Web Browser Automation

With Selenium IDE

By Andrew Weidner

University of North Texas Libraries

Digital Projects Unit Tech Talk

March 28, 2012

1 Selenium IDE Basics

2 Digital Projects: Use Cases

3 Resources

4 Demonstration
 Selenium IDE Basics
OR

What It Is and How It Works

"Any tool should be useful in the expected
way, but a truly great tool lends itself to
uses you never expected."

Eric Steven Raymond

The Cathedral And The Bazaar
Firefox Plugin
designed for debugging Web applications
automates complex clickstreams

Any Operating System

running Firefox 3 or later

Current Version: 1.7.2

Selenium GUI
Selenium GUI

Integrated
Development
Environment
Selenium GUI

Integrated
Development
Environment

● create
● debug

● run
Selenium GUI

Integrated
Development
Environment

● create
● debug

● run

HTML Scripts
aka
Test Cases
Controls

Speed Slider
Record
Button

Play Buttons
Selenium Window Elements
Selenium Window Elements

Script File Name

Selenium Window Elements

Script File Name

Command Table
Selenium Window Elements

Script File Name

Command Table

Command Editor
Selenium Window Elements

Script File Name

Command Table

Command Editor

Information
Tabs
Selenium Edit Interface

Command Table

Command Editor
Selenium Edit Interface

Table View
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
Selenium Edit Interface

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
Selenium Edit Interface

Source View

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
 Source View

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
 HTML Table

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
 HTML Table

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
 HTML Table

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
 HTML Table

Script Components

1. Commands
(Browser Actions)

2. Targets
(Page Objects)

3. Values
(Menus, Text)
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | |
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | T |
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | Te |
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | Tex |

Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | Texa |

Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | Texas |

Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

| open | http://www.wikipedia.org | |

| type | //div[@id='p-search']/form/fieldset/input | Texas |

| clickAndWait | name=go | |
Command Syntax

| Command | Target | Value |

Wikipedia Search Script

Selenium GUI
Questions ?
Digital Projects: Use Cases
OR

Automated Metadata Editing

"If you have the right attitude,
interesting problems will find you."

Eric Steven Raymond

The Cathedral And The Bazaar
Types of Tasks

1 Interface Focus

2 Administrative Automation

3 Full Automation
Interface Focus

Dashboard Housekeeping

less visual clutter = easier to focus

Interface Focus
Interface Focus
Interface Focus

| click | link=Collapse All Fields | |

| click | id=item-title | |

| click | id=item-date | |

| click | id=item-description | |

| click | id=item-coverage | |

| click | id=item-note | |
Administrative
Automation

Dashboard Databot

less repetitive data entry = improved concentration

Administrative
Automation

Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) Commission

10,000+ Objects

Incorrect Titles & Dates

Sub-standard Descriptions
Add Value with Subjects & Coverage
Administrative
Automation
Administrative
Automation
 Administrative
Automation

| click | css=image[alt=”add”] | |

| select | //div[@id='main']/div/div[4]/div/select | Added Title |

| storeValue | //div[@id='main']/div/div[2]/div/input | BRACtitle |

| type | //div[@id='main']/div/div[4]/div/input | ${BRACtitle} |

| type | //div[@id='main']/div/div[2]/div/input | [Memorandum of Meeting: ] |

| setCursorPosition | //div[@id='main']/div/div[2]/div/input | 24 |
Full
Automation

Dashboard Cruise Control

automated editing = improved accuracy

automated editing = more time for ________

Full
Automation

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

10,000+ Objects

>5,000 did not have Creation Dates

Creation Date was present in the Identifier

Full
Automation
Full
Automation
Full
Automation
Full
Automation

Test
Suite

The last two commands Publish the record & Close the tab.
The next script in the suite runs on the next tab until there
are either no more scripts or no more tabs.
Full
Automation

Quality Control Commands

assertValue: tests the value of menu / text input

(supports regular expressions for text)

assertElementPresent: tests for presence of object

assertElementNotPresent: tests for non-presence of object

 Resources
OR

Selenium for Fun and Profit

DPU Wiki
Other HowTos > Install and Use Selenium

Selenium Documentation
http://seleniumhq.org/docs/02_selenium_ide.html

Google Groups
Selenium Users & Selenium Developers

Selenium in the Cloud

http://saucelabs.com/
Useful Firefox Plugins
Firebug: dynamically view page source for debugging

Power Debugger: adds a “Pause On Fail” button

Highlight Elements: highlights elements during test runs

Favorites: opens and executes favorite scripts & suites

Linky: opens multiple links for batch processing

Further Inquiry

Selenium WebDriver/Server/Grid: set of tools for running

tests across multiple machines & operating systems.
Supports other browsers & programming languages.
Questions ?
 Demonstration
UNT Libraries Toolkit

Portal To Texas History Slideshow