Import your Selenium Script and Scale Testing in the Cloud

Selenium Load Testing Explained: WebDriver & Java

Selenium Grid and Load Testing

Selenium Grid is another component of Selenium that is used to help reduce test runtime when executing multiple tests at one time, also known as parallel testing. For example, with Selenium Grid, a user can perform multiple tests across different browsers and operating systems at one time. Selenium Grid is composed of two distinct elements, called hubs and nodes. Hubs work in conjunction with WebDriver requests and routes test commands (JSON) to their nodes, where the test execution occurs. Think of the hub as a single machine where you can connect to multiple machines running different operating systems. The nodes are where the operating systems, browsers, and the remote WebDriver are contained if you are running tests on a separate machine.

However, in terms of load testing, you may run into system constraints if you are looking to run load tests at scale. Large-scale load tests require additional scaling, configuration, and maintenance requirements that open-source tools like Selenium Grid cannot support. For cases like this, a solution like LoadView is beneficial. We will talk more about the LoadView solution and the benefits of using this solution to run Selenium scripts from the cloud from a fully managed cloud network.

Open-source Tools: Selenium vs. JMeter

If you are looking to automate tests across different browsers, then Selenium would be a desirable choice. If you are simply looking to carry out protocol-based performance tests to understand how your application or site responds to concurrent users, then JMeter might be preferred. However, it is important to note that JMeter also has its disadvantages when it comes to performance testing. Like Selenium, if you are looking to carry out large-scale tests, it can be difficult to support as the tests must be executed from a local machine that is constrained by hardware resources. We have a great article that covers the pros and cons of JMeter load testing.

Read: JMeter Load Testing: How to Use JMeter for Performance Testing

Selenium WebDriver Architecture

Selenium WebDriver API gives correspondence facility between languages and browsers. The accompanying picture shows the compositional portrayal of Selenium WebDriver.

There are four fundamental parts of WebDriver Architecture:

• Selenium Language Bindings
• JSON Wire Protocol
• Program Drivers
• Genuine Browsers

JSON Wire Protocol

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is an open norm for trading information on the web. It underpins information structures like article and exhibit. In this way, it is anything but difficult to compose and peruse information from JSON. JSON Wire Protocol is a vehicle used to move information between a client and a server. JSON Wire Protocol fills in as an industry standard for different REST (Representational State Transfer) web administrations.

Genuine Browsers

Browsers supported by Selenium WebDriver include the following:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Safari
• Opera

Selenium Test Automation with Python

As we have mentioned previously, Python is one of the supported programming languages within Selenium. Python is popular because it is user-friendly and uses basic commands in English, as opposed to punctuation, symbols, and characters like other programming languages use. Additionally, Python tends to run faster and is simpler compared to other languages, like Java, for example. To begin testing with Python, there are a few prerequisites that need to be completed, such as installing the latest Python version as well as the appropriate web drivers depending on the browser you are using, such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.

Furthermore, there are additional steps and considerations, like setting preferences, creating the project, and PyDev module before you can begin creating your Python script. So, from a tester’s perspective, this takes additional time and effort away from being able to just carry out tests. So, for example, if you wanted to test logging into an account, there is a lot of manual work and knowledge that a tester needs to have before they can begin. A web-based solution like LoadView removes all these obstacles with the EveryStep Web Recorder. Performance testers can simply navigate through their web application or website, regardless of the browser used, like a typical end user does and the scripts are saved automatically. From there, you can input variables that can simulate logging in to a form by submitting different credentials for load testing. No previous coding experience or knowledge required.

Load Testing using Selenium WebDriver

Create a Browser Configuration

Make a Thread Group and include “Chrome Driver Config” from Config Elements menu.

Implement Your Test

Include WebDriver Sampler under the Thread Group. This will bring you to a new section and will open a site page. To communicate with the program, you must utilize Selenium explicit techniques, such as sendkeys, click(), etc. Here are a few hints:

Browse Open Command

This command opens the given URL

SendKeys Command

If you know about Selenium, you realize that you can arrive at component by cssSelector, ID, XPath and so on the pkg variable that we made, which encourages you discover the web component. This is the way you discover a component. You store the webElement into a variable called searchField.

Click Command

Selenium has an underlying snap order. You simply utilize a similar capacity after gaining the webElement. To begin with, we store the component and play out the snap activity.

Additional Commands

Other than these essential orders, we should utilize a few orders explicitly intended for Selenium, so Selenium will have the option to catch sampler’s beginning and end time. Those two techniques will send Selenium the beginning and end signals for revealing purposes.

Log Command

You should do some logging during your test. At that point you simply utilize the underneath order. Also, users can see results of load test.

Kinds of Requests

There are two kinds of solicitations you may be comfortable with, GET and POST.

Advantages of Selenium WebDriver

Disadvantages of Selenium

While there are many advantages of an open-source tool like Selenium, there are some disadvantages you will want to consider:

• • • Supports just testing web-based applications.
    • Requires in-depth knowledge. Users need a good grasp of programming languages.
    • Reporting is limited and typically requires users to rely on third-party tools.
    • No dedicated or reliable technical support like you would have for a commercial tool.
    • No support for ORC (Optical Character Recognition). There is a third-party workaround, but it requires many steps and in-depth knowledge to carry out effectively.

Open-source Load Testing Tools

UI Testing and the User Experience

A major factor in whether a customer or client ends up doing business with your organization is their experience with your sites and web applications. Not only is it critical to ensure that your web applications are functioning properly, but load testing ensures that your applications, and your system in general, can handle increases in traffic without affecting behavior. This provides customer confidence and increases the chance that they will be a return in the future. UI testing is a bit different than testing the back-end of a system.

UI testing focuses on how the visible components of your pages and applications perform. This includes forms, shopping carts, menus, portals, etc. Anything that is visible to the user or processes that are critical to the business should be load tested. While a tool like Selenium can be used, a solution like LoadView provides engineers with all the tools they need quickly and easily test pages and applications. Selenium requires additional setup and comprehensive knowledge of programming languages. With LoadView, you can script these user actions quickly with the EveryStep Web Recorder and load test those scripts from a fully managed cloud network of over 40 locations.

Read: UI vs. Back-end Load Testing

LoadView: Load & Stress Testing in Real Browsers

For web applications, users can utilize the EveryStep Web Recorder and point and click their way through the application the same way a user or client would. Those scripts are then uploaded into the LoadView platform where, with only a few more clicks, you can create your load testing scenario and run your test. Do not waste time manually scripting scenarios for your web applications. Learn more about the features of LoadView.

Advantages of LoadView

These are just a few of the great advantages of LoadView:

• Simple to use. It has an easy-to-understand user interface.
• Includes the EveryStep Web Recorder for easy and quick script recording.
• Integrates with Continuous Integration tools, such as Jenkins.
• Supports many technologies and frameworks, browsers, and mobile devices.
• Test from over 40 global locations.
• Can test at the protocol level, as well as using real browsers.

Basic Differences Between LoadView and Selenium

Selenium

• Selenium is a tangible programming library and not an apparatus.
• Selenium supports a wide range of browsers for cross browser testing.
• Selenium does not scale well.
• Selenium WebDriver lacks the ability to capture a video and troubleshoot.

The Selenium test suite can be composed in a TestNG XML suite. As the name proposes, it is an XML document that depicts a whole Selenium test suite/situation to be executed. The subsequent record can be shared among test machines, conceding they have a similar test inclusion rationale. Selenium can be utilized for some presentation testing (for example restricted data transmission testing), yet it cannot be utilized to stack test with exactness like LoadView. For instance, Selenium cannot produce a controlled number of solicitations for a considerable length of time. LoadView makes it easy to set up your load testing details: concurrent users, delays, ramp up/ramp down times, and much more can all be set up with LoadView in minutes, with a simple user interface even non-technical users will find intuitive.

And like we mentioned earlier, LoadView can record step-by-step scripts for web application sessions through real browsers and replay the web sessions as the server sees them. Moreover, LoadView has another end-client experience included, which empowers you to test your web pages and see what clients see when your site is under load.

Once your tests are complete, you can view the data through performance reports, session reports, waterfall charts, etc., to see the performance breakdown of every element and component. A lot of the time, there are errors and bugs that your users may not even be aware of, but it is impacting load times and performance. You can see exactly where the issues are, so your teams can fix them quickly.

LoadView is the industry-leading platform for load testing websites at scale. Our all-in-one load testing platform takes the pain out of regular load testing to allow you and your team to integrate a smooth, simple load testing process at every phase of development for your web applications and websites, allowing you to save time, money, and effort which can then be put toward improving your websites for your end users. Whether you need to run simple or more complex load testing, LoadView is the top choice, backed by expert support, thorough documentation, and a constantly evolving suite of tools that empower you and your team to accomplish your load testing on time, on budget, and without hassle. LoadView is your expert partner for all things load testing.

Conclusion: Selenium Load Testing Explained

LoadView provides comes ready with many out-of-the-box features that most tools in the market do not include. Additionally, users have the option to choose from multiple subscription-based plans, or an on-demand plan, that best fits your organization’s needs.

Try LoadView for yourself today! Or better yet, schedule a live demo with one of our performance engineers. They will take you step-by-step through the LoadView platform and show you exactly how to set up, configure, and execute load tests.