❓ How, if possible, otherwise why not:
Selenium interacts with web browsers to automate testing through a combination of the Selenium WebDriver and browser-specific drivers.
Selenium WebDriver:
Selenium WebDriver acts as a bridge between your test scripts and the browser. It sends commands written in your test scripts (e.g., to click a button, enter text, or navigate to a URL) to the browser, which then performs the corresponding actions on the web page.
Browser-Specific Drivers:
Each browser has a specific driver that communicates directly with the browser:
- ChromeDriver for Chrome
- GeckoDriver for Firefox
- EdgeDriver for Microsoft Edge
- SafariDriver for Safari
The WebDriver interacts with these drivers using the WebDriver protocol, which is based on the W3C WebDriver standard. This standard ensures that commands are uniformly interpreted across different browsers.
❓ How It Works in Practice:
- You write test scripts using the Selenium WebDriver API in a programming language like Java, Python, or C#. These scripts specify the actions to be performed on the web page.
- The WebDriver converts these actions into HTTP requests and sends them to the browser-specific driver.
- The browser driver executes the commands on the browser, and the browser responds back to the WebDriver, which then returns the results to your test script.
Things to Keep in Mind While Doing So:
Best Practice:
Cross-Browser Testing: Since different browsers can interpret and render HTML/CSS/JavaScript differently, it's important to run your Selenium tests across multiple browsers to ensure compatibility and consistent behavior of the web application.
Pitfall:
Browser Compatibility: Not all browser features or actions are supported uniformly across different browsers. For instance, handling browser-specific pop-ups or certain HTML5 features might require additional handling or might behave differently. Always test on the actual browsers your users are likely to use.