Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is an open source automation testing tool for web applications. It’s used as a plug-in in Firefox browser, providing record and playback facility to perform regression testing on any web application. Selenium IDE doesn’t require knowledge of any programming language.

Selenium IDE also caters the need to export recorded scripts in many languages, like Java, HTML, C#, JUnit, Ruby, Python, and TestNG. In addition, it can be used to export scripts in Selenium RC or web driver. In Selenium IDE, a script that is created for application testing is called test case and a set of test cases is referred as a test suite.

Step-by-Step Process to Download and Install Selenium IDE

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Type the following URL: http://seleniumhq.org/download/
  3. Scroll down the page to the “Selenium IDE” section.

Scroll down the page to the “Selenium IDE” section.

4. Click the ‘Allow’ button to allow Mozilla Firefox to install Selenium IDE.

Click the ‘Allow’ button to allow Mozilla Firefox to install Selenium IDE.

5. Install the add-ons only from trusted authors.

Install the add-ons only from trusted authors.

6. Restart the browser to complete the installation of add-ons. This can be done by clicking the ‘Restart Now’ button as show below.

click the ‘Restart Now’

7. After restarting the browser, click the ‘Tools’ menu list displayed at the top.

click the ‘Tools’ menu list displayed at the top.

8. Click the ‘Selenium IDE’ option. It will open the Selenium IDE software window as shown below.

Click the ‘Selenium IDE’ option

Once the Selenium IDE is installed, you can start Record and Play with the IDE. However, before going ahead, one must be aware of the fundamentals of the Selenium IDE toolbar.

  • Speed Controller

Speed controller is used to control the speed of your test case runs. You can drag and position the green circle to set the speed.

  • Run All Button

This button is used to run the entire test suite. It proves to be helpful in running the entire test cases within a test suite.

  • Run Button

By clicking the ‘Run’ button, you can run any test case or line of a test case.

  • Pause/Resume Button

The Pause button is used to pause a running test case. Similarly, the Resume button can be used to resume a paused test case. The Pause/Resume button is enabled when a test is running. However, by default it is disabled.

  • Step Button

The Step button is used to run the test commands manually one by one. Basically, the Step button is used debug the script in the Selenium IDE software.

  • Record/ Stop Button

The Record button is used for recording the navigation of web application software and creating test scripts for reusing it. The Stop record button is used to stop the recording.

Command Table

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Command table shows the recorded commands. The commands can also be modified or inserted in between. There are three elements in each command.

  1. Command: Command column describes the name of the command.
  2. Target: Target column describes the target element id or name or Xpath.
  3. Value: Value column describes the value of an element.

Recording and Playing a Sample Script in Selenium IDE

1. Open a new tab in Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Open Selenium IDE.
3. Click the “Record” button.
4. Enter the URL: https://www.google.com/
5. Click on the search text field.
6. Enter the text “Selenium IDE”.
7. Click on the search icon.
8. Click the link “Selenium IDE Plugins”.
9. Click the ‘Download’ tab.
10. Stop the recording.
11. Run the report.

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Now, save your script on your computer for future use.

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