EP 9: Deep dive into different Selenium Frameworks

Read time : 3 Mins

In today’s newsletter we are going to discuss

• What is Selenium Framework ?

• Data Driven Test Framework

• Keyword Driven Test Framework

• Hybrid Test Framework

• GitHub Repo

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What is Selenium Framework?

• A Selenium framework is a set of best practices, coding standards, guidelines, and tools that help QA engineers design and develop efficient, robust, and maintainable automated test scripts using Selenium, a popular open-source tool for web automation.

• Without frameworks, we will place the “code” and “data” in the same place which is neither re-usable nor readable.

• There are mainly three types of frameworks created by Selenium WebDriver to automate manual test cases:

  • Data-Driven Test Framework

  • Keyword Driven Test Framework

  • Hybrid Test Framework

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Data Driven Framework

• Data-Driven Testing is a test automation framework where test data is separated from the test script.

• Instead of hardcoding the test data directly into the script, the data is stored in external sources like Excel sheets, CSV files, XML files, or databases.

• During the test execution, the testing framework retrieves this data and uses it to feed the test script.

• Apache POI is a popular Java library for reading and writing Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. It allows developers to create, modify, and read documents in various formats.

Here is the excel we want to read:

Here are the steps we need to follow to read the above excel

Step 1: Add Apache POI Dependency

Step 2: Data-Driven Test Class to read excel file

Create a utility class for reading data from Excel using XSSF.

Step 3: TestNG Data Provider

Create a TestNG data provider method to provide data to your test methods:

Step 4: Use Data in Test Methods

Use the data retrieved from Excel in your test methods

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Keyword Driven Framework

• In this framework, test cases are designed in Excel sheet where column representing different keywords such as keywords, action and data.

  
  Here is the excel we want to read:

  

  And here is the sample code:

  

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Hybrid Driven Framework

• A Hybrid Selenium Framework combines the features and advantages of different types of automation frameworks, typically Data-Driven and Keyword-Driven frameworks.

• This approach provides the flexibility to utilize both data-driven testing, where test data is kept separate from the test script, and keyword-driven testing, where test steps are represented as keywords and stored in an external repository.

Here is the sample code

Step 1: Create Keyword file

Here we have created keyword file and added two keywords.
1. Login
2. Logout

Step 2: Create Login Page

Step 3: Create Hybrid Test

A TestNG test class that uses both data-driven and keyword-driven approaches. Here, data from the Excel file is passed to the test case, and keywords are used to perform actions.

Advantages of a Hybrid Framework:

1. Modularity: Separation of concerns allows changes in test data or keywords without affecting the test scripts, enhancing maintainability.

2. Reusability: Reusable components and keywords reduce redundancy and promote efficient use of code.

3. Readability: Test cases are written in a natural language style using keywords, making them easy to understand for non-technical stakeholders.

4. Scalability: Easily scalable for complex applications with a large number of test cases due to its modular and organized structure.

5. Flexibility: Supports various types of testing, including regression, functional, and integration testing, offering flexibility in test case design.

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GitHub Repository

You can find code of this newsletter issue at this GitHub Repository

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"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." —Robert Collier

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