Starting with Selenium automation and Python

Selenium is a powerful tool for automating web applications for testing purposes. It allows developers and testers to simulate user interactions with a browser, making it an essential part of automated testing workflows.

1. Installing Selenium

# Install Selenium using pip
pip install selenium

# Download the WebDriver (e.g., ChromeDriver) from:
# https://sites.google.com/chromium.org/driver/
                        

2. Setting Up Selenium with Python

from selenium import webdriver

# Set up WebDriver (Make sure you have ChromeDriver installed)
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Open a website
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

# Close the browser
driver.quit()
                        

3. Finding Elements

# Locate an element by ID
element = driver.find_element("id", "username")

# Locate an element by Name
element = driver.find_element("name", "password")

# Locate an element by XPath
element = driver.find_element("xpath", "//input[@type='submit']")
                        

4. Interacting with Elements

# Enter text in an input field
element.send_keys("my_username")

# Click a button
button = driver.find_element("id", "submit")
button.click()
                        

5. Handling Dropdowns

from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import Select

# Locate the dropdown element
dropdown = Select(driver.find_element("id", "country"))

# Select by visible text
dropdown.select_by_visible_text("United States")
                        

6. Handling Alerts

# Accept an alert
alert = driver.switch_to.alert
alert.accept()
                        

7. Running a Simple Test

import unittest

class TestGoogleSearch(unittest.TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        self.driver = webdriver.Chrome()

    def test_google_search(self):
        self.driver.get("https://www.google.com")
        search_box = self.driver.find_element("name", "q")
        search_box.send_keys("Selenium WebDriver")
        search_box.submit()
        self.assertIn("Selenium WebDriver", self.driver.title)

    def tearDown(self):
        self.driver.quit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    unittest.main()
                        

8. Headless Mode for Faster Tests

from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.add_argument("--headless")

# Run Chrome in headless mode
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
                        

9. Taking Screenshots

# Capture a screenshot
driver.save_screenshot("screenshot.png")
                        

10. Closing the Browser Properly

# Close a single tab
driver.close()

# Quit the browser session completely
driver.quit()