Selenium WebDriver is the most important component of Selenium Tool’s Suite. The latest releases are integrated with WebDriver API which provides a simpler, easier, and more concise programming interface. Selenium WebDriver was first introduced as a part of Selenium v2.0. The initial version of Selenium which is Selenium v1 consisted of only IDE, RC, and Grid. In WebDriver, test scripts can be developed using any of the supported programming languages and can be run directly in most modern web browsers. Languages supported by WebDriver consist of C#, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. Learning the concepts of Selenium WebDriver certainly should be well versed with any of the supported programming languages. Currently, Selenium Web driver is most popular with Java and C#. Selenium WebDriver performs much faster as compared to Selenium RC because it makes direct calls to web browsers. WebDriver has a built-in implementation of Firefox driver that is Gecko Driver. For other browsers, you need to plug in their browser-specific drivers to communicate and run the test. The most commonly used WebDriver includes:
- Google Chrome Driver
- Internet Explorer Driver
- Opera Driver
- Safari Driver
- HTML Unit Driver
Quick Test Professional is the acronym for QTP. It is defined as an automation tool by the Micro Focus Company and QTP was developed by Mercury Interactive. It is an automated testing tool that helps automation testers to perform test cases to examine any bug, errors, or gaps in the expected output. It is paid and requires a license for automation testing. It only supports the VBScript programming language. It has a broad functioning area. It can test web applications, mobile applications, websites, and any software.
As a Newbie, we come across several queries in facing automation. Go through the following features of both automation tools:
Features on QTP:
- QTP is licensed tool. That means to use it is chargeable.
- It supports both Web automation and Desktop automation.
- Coding Skills are not required.
- It supports VB script only as automation language.
- Supports one and only Windows platform.
- It supports limited browsers and their versions.
- You can’t integrate other automation tools with it such as Sikuli, AutoIT etc.
Features on Selenium WebDriver:
- Selenium is total free of cost.
- It only supports Web automation.
- Coding skills are required in Selenium.
- Selenium supports many languages like Java, Python, PHP, C#, Ruby, Perl etc.
- Platforms such as, Windows, Linux, Mac are supported.
- Selenium supports almost every browser namely Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera, IE and their versions.
- It gives the flexibility to integrate Java or Python modules, other automation tools like Sikuli, AutoIT for your automation needs.
Views about Selenium vs QTP
Being automation professional, would definitely go for Selenium WebDriver over QTP. There are several reasons which among these being the large open source community behind selenium. There is a continuous regular updates and upgrades in selenium. Practically each and every company is using Selenium in current days. So job opportunities are a lot higher than QTP. Utilizing Selenium there has been a flexibility using this tool. There are few highlights such as:
- Developed an automation framework for Map based web application by integrating Sikuli with Selenium WebDriver using Java. Sikuli is the tool used for image matching and an image based automation tool.
- Developed automation framework and integrated WinIT with Selenium Webdriver. WinIT is used to perform actions on window dialogues. WinIT can be used for Window based application testing.
- By using Selenium WebDriver with Python, performed Performance testing for some of the key features of a Web software.
- Integrated Python’s Paramiko module with Selenium WebDriver in Python to automate Frontend and backend AIX/Linux console based application. Selenium handled the frontend part and Paramiko was used for backend automation to run aix/linux commands on backend console.
Selenium WebDriver as a Career option
Due to a number of limitations and heavy license cost QTP falls behind Selenium and less number of tech companies are using QTP. On the other hand Selenium is the talk of town nowadays and also the future is bright reason being almost every company is using Selenium due its robust and flexible nature. Huge open source community is behind Selenium and they are updating and upgrading Selenium time to time. If you do a research then you would come to know Selenium conferences are going on in all parts of the world whole of the year. Now Selenium 4 is about to launch with brand new features.
Future of Selenium Automation Testing
We are living in an internet age. It is a world of yearn for web space. Every company or business whether small or large wants to have a lively GUI or mobile interface, so that their presence can be felt over the internet and they can do a good business. We are interacting with a lot of webs and mobile interfaces every day whether it is e-commerce platforms or payments applications, grocery applications, insurance etc. Everything is on the website or a mobile platform. So, here is the area where automation testing is a must to have thing. Several Selenium professionals are required to maintain the quality of all these platforms. In these current upcoming days Automation professionals would be on a joy ride. Selenium is obviously the best and most famous web automation tool. And Appium is also there which is made using Selenium api and covers the mobile automation space. So, if you are a Selenium expert then definitely your professional career is bright. It can open up various career opportunities. With testing becoming an integral part of each and every software process there is never a close for this field. We do not foresee any other web automation tool in market that can replace Selenium for next 10 years. Due to its robust and flexible in nature only reason being almost every company is using Selenium. Huge open source community is behind Selenium and they are updating and upgrading Selenium each and every time.
Conclusion
In A Nutshell, we all agree that each tool carries pros and cons. It is totally up to users to decide which tool he wants to use for testing. So we can say QTP v/s Selenium is never a fair competition because both tools have advantages and disadvantages. With GoLogica’s course on Selenium Webdriver Training, you will be learning the core concepts such as Set up Webdriver with Eclipse, Webdriver Javadoc Files, Implicit and Explicit Wait, Locator Strategy in Webdriver, Browser Commands. This course will lead you to successfully clear the examination which will get you to be a certified Selenium Webdriver developer. Happy Learning!!
Kavya Sathvik, A content strategist at Gologica. She has 2 years of experience in content writing. Passionate about writing technical content and also creating an effective content strategy for brands and blogs. Contact her: Linkedin