Selenium is an open-source web application testing framework that constructs a bridge between application architects and testers by using a variety of coding languages. It is a collection of modern-age Application Programming Interfaces by which developers automate and record the performance of the developed application. Maintainable test automation is a well-known practice that reduces maintenance efforts by assuring the long-term sustainability of a code. It is related to the project design and implementation through the developed test scripts for making a passage to examine, update and expand the application in the future.
The POM, aka Page Object Model, is a popular design pattern that is used to organize and maintain the related test automation framework by using some automation testing tools like Selenium. It also represents the web pages as a separate class by performing encapsulation to provide separate test logic.
As a top-leading testing platform, LambdaTest consistently focuses on the implementation of the Page Object Model to perpetrate and sustain Selenium test automation. It is a digital experience testing platform that allows businesses to test over 3000+ test environments, including real device cloud, to make websites bug-free and give users a seamless experience.
Definition of the Page Object Model (POM) and Its Implications
The Page Object Model is a powerful design pattern in the field of automation testing. It promotes process maintenance, reusability, and collaboration between the working teams. The model is an encapsulation technique that binds the various web pages and their classes to cut down the duplication of the source code to minimize the impacts on the UI changes. Here are some key implications of the technique in automation testing-
Data abstraction with encapsulation: Every web page is represented by a dedicated class that can abstract the whole data set with the existing elements and actions. The test script interacts with the pages bypassing the implementation details of the project. The encapsulation process protects the existing data from tampering and improves the maintainability of the development by accepting the localization on the UI with the corresponding page class.
Reusability of the code: This model encourages the reusability of the existing codes by entitling the page class objects by performing multiple test cases. If a specific page performs a different scenario, the page class manipulates the whole code without reconfiguring the interaction.
Enhance maintainability of the process: The major advantage of the process is to sustain the quality structure of the developed codes. In the automation testing process, the test scripts need to be customized and remain intact to reduce the chances of bugs during updates.
Increased readability and maintenance test processes: For the POM setup, the test cases need to be more concentrated on the business logic by recapitulating the interaction approaches in a methodical manner.
Faster test development in a collaborative manner: POM also promotes collaboration between development and testing teams to fuel up the development process. It is related to the process of UI encapsulation by preparing faster test scripts for automation testing.
Mold the stable version: In the real world, the POM architecture of automated testing permits the developers to deal with the dynamic elements of the web page by flagging the locators and interactions through encapsulation. It makes the absolute version more stable and dynamic.
Selenium Automation Testing Maintenance and Its Implications
Selenium test automation maintenance is essential to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the test suite. As we know, web applications need to be updated from time to time (Specifically their UI), which can be a cause of test failures. Proper practice of maintenance with Selenium addresses the issues to ensure product quality. Here are some notable aspects of it –
Implications Of the Selenium Automation Testing
Here we are going to discuss the Automation Testing process related to Selenium –
Improved Efficiency – The Selenium platform allows testers to execute various test cases on different browsers and operating systems. It reduces the time and effort of the manual testing process.
Test Coverage Enhancement – It covers a vast perimeter by calculating the threshold value of a particular software.
Bug Detection in An Early Phase – The automation testing runs through the CI/CD pipeline, which helps to detect the bugs in the early phase with faster feedback.
Cost and Resource Savings – After setting up the automation suite, the developers and testers can use previous releases as the experimental specimen to save costs and resources.
Maintain Consistency – Automated testing is a top-notch process that reduces human errors to portray the testing process more reliable.
Important Aspects of Selenium Testing Maintenance
The actual goal of the testing maintenance with the Selenium platform is related to the critical aspects of the ongoing success of the project and the efficiency of the automated testing platform.
Update The Browser Platform: The web applications need to be updated frequently. The application may fail anytime if the updating process is not done timely.
Locate The Elements: Selenium uses so many element locators during the automation testing to verify and update the changes related to the application UI.
Dynamic Content Procedure: Websites contain so many dynamic contents which can be changed based on data updating. But the condition is, testers need to handle the dynamic content properly.
Data Management After the Test: The test database needs to be refreshed continuously by following a schedule to ensure the product is valid and running successfully.
Rewrite the Code Again: As the user demand increases, the code of the application will evolve. Test automation codes need to regenerate again with the requirements.
Cross-Platform Testing Process: It is a matter of compatibility, which involves verifying that the automated testing process works consistently on different browsers present in the market.
Proper Reporting and Monitoring: Developers need to review the test report continuously and monitor the live application to mark the problems related to it.
Skill Updates: Team members will be responsible for testing and updating the brand-new Selenium test features with modern trends.
How POM Model Works with Selenium
Existing Page Classes: In the POM structure, every web component is referred to as a separate class. These classes are also known as the Page Objects, which encapsulate every locator with actions to that component.
Developed Page Method: Every page method contains the public class methods which showcase the operative actions for that certain page.
Locator Plugin of Each Element: In a particular page, the web elements are regulated by the specific locators to update the page class in the future by defining the private variables.
Logic Separation: Test scripts do not have any direct access to the element’s locators. The actual test script interacts with the application by following the page classes to satisfy the business logic itself.
Code Maintenance: The structure makes the maintenance process simpler by applying various changes to the UI. It addresses the page classes by keeping the test scripts intact.
Use Of Page Object Model for Maintainable Selenium Test Automation in The Real-World
In the real-world scenario, the Page Object Model constructs a good flow of automation testing with the Selenium module. It guarantees the success of the updated software with relevant and effective approaches. The adoption of so many benefits helps to satisfy the terms to scale the test suites capacity with lots of benefits mentioned below –
Renewable Code Creation: The process supports reusable codes. The page classes represent the individual components of the web application, which can reduce code redundancy in the first place.
Test Maintenance Capability Enhancement: It is the primary goal of the POM model to improve the process of test maintenance. Here encapsulation plays a big role in maintaining the relevant test data in the time of UI upgradation.
Collaboration: The structure promotes the collaboration between developers and the testing team to share knowledge in the time of the automation process. The main aim of the collaboration is to promote Agile practices.
Test Debug Process: In the testing process, when a particular section fails to clear the projected threshold, testers need to locate the fault very quickly. In the POM structure, debugging takes a straight role to fix the problems from the specific pages.
Scale The Project: When an application grows, POM tries to include some scales in the project. Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) Integration plays a major role in regenerating the possible response to the code changes.
Cross-breed Browser Testing: It gives a safe passage to the developers to create and run the web application on the various browsers to check its adaptability.
Use Cases of Selenium
Selenium is a well-known web application development tool to automate web browsers. Let’s discuss some prominent use of the Selenium in the context of the modern era –
Web application: It is a primary choice of the developers and testers to analyze the new web applications. It provides the facility to create new scripts for testing the applications’ functions, performance, and use cases.
Regression Testing Method: Selenium enables the process of regression testing rapidly to mark the code changes and address any sudden side effects.
Load Testing: This platform integrates the performance of the testing tools by checking their load capacity with a simulation process under heavy loads.
UI testing: Selenium is used to test the UI components separately under isolation.
Accessibility Process: Accessibility testing is the most important process to check web application compliance.
Mobile Testing Facility: Selenium has direct integration with Appium Web Drivers. It is a possibility to automate the whole test for a mobile application and the native application on Android and iOS platforms themselves.
Security Testing Process: The platform supports the major security testing processes to check the vulnerability of the software through some assessments.
End-to-End Testing: It is the most common testing process which validates the workflow of the application with backend services through the databases.
Captcha Solving Process: For some ethical reasons and to check the robotic activities, many web applications use Captcha. Selenium helps to create a path for automated captcha solving in specific use cases.
Conclusion:
Today in this blog, you have learned about the implementations of the Page Object Model to maintain the Selenium objects with test automation. By following the design patterns and terms, you can see that the model can give us an outcome of high-quality software. The clear separation model concerns the test engineers to create and organize some readable codes with the encapsulation method. Practically, the Selenium model can demonstrate the usefulness of new-age web applications with the CI/CD pipelines with enhanced scalability. These features made Selenium the most valuable asset for new-age software development.