RC is the best option. If you are looking for running multiple test cases from different environments, then Selenium RC with Selenium Grid will be the preferable option.

If you want to create customized test options and test applications with AJAX-based functionalities, in those cases, you can choose Selenium RC.

Selenium testing tools can be widely used for all kinds of applications and it just takes a little experience to know which tool to use for the right purpose. Whatever tool you choose, it can efficiently cut down the cost and the time one spend for the testing purposes.

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