Automatic regression tests with Selenium

REMOTELY CONTROLLED BROWSER

Article from Issue 72/2006
Author(s):

Testing complex web applications does not necessarily mean investing in expensive, proprietary tools such as Test Director or Silk Performer. Selenium is for free; it can remotely control any major browser, and it is programmable in Perl.

The only way to say for sure if a web application will work after modifying the code is to try all the functions in a browser. This means opening every single page, pressing every single button, and filling out every single text box. And you have to go through this multiple times to check out every possible success or error scenario. The people from quality assurance would probably not look forward to the prospect of performing these monotonous tests manually. At the same time, this approach leaves you open to human error. We need an automatic test.

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