Selenium Vs Protractor
Selenium and Protractor are both widely used open source testing frameworks for web applications. While both of these tools are used for automated testing, they differ in their approach and features. Understanding the differences between Selenium and Protractor is important for choosing the right tool for your web application testing needs.
Selenium
Selenium is a popular testing framework for web applications that allows automated testing in multiple browsers and operating systems. It supports a wide range of programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, and Ruby. Selenium uses the WebDriver API to automate user interactions with web pages, such as clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating between pages.
Selenium is known for its flexibility and ease of use, making it a popular choice for web developers and testers. It also offers a large community of developers, who contribute to its development and provide support through forums and online resources.
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Protractor
Protractor is a testing framework for AngularJS web applications, built on top of Selenium. Protractor is designed specifically for testing AngularJS applications and includes additional features to simplify the testing process, such as Angular-specific locators, the ability to test asynchronous behavior, and built-in support for AngularJS page objects.
Protractor uses JavaScript and is designed to work with the Jasmine testing framework, although it can also work with Mocha or Cucumber. It supports running tests in multiple browsers and operating systems, and includes a wide range of plugins to extend its functionality.
Examples
To illustrate the differences between Selenium and Protractor, let’s consider two examples:
Example 1: Testing a login page
Selenium: To test a login page using Selenium, you would use the WebDriver API to simulate user interactions with the login form, such as entering a username and password, clicking the login button, and verifying that the user is redirected to the correct page. You would also need to write code to handle any errors or unexpected behavior that may occur during the testing process.
Protractor: To test a login page using Protractor, you would use the built-in support for AngularJS page objects to create a reusable object for the login form, which can be used across multiple tests. You would then use Protractor’s Angular-specific locators to find the username and password fields, enter the appropriate values, and click the login button. Protractor would automatically handle any asynchronous behavior, such as waiting for the login request to complete, and would also provide built-in error handling.
Example 2: Testing a dynamic web application
Selenium: To test a dynamic web application using Selenium, you would need to write code to handle dynamic elements on the page, such as pop-up windows, dynamic menus, or content that is loaded asynchronously. This would require a good understanding of the web application’s structure and behavior, as well as knowledge of programming languages such as Java or Python.
Protractor: To test a dynamic web application using Protractor, you would use its built-in support for asynchronous behavior to handle dynamic elements on the page. Protractor would automatically wait for the page to load before proceeding with the test, and would also provide built-in support for waiting for dynamic elements to appear or disappear on the page.
In summary, Selenium and Protractor are both popular testing frameworks for web applications, but they differ in their approach and features. Selenium is a flexible testing framework that supports multiple programming languages and can be used to test a wide range of web applications. Protractor is designed specifically for testing AngularJS applications and includes additional features to simplify the testing process. By understanding the differences between these two tools, you can choose the right one for your web application testing needs.