
<p>A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a web address that specifies the location of a resource on the internet. The URL of an application typically refers to the web address or endpoint that allows users to access or interact with the application.</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">The URL of an application can vary depending on the specific application and how it is hosted or deployed. For example, if the application is a web-based application hosted on a server, the URL may look something like this:</p></p>



<p><strong>http://www.example.com/my-application/</strong></p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">If the application is a mobile application, the URL may refer to a specific endpoint or resource that the application interacts with through an API (Application Programming Interface).</p></p>



<p>It is important to test the URL-related functionality, and <a href="https://www.selenium.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium</a> helps us validate URL or related content.&nbsp;</p>



<p>getCurrentUrl() is a method in Selenium WebDriver that retrieves the current URL of the web page opened in the browser. This method returns a String value representing the current URL of the web page.</p>



<p>Let’s get started!</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Pre-requisite"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Pre-requisite</a></li><li><a href="#Selenium_and_Selenium_WebDriver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Selenium and Selenium WebDriver</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_get_the_current_URL_in_Selenium_8211_Java"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> How to get the current URL in Selenium &#8211; Java?</a><ul><li><a href="#Code_Snippet"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.1</span> Code Snippet:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_are_the_different_methods_to_open_a_URL_in_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">5.1</span> What are the different methods to open a URL in Selenium?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_get_the_current_URL_in_Selenium_using_JavaScript_executor"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">5.2</span> How to get the current URL in Selenium using JavaScript executor?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-pre-requisite"><span id="Pre-requisite"><strong>Pre-requisite</strong></span></h2>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">To get started with <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/selenium-based-automated-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium</a> automation getCurrentUrl(), the following components are necessary:</p></p>



<ol><li>Download and Install JDK</li><br><li>Download and Install IDE (Integrated Development Environment) like Eclipse, and IntelliJ</li><br><li>Selenium Client Configuration</li><br><li>Integrate TestNG with IDE</li><br><li>Browser drivers for Firefox, Chrome, IE, etc.</li></ol>



<h2 id="h-selenium-and-selenium-webdriver"><span id="Selenium_and_Selenium_WebDriver"><strong>Selenium and Selenium WebDriver</strong></span></h2>



<p>Selenium is an open-source test automation framework that automates web browsers. It is used for functional and <a href="https://testsigma.com/regression-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regression testing</a> of web applications and supports a variety of programming languages, including Java, Python, C#, and Ruby.</p>



<p>Selenium WebDriver is a component of the Selenium framework that automates the interaction of a web browser with a web application. It provides a programming interface for controlling and automating web browsers. This allows users to perform actions like clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating between pages. WebDriver supports several popular web browsers, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer.</p>



<p>Selenium WebDriver provides a rich set of APIs that enable developers to write automated tests in their preferred programming language, making it a flexible and powerful tool for automating web applications. Its key features include support for multiple browsers and operating systems, the ability to interact with <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/web-element-in-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">web elements</a> using a variety of locators, and the ability to wait for elements to load and perform actions asynchronously.</p>



<p>Overall, Selenium and Selenium WebDriver are popular tools in the field of <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation</a>, providing a robust and flexible solution for <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-web-application-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automating web application testing</a>.</p>



<h2 id="h-how-to-get-the-current-url-in-selenium-java"><span id="How_to_get_the_current_URL_in_Selenium_8211_Java"><strong>How to get the current URL in Selenium &#8211; Java?</strong></span></h2>



<p>In Selenium-Java, you can use the getCurrentUrl() method of the WebDriver interface to get the current URL of the web page.</p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">Method name &#8211; <strong>getCurrentUrl()</strong></p></p>



<h3 id="h-code-snippet"><span id="Code_Snippet"><strong>Code Snippet:</strong></span></h3><br>



<styled-code>
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class CurrentUrl{
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      System.setProperty(&#8220;webdriver.chrome.driver&#8221;, &#8220;C:\Users\Sgokhru\Desktop\Java\chromedriver.exe&#8221;);
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      String url = &#8221; https://testsigma.com/&#8221;;
      driver.get(url);
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
      // get the current URL
      String strUrl = driver.getCurrentUrl();
      //Print the URL
      System.out.println(&#8220;Current Url is:&#8221;+ strUrl);
     //Close the browser
      driver.close();
   }
}
</styled-code>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">In this example, we first create a new instance of the Chrome driver and navigate to a web page using the get() method. Then, we call getCurrentUrl() to get the current URL of the web page and store it in a String variable called currentUrl. Finally, we print the current URL to the console and close the browser using the close() method.</p></p>



<p>getCurrentUrl() returns a String that represents the URL of the current web page. This method can be useful for verifying that the browser has navigated to the expected URL, or for capturing the current URL for later use in your test script.</p>



<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></h2>



<p>The getCurrentUrl() method in Selenium Java is a useful method that returns the URL of the current web page being displayed in the browser. It verifies that the browser has navigated to the expected URL after performing some action, such as clicking a link or submitting a form.</p>



<p>This method is part of the WebDriver interface, which is the main interface used to control the browser in Selenium. It can be called on an instance of the WebDriver object, which is typically obtained by instantiating a subclass of the WebDriver interface, such as the ChromeDriver or FirefoxDriver.</p>



<h2 id="h-frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions</strong></span></h2>



<h3 id="h-what-are-the-different-methods-to-open-a-url-in-selenium"><span id="What_are_the_different_methods_to_open_a_URL_in_Selenium"><strong>What are the different methods to open a URL in Selenium?</strong></span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">There are several methods in Selenium to open a URL:</p></p>



<ul><li>get(): The get() method is the most commonly used method to open a URL in Selenium. It opens the specified URL in the current browser window or tab. Example: driver.get(&#8220;https://www.example.com&#8221;)</li><br><li>navigate().to(): The navigate().to() method is also used to open a URL, but it provides more flexibility than get(). It allows you to navigate back and forward through the browser history, and also to refresh the page. Example: driver.navigate().to(&#8220;https://www.example.com&#8221;)</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-how-to-get-the-current-url-in-selenium-using-javascript-executor"><span id="How_to_get_the_current_URL_in_Selenium_using_JavaScript_executor"><strong>How to get the current URL in Selenium using JavaScript executor?</strong></span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">You can get the current URL in Selenium using JavaScript executor in the following way:</p></p>



JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
String currentURL = (String) js.executeScript(&#8220;return window.location.href;&#8221;);
System.out.println(&#8220;The current URL is: &#8221; + currentURL);



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<div class="title-with-description ">
<p class="title">Explore Testsigma, a low code test automation tool, to automate your end-to-end UI tests for web, mobile, desktop and APIs, from the same place, 10x faster.</p>
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<a href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" class="cta-btn-v1" rel="noopener">Start here</a>
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Selenium Get Current URL using Java: Tutorial


<p>The most fundamental step in web <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation </a>is element identification. There are numerous methods for QEs to locate elements. In Selenium, Find element by Text is used to locate a web element based on its text attribute. The text value is mostly used when the basic element identification properties, such as ID or Class, are dynamic and make it difficult to locate the web element.</p>



<p>In such cases,&nbsp; it becomes very difficult to <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/element-locators-automated-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">locate web elements</a>. One option that comes to save us is text or partial text attributes.</p>



<p>In this blog, we will see how text or partial text can be useful when other IDs or class name are dynamic.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Let’s get started.&nbsp;</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_Find_Element_in_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What is Find Element in Selenium?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_findElement_by_Text_in_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> What is findElement by Text in Selenium?</a></li><li><a href="#Difference_between_findElement_and_findElements"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Difference between findElement and findElements</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Find_Element_by_Text_in_Selenium_for_a_Complete_Text_match"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> How to Find Element by Text in Selenium for a Complete Text match</a><ul><li><a href="#Code_snippetnbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">4.1</span> Code snippet:&nbsp;</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Using_findElement_by_Text_with_text_and_contains_Methods"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Using findElement() by Text with text() and contains() Methods</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Find_Elements_by_Text_in_Selenium_for_Partial_Text_match"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> How to Find Elements by Text in Selenium for Partial Text match</a><ul><li><a href="#Code_Snippet"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">6.1</span> Code Snippet:</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#How_do_you_search_text_in_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.1</span> How do you search text in Selenium?</a></li><li><a href="#How_do_I_find_an_element_by_tag"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.2</span> How do I find an element by tag?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_use_Selenium_to_find_elements_by_Attribute_Value"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">8.3</span> How to use Selenium to find elements by Attribute Value?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-what-is-find-element-in-selenium"><span id="What_is_Find_Element_in_Selenium"><strong>What is Find Element in Selenium?</strong></span></h2>



<p>When you begin writing your Selenium automation script, the interaction with web elements is the first and most important step because it is the WebElements you experiment with within your test script. Interaction with these web elements is now possible only if you identify them correctly.</p>



<p>&#8220;Find Element&#8221; in Selenium refers to the process of locating a web element on a page, such as a button, text box, or link, in order to interact with it through a script. This is typically done using the Selenium WebDriver&#8217;s find_element_by_locator method, where a locator can be a unique identifier of a web element such as &#8220;id&#8221;, &#8220;name&#8221;, &#8220;class name&#8221;, &#8220;xpath&#8221;, etc. The method returns the first web element that matches the search criteria.</p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">The syntax for find element is:</p></p>



WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//*[text()=’xyz’]”));



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">Different types of locators:</p></p>



<ul><li>ID</li><li>Name</li><li>Class Name</li><li>Tag Name</li><li>Link Text</li><li>Partial Link Text</li><li>XPath</li><li>CSS Selector</li></ul>



<h2 id="what-is-findelement-by-text-in-selenium"><span id="What_is_findElement_by_Text_in_Selenium"><strong>What is findElement by Text in Selenium?</strong></span></h2>



<p>When you begin writing Selenium automation scripts, interaction with web elements is the first and most important step because these are the elements you experiment with within your test script. You can only interact with them when you identify them correctly.</p>



<p>“Find Element” refers to the process of locating a <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/web-element-in-selenium/">web element in Selenium</a> on a page, such as a button, text box, or link, in order to interact with it through a script. This is typically done using the Selenium WebDriver’s <strong><em>find_element_by_locator</em></strong> method, where a locator can be a unique identifier of a web element such as “<strong>id</strong>”, “<strong>name</strong>”, “<strong>class name</strong>”, “<strong>xpath</strong>”, etc. The method returns the first web element that matches the search criteria.</p>



<p>One common use case is finding an element by its text content, which uses <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/xpath-in-selenium/">xpath in Selenium</a> or link text (for hyperlinks). This method is particularly useful when the element doesn&#8217;t have a unique ID or class.</p>



<p><strong>The syntax for findElement using xpath is:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//*[text()=’your_text’]”));</p>



<p style="padding-top: 10px"><strong>Example with xpath:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//*[text()=&#8217;Submit&#8217;]&#8221;));</p>



<p>submitButton.click();</p>



<p style="padding-top: 20px"><strong>The syntax for findElement using link text is:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.linkText(&#8220;Exact Link Text&#8221;));</p>



<p style="padding-top: 10px"><strong>Example with link text:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement homeLink = driver.findElement(By.linkText(&#8220;Home&#8221;));</p>



<p>homeLink.click();</p>



<p style="padding-top: 20px"><strong>The syntax for findElement using partial link text is:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText(&#8220;Partial Link Text&#8221;));</p>



<p style="padding-top: 10px"><strong>Example with particle link text:</strong></p>



<p>WebElement homeLink = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText(&#8220;Ho&#8221;));</p>



<p>homeLink.click();</p>



<h2 id="h-difference-between-findelement-and-findelements"><span id="Difference_between_findElement_and_findElements"><strong>Difference between findElement and findElements</strong></span></h2>



<p>findElement and findElements in <a href="https://www.selenium.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium</a> with Java are used to locate web elements on a page.</p>



<p>The difference between the two methods is that findElement returns a single WebElement object that represents the first element on the page that matches the search criteria, while findElements returns a list of all WebElement objects that match the search criteria.</p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">For example, if you want to locate a button with the text &#8220;Submit&#8221; on a page, you could use the following code:</p></p>



WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//button[text()=&#8217;Submit&#8217;]&#8221;));



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">And if you want to locate all the links on a page, you could use the following code:</p></p>



List links = driver.findElements(By.tagName (&#8220;a&#8221;));



<br><h2 id="h-how-to-find-element-by-text-in-selenium-for-a-complete-text-match"><span id="How_to_Find_Element_by_Text_in_Selenium_for_a_Complete_Text_match"><strong>How to Find Element by Text in Selenium for a Complete Text match</strong></span></h2>



<p>To find an element by its text in Selenium for a complete text match in Java, you can use the XPath locator strategy and the text() function.</p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">To understand it better, let’s consider a use case.&nbsp;</p></p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">Use case:</p></p>



<ol><li>Launch the Testsigma website.</li><br><li>Identify the web element and capture the text of the button ‘Schedule a demo’</li><br><li>Compare the expected value to the actual.</li><br><li>Close the browser.</li></ol>



<h3 id="h-code-snippet"><span id="Code_snippetnbsp"><strong>Code snippet:&nbsp;</strong></span></h3><br>



<styled-code>
package demo;
import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;


public class CompleteText{
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		System.setProperty(&#8220;webdriver.chrome.driver&#8221;, &#8220;C:\\Users\\sgokhru\\Downloads\\chromedriver_win32\\chromedriver.exe&#8221;);

		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		String url = &#8220;https://testsigma.com&#8221;;
		driver.get(url);
		driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

		// Locating element with text()
		WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//span[text()=&#8217;Schedule a demo &#8216;]&#8221;));
		assertEquals(element .getText(), &#8220;Schedule a demo&#8221;);
		System.out.println(&#8220;Both the text are equal&#8221;);
		driver.quit();
	}
}
</styled-code>



<h2 id="using-findelement-by-text-with-text-and-contains-methods"><span id="Using_findElement_by_Text_with_text_and_contains_Methods"><strong>Using findElement() by Text with text() and contains() Methods</strong></span></h2>



<p>In Selenium, text() and contains() methods are used to identify and locate web elements based on the text they contain.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The text() function matches the exact text content of an element. The above section shows an example of this.</p>



<p>The contains() method matches partial text content within an element.</p>



<p>An example of this would be locating an element whose text contains ‘Sub’ and clicking on it:</p>



<p>WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//*[contains(text(), &#8216;Sub&#8217;)]&#8221;));</p>



<p>submitButton.click();</p>



<br><h2 id="h-how-to-find-elements-by-text-in-selenium-for-partial-text-match"><span id="How_to_Find_Elements_by_Text_in_Selenium_for_Partial_Text_match"><strong>How to Find Elements by Text in Selenium for Partial Text match</strong></span></h2>



<p>The contains() function is a built-in XPath function that is used to search for a substring within a string.</p>



<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">To understand it better, let’s consider a use case.</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">Use case:</p></p>



<ol><li>Launch the website&nbsp; &#8211; https://testsigma.com</li><br><li>Identify the WebElement and capture the text of ‘&#8217;Build stable and reliable automated tests’</li><br><li>Compare the expected value to the actual.</li><br><li>Close the browser.</li></ol>



<h3 id="h-code-snippet-1"><span id="Code_Snippet"><strong>Code Snippet:</strong></span></h3><br>



<styled-code>
package demo;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class PartialText{
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		System.setProperty(&#8220;webdriver.chrome.driver&#8221;,
				&#8220;C:\\Users\\sgokhru\\Downloads\\chromedriver_win32\\chromedriver.exe&#8221;);

		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		String url = &#8220;https://testsigma.com&#8221;;
		driver.get(url);
		//It will maximize the browser
		driver.manage().window().maximize();
		
		driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

// Locating element with text()
		WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//p[contains(text(), &#8216;Build stable and reliable automated tests&#8217;)]&#8221;));

		System.out.println(&#8220;Element with text(): &#8221; + element.getText());
		driver.quit();
	}
}
</styled-code>



<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></h2>



<p>In this blog, we looked at finding an element using text() method. We saw how to use the text() method for both full and partial text matches. We also saw how we could use it in the FindElements case to get a list of Web Elements via text match. Using a text() can be really useful when other attributes such as IDs or class names are dynamic in nature, and they keep changing the moment you refresh your page.</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">As evident, to use Selenium, one needs to be an expert in one of the programming languages. There is where a no-code test automation comes in.</p></p>



<div class="cta-banner-v2">
<div class="title-with-description ">
<p class="title">Explore Testsigma, a low code test automation tool, to automate your end-to-end UI tests for web, mobile, desktop and APIs, from the same place, 10x faster.</p>
</div>
<a href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" class="cta-btn-v1" rel="noopener">Start here</a>
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<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">Happy Testing..!</p></p>



<h2 id="h-frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions</strong></span></h2>



<h3 id="h-how-do-you-search-text-in-selenium"><span id="How_do_you_search_text_in_Selenium"><strong>How do you search text in Selenium?</strong></span></h3>



<p>You can search for text in Selenium using the findElement or findElements method. The getText() method in Selenium Java is used to retrieve the text content of an element on a web page.</p>



<h3 id="h-how-do-i-find-an-element-by-tag"><span id="How_do_I_find_an_element_by_tag"><strong>How do I find an element by tag?</strong></span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">In Selenium, you can find an element on a web page by its HTML tag name using the findElement or findElements method and the By.tagName locator strategy. Here&#8217;s an example using the findElement method to find a single input element:</p></p>



WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.tagName(&#8220;input&#8221;));



<h3 id="h-how-to-use-selenium-to-find-elements-by-attribute-value"><span id="How_to_use_Selenium_to_find_elements_by_Attribute_Value"><strong>How to use Selenium to find elements by Attribute Value?</strong></span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">In Selenium, you can find elements on a web page by their attribute value using the findElement or findElements method and a locator strategy such as By.xpath or By.cssSelector. Here&#8217;s an example using the findElement method to find an element with a specific value for the &#8220;value&#8221; attribute:</p></p>



WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(&#8220;//*[@value=&#8217;Search Value&#8217;]&#8221;));



<p style="padding-top: 20px">In this example, the driver is an instance of the WebDriver interface, and By.xpath(&#8220;//*[@value=&#8217;Search Value&#8217;]&#8221;) specifies the locator strategy and the value to search for.</p></p>



<p>You can replace &#8220;value&#8221; with any other attribute name, and &#8220;Search Value&#8221; with the desired attribute value, to search for elements with different attribute values.</p>


How to Find Element by Text in Selenium: Tutorial with Example


<p>Suppose you are leveraging the Ghost platform’s powers to run your business or blogging websites and are wondering what factors you need to consider before you deploy and publish it. In that case, this guide should prove helpful, and by the end, you should have a better understanding of testing a website built with Ghost.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_Ghost"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What is Ghost?</a></li><li><a href="#The_moving_parts"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> The moving parts</a><ul><li><a href="#GScan_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.1</span> GScan Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Unit_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.2</span> Unit Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Browser_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.3</span> Browser Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Mobile-Friendly_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.4</span> Mobile-Friendly Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Visual_UI_Testing"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.5</span> Visual UI Testing</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-what-is-ghost"><span id="What_is_Ghost">What is Ghost?</span></h2>



<p><a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ghost</a> is an open-source blogging platform built to simplify the process of online publishing for individual bloggers and online publications. One can use its tools to create blogging websites, publish content and even send newsletters to their paid audience.</p>



<p>It launched in 2013, with the project founder having worked in WordPress &#8211; a Content Management Site (CMS) also used for making websites and blogs. Today, Ghost is a popular choice amongst individuals and organizations for publishing blogs and content. Some notable users of the platform are IBM, Tinder, Sky News, VEVO, and Zappos.</p>



<p>Also, It is the #1 CMS on GitHub, having 42k stars (by the time of writing this blog) and being used by millions of people.</p>



<p>It offers an on-prem solution and also a managed service &#8211; Ghost (Pro) that requires minimal to no maintenance and handling of servers. If you are a person who wants flexibility, is tech savvy, or has a tech team to manage and monitor the servers, the on-prem solution might be the one for you, whereas if you don’t want all that hassle and just want to focus on the content, Ghost (Pro) would be a good choice.</p>



<p>On top of this, it offers multiple third-party integrations like Stripe, Google Analytics, Twitter, YouTube, and many more that can enhance your website.</p>



<p>There are, of course, other CMS alternatives available to start your blogging site or other websites, like Substack, WordPress, Medium, Patreon, etc.</p>



<h2 id="h-the-moving-parts"><span id="The_moving_parts">The moving parts</span></h2>



<p>So, you must be wondering that since everything is being handled by the Ghost blogging platform itself and that there is a lot of abstraction from the internal workings, what is there left to be tested by you? Let’s see.</p>



<p>Ghost is built on NodeJS, and uses technologies like ExpressJS, MySQL &amp; SQLite databases, and Markdown, Ember, Handlebars for templating and user interface. Most of these things are used internally and abstracted from you as a user.</p>



<p>However, what we can control is the Handlebars part of it, which is used for creating the user interface (HTML) of your website. Ghost provides various themes out of the box, and one can also create a theme and upload it. So, we can use Handlebars, which is a templating language, to create custom themes to be used by the platform.</p>



<p>Another variable is the version of the platform you’re using. Even though the Ghost.org team thoroughly tests and then releases a version, upgrading to the newer versions could cause regression. So, one should have test cases in place to prevent this from happening.</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">So, as we can see, the moving parts over which we have control are quite small. Hence the scope of testing is also minimal. The relevant aspects to be tested could be as follows:</p></p>



<ol><li>GScan Testing (Ghost Theme Scanner)</li><li>Unit Testing</li><li>Browser Testing and Cross-Device Testing</li><li>Mobile-friendly Testing</li><li>Performance Testing</li></ol>



<h3 id="h-gscan-testing"><span id="GScan_Testing">GScan Testing</span></h3>



<p>GScan is the authorized tool for scanning Ghost themes. It checks for errors and feature support.&nbsp;</p>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">GScan works on a set of rules. Each rule has a way of checking whether it has failed or passed and also gives a descriptive solution on how to resolve that. There are three error levels associated with each rule, which are as follows:</p></p>



<ol><li><strong>recommendation</strong>:&nbsp; these are things the dev might want to know about</li><br><li><strong>warning</strong>: usually used for deprecations, things that will be errors in the next version</li><br><li><strong>error</strong>: anything that makes the theme invalid or incompatible with the current version of Ghost</li></ol>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">In addition, an <strong>error</strong> can be marked as fatal. It means that if it is left unchecked, a Ghost publication would throw 500 errors on certain pages because of the detected out-of-date or erroneous code.</p></p>



<h3 id="h-unit-testing"><span id="Unit_Testing">Unit Testing</span></h3>



<p>Unit Test is performed to test the different “units” in a source code, to ensure that every single unit is functioning properly.</p>



<p>There are several JavaScript Testing frameworks to choose from, such as Jest, Mocha, and Jasmine. Any one of these can be used to define the test cases, which can then be run on your custom Ghost Themes.</p>



<p>One way to test and streamline your unit tests is to use a testing tool like <a href="https://testsigma.com/">Testsigma</a>. The tool helps in the easy creation, execution, and management of your test cases, saving effort and time while improving your code&#8217;s quality. </p>



<p>One can <strong>write test cases in simple English language</strong>, which means that anyone can contribute to testing. Besides, the platform reduces or even eliminates the complex setup processes, and the learning curve to use the tool is also not steep.</p>



<h3 id="h-browser-testing"><span id="Browser_Testing">Browser Testing</span></h3>



<p>Browser Testing is done to check whether the published website is rendering according to the expectations or not in a Web Browser. All the different aspects of the website’s UI (User Interface) can be tested through this test. Also, the test is not just limited to one Web Browser. Users all around the world use different browsers to access content on the internet. Some of the popular web browsers are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera.</p>



<p>Conducting <a href="https://testsigma.com/cross-browser-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cross-Browser Testing</a> will ensure that every user consuming the content will have the same experience, without any surprises.</p>



<p>Also, one can test how a website would look and function on different devices like Desktops, Tablets, Mobiles, TVs, etc, to ensure multiple device support.</p>



<p>It is very important to know your user base and the kind of devices you want your website to function properly on.</p>



<p>While conducting Browser Testing, one has to make a list of devices and browsers they want to target for running their website seamlessly. This can be a time taking, manual and tedious task to complete.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But by using a tool like Testsigma, we can run all the tests parallelly and complete all the tests in a short period.</p>



<h3 id="h-mobile-friendly-testing"><span id="Mobile-Friendly_Testing">Mobile-Friendly Testing</span></h3>



<p>As mobile phones and tablets have become more powerful and prominent in today’s world, in most cases the traffic generated on websites is from these devices.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So, it is wise to test if your websites are mobile responsive, and whether all the features and functionalities are accessible from these devices, and offer the same experience as on other devices.</p>



<p>Testsigma can be used here as well. As it helps you in delivering an amazing mobile experience to your clients and users of the website. Since it is a no-code tool, anyone without any kind of coding expertise can run the tests.</p>



<h3 id="h-visual-ui-testing"><span id="Visual_UI_Testing">Visual UI Testing</span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">Your Website’s UI must look according to the expected requirements. Hence, all the visually identifiable aspects should be checked for and asserted properly. For instance:</p></p>



<ul><li>Text Alignment with Images</li><br><li>UX distortion on the device’s resolution change</li><br><li>All interactive elements are accessible and not hidden because of any kind of overlapping.</li><br><li>No UI distortion on zooming in and out.</li></ul>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">Use Testsigma to run visual UI tests as well. It takes snapshots of the UI, which you can use to compare before and after scenarios and catch visual bugs.&nbsp;</p></p>



<p><button class="btn bg-primary cta-btn" style="display: block;
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<h2 id="h-conclusion"><span id="Conclusion">Conclusion</span></h2>



<p>Millions of websites are published using the Ghost platform, as it is user-friendly and quick to publish. If your website is one of those millions, I hope you have a better understanding of what to test and how to test when building a Ghost website.</p>



<p>We saw what Ghost is and what services they provide. Following that, we dived into the internals and the moving parts of a Ghost website, which are the factors we have control over. Then we learned about all the aspects of software testing, and what all tests are required to ensure the proper functioning of the website or application.</p>



<p>As it is evident, Testsigma allows us to test all these aspects and provides us with all the features required for testing a Ghost Website.</p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 5px">I hope I left you with something new to learn!</p></p>



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A beginner’s guide to testing your websites built with the Ghost platform

Ghost Test: 5 Key Aspects to be Tested on Ghost Platform

A Complete Guide to Selenium Grid 4: Architecture and Configuration

Selenium Headless Tests on Browsers: A Step-by-Step Guide

Selenium SendKeys: A Detailed Usage Guide


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<div class="overview-wrapper">
  <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Overview"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> 
    Overview
  </a></li><li><a href="#List_of_Selenium_WebElement_commands"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> List of Selenium WebElement commands</a><ul><li><a href="#1_sendKeys_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.1</span> 1. sendKeys() command</a></li><li><a href="#2_isDisplayed_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.2</span> 2. isDisplayed() command</a></li><li><a href="#3_isSelected_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.3</span> 3. isSelected() command</a></li><li><a href="#4_submit_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.4</span> 4. submit() command</a></li><li><a href="#5_isEnabled_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.5</span> 5. isEnabled() command</a></li><li><a href="#6_getLocation_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.6</span> 6. getLocation() command</a></li><li><a href="#7_clear_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.7</span> 7. clear() command</a></li><li><a href="#8_getText_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.8</span> 8. getText() command</a></li><li><a href="#9_getTagName_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.9</span> 9. getTagName() command</a></li><li><a href="#10_getCssValue_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.10</span> 10. getCssValue() command</a></li><li><a href="#11_getAttribute_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.11</span> 11. getAttribute() command</a></li><li><a href="#12_click_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.12</span> 12. click() command</a></li><li><a href="#13_getSize_command"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.13</span> 13. getSize() command</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Locators_in_Selenium_WebDriver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Locators in Selenium WebDriver</a><ul><li><a href="#ID_locator"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.1</span> ID locator</a></li><li><a href="#Name_locator"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.2</span> Name locator</a></li><li><a href="#CSS_selector_locator"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.3</span> CSS selector locator</a></li><li><a href="#XPath_locator"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.4</span> XPath locator</a></li><li><a href="#Other_locator_strategies"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">3.5</span> Other locator strategies</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Building_better_tests_with_Web_Elements_in_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Building better tests with Web Elements in Selenium</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Frequently Asked Questions:</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 class="overview-head"><span id="Overview">
    Overview
  </span></h2>
  <div class="overview-para-wrapper">
    <p class="overview-para">
      13 WebElement in Selenium Commands are:
    </p>
    <ul class="ov-list-wrapper">
      <li class="ov-list">sendKeys() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">isDisplayed() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">isSelected() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">submit() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">isEnabled() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">getLocation() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">clear() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">getText() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">getTagName() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">getCssValue() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">getAttribute() command</li>
      <li class="ov-list">click() command</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>



<h2 id="list-of-selenium-webelement-commands"><span id="List_of_Selenium_WebElement_commands">List of Selenium WebElement commands</span></h2>



<p>Getting good at Selenium means knowing which commands to use and when. Each WebElement in Selenium comes with a toolkit of methods that let you interact with, inspect, and validate elements on a page.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Getting these down means you can handle pretty much any automation scenario that comes your way, so let&#8217;s break them down:</p>



<h3 id="1-sendkeys-command"><span id="1_sendKeys_command">1. sendKeys() command</span></h3>



<p>The <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/sendkeys-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sendKeys() command</a> types text into input fields like search boxes, login forms, or text areas. It simulates actual keyboard input, so you can use it to enter usernames, passwords, or any text your test needs. You can even send special keys like Enter or Tab by using the Keys class.</p>



<h3 id="2-isdisplayed-command"><span id="2_isDisplayed_command">2. isDisplayed() command</span></h3>



<p><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/isdisplayed-in-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This command</a> checks whether an element is visible on the page or not. It returns true if the element is displayed and false if it&#8217;s hidden. Super useful for validating if those buttons, messages, or sections actually appear when they&#8217;re supposed to.</p>



<h3 id="3-isselected-command"><span id="3_isSelected_command">3. isSelected() command</span></h3>



<p>The isSelected() command tells you if a checkbox or radio button is currently selected. It returns true if it&#8217;s checked and false if it&#8217;s not. This one&#8217;s essential when you&#8217;re verifying form states or testing toggle behavior.</p>



<h3 id="4-submit-command"><span id="4_submit_command">4. submit() command</span></h3>



<p>submit() submits a form, just like clicking a submit button would. It works on any form element or element inside a form. Handy when you want to trigger form submission without hunting down the exact submit button.</p>



<h3 id="5-isenabled-command"><span id="5_isEnabled_command">5. isEnabled() command</span></h3>



<p>This checks if an element is enabled and can be interacted with. It returns true if the element is active and false if it&#8217;s disabled or greyed out. Great for making sure buttons or fields are actually clickable before your script tries to use them.</p>



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<h3 id="6-getlocation-command"><span id="6_getLocation_command">6. getLocation() command</span></h3>



<p>getLocation() gives you the x and y coordinates of an element on the page. This tells you exactly where the element sits relative to the top-left corner of the page. Useful when you need to verify positioning or work with visual layouts.</p>



<h3 id="7-clear-command"><span id="7_clear_command">7. clear() command</span></h3>



<p>The clear() command wipes out any existing text in an input field. Before entering new text with sendKeys(), you&#8217;ll often want to clear the field first to avoid appending to old data.</p>



<h3 id="8-gettext-command"><span id="8_getText_command">8. getText() command</span></h3>



<p>This one retrieves the visible text of an element, like the text inside a button, paragraph, or heading. It&#8217;s one of the most common commands you&#8217;ll use to validate that the right content appears on your page.</p>



<h3 id="9-gettagname-command"><span id="9_getTagName_command">9. getTagName() command</span></h3>



<p>getTagName() returns the HTML tag name of an element, like &#8220;button&#8221;, &#8220;input&#8221;, &#8220;div&#8221;, or &#8220;a&#8221;. Helpful when you need to verify what type of element you&#8217;re actually dealing with in your script.</p>



<h3 id="10-getcssvalue-command"><span id="10_getCssValue_command">10. getCssValue() command</span></h3>



<p>This command fetches the CSS property value of an element, things like color, font-size, or background-color. Perfect for validating styling or checking if elements match your design specifications.</p>



<h3 id="11-getattribute-command"><span id="11_getAttribute_command">11. getAttribute() command</span></h3>



<p>getAttribute() retrieves the value of a specific HTML attribute, like &#8220;href&#8221; for links, &#8220;value&#8221; for input fields, or &#8220;class&#8221; for CSS classes. It&#8217;s incredibly versatile for pulling out data that&#8217;s stored in element attributes.</p>



<h3 id="12-click-command"><span id="12_click_command">12. click() command</span></h3>



<p>The click() command does exactly what it sounds like &#8211; it clicks an element. Whether it&#8217;s a button, link, checkbox, or any clickable item, this is your go-to for simulating user clicks in your automation.</p>



<h3 id="13-getsize-command"><span id="13_getSize_command">13. getSize() command</span></h3>



<p>getSize() returns the height and width of an element in pixels. This is useful when you need to verify element dimensions or ensure responsive design elements are displaying at the right size.</p>



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<h2 id="locators-in-selenium-webdriver"><span id="Locators_in_Selenium_WebDriver">Locators in Selenium WebDriver</span></h2>



<p>Before you can use any of those WebElement commands, you&#8217;ve got to actually find the element first, and that&#8217;s where locators come in.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Locators are the strategies Selenium uses to hunt down specific elements on a webpage. They are like your search filters that help your script pinpoint exactly which button, text box, or link you want to work with among potentially hundreds of elements on a page.</p>



<p>Selenium WebDriver gives you eight different locator strategies, and each one has its own strengths depending on your situation. Knowing which locator to use when is what separates flaky tests from reliable ones.</p>



<h3 id="id-locator"><span id="ID_locator">ID locator</span></h3>



<p>The ID locator finds elements using their <em>id</em> attribute. This is typically your first choice because IDs are supposed to be unique on a page: one element, one ID.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When you&#8217;ve got a reliable ID, it&#8217;s the fastest and most straightforward way to locate web elements in Selenium. Just keep in mind that not every element has an ID, and sometimes they change between releases.</p>



<h3 id="name-locator"><span id="Name_locator">Name locator</span></h3>



<p>This locator targets elements by their <em>name</em> attribute, which you&#8217;ll often see on form fields. It&#8217;s particularly common for inputs like username, password, or email fields. Name locators work well for form automation, though unlike IDs, names aren&#8217;t guaranteed to be unique, so you might get multiple matches.</p>



<h3 id="css-selector-locator"><span id="CSS_selector_locator">CSS selector locator</span></h3>



<p>CSS selectors use the same syntax you&#8217;d use in stylesheets to target elements. They&#8217;re incredibly powerful and flexible; you can combine attributes, navigate parent-child relationships, and use pseudo-classes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>CSS selectors are faster than XPath in most browsers and are a favorite among experienced automation engineers for their balance of power and performance.</p>



<p><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/xpath-vs-css-selector/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Learn the detailed differences between CSS selector and XPath here</a></p>



<h3 id="xpath-locator"><span id="XPath_locator">XPath locator</span></h3>



<p><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/xpath-in-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XPath</a> is the most powerful locator strategy in Selenium. It can traverse the entire DOM tree, move up to parent elements, find elements based on text content, and handle complex conditions that other locators can&#8217;t. </p>



<p>The tradeoff is that XPath can be slower and more fragile if you&#8217;re not careful about how you write it. Still, when nothing else works, XPath usually can get the job done.</p>



<h3 id="other-locator-strategies"><span id="Other_locator_strategies">Other locator strategies</span></h3>



<p>Beyond the main four, Selenium offers a few more specialized locators that come in handy for specific scenarios:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Class name:</strong> Finds elements by their CSS class attribute. Works when classes are distinctive, but watch out: multiple elements often share the same class.</li><li><strong>Tag name:</strong> Locates elements by HTML tag, like input, button, or div. Pretty broad on its own, so best used when finding groups of similar elements.</li><li><strong>Link text:</strong> Finds links by their exact visible text. Super readable and great when link text stays consistent.</li><li><strong>Partial link text:</strong> Matches links containing a portion of text rather than requiring exact matches. More flexible but riskier if multiple links share similar text.</li></ul>



<h2 id="building-better-tests-with-web-elements-in-selenium"><span id="Building_better_tests_with_Web_Elements_in_Selenium">Building better tests with Web Elements in Selenium</span></h2>



<p>You&#8217;ve now got the full picture of how WebElement in Selenium actually works &#8211; from understanding what these elements are to knowing which commands and locators to use in different situations. But knowing the commands is just the starting point.</p>



<p>A few things to keep in mind: always add waits before interacting with web elements in Selenium. Pages load at different speeds, and elements don&#8217;t always appear instantly. Favor stable locators like IDs and CSS selectors over brittle XPath that breaks when the page structure changes.</p>



<p>Don&#8217;t overcomplicate things either. The simplest locator that reliably finds your element is usually the<strong> </strong>best one. If you want to skip the maintenance headaches altogether, <a href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma&#8217;s</a> smart locators and built-in waits handle the heavy lifting for you.</p>



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</div>



<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions"><strong>Frequently Asked Questions:</strong></span></h2>



<div class="schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block"><div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914097669"><strong class="schema-faq-question">What is a WebElement in Selenium?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">WebElements in Selenium are objects that represent HTML elements on a webpage. For instance, buttons, text fields, links, or any interactive component your automation script needs to find and work with.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914106312"><strong class="schema-faq-question">How do I get the list of WebElements?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">You can get a list of web elements in Selenium using <em>findElements()</em> method with a locator strategy.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914116845"><strong class="schema-faq-question">What are the four types of Selenium?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">The four types are Selenium IDE (record and playback tool), Selenium WebDriver (browser automation API), Selenium Grid (parallel test execution), and Selenium RC (deprecated legacy version).</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914125746"><strong class="schema-faq-question">Is WebElement a class or interface?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">WebElement in Selenium is an interface, not a class. It defines the methods for interacting with elements, and browser-specific implementations provide the actual functionality behind those methods.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914135563"><strong class="schema-faq-question">What is the purpose of WebElement?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">WebElement (an HTML element) is the interface that allows the Selenium code to interact with various elements on web pages. It allows users to manipulate and assert Web Elements on web pages by selecting, clicking, entering data, etc.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1759914158246"><strong class="schema-faq-question">Is size() a WebElement method?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">No, size() is not a WebElement method. It is a method of the built-in Java class java. util.Collection.</p> </div> </div>


The Complete Guide to Handling Web Elements in Selenium

A Complete Guide to WebElements in Selenium Commands

Page Object Model and Page Factory in Selenium WebDriver

Page Factory and Page Object Model in Selenium WebDriver


<p>A Firefox Driver for Selenium is a web driver for the Firefox browser that allows you to programmatically interact with a web page in a Firefox browser using Selenium. It helps you automate various actions as if you were interacting with the website manually. This can be useful for tasks such as web scraping, <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automated testing</a>, and automating repetitive tasks on a website.</p>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Table Of Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_a_Selenium_Firefox_Drivernbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> What is a Selenium Firefox Driver?&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="#The_Significance_of_using_GeckoDriver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> The Significance of using GeckoDriver</a><ul><li><a href="#A_Step-by-Step_Walkthrough_to_setting_up_GeckoDrivernbsp"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">2.1</span> A Step-by-Step Walkthrough to setting up GeckoDriver&nbsp;</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Run_Tests_using_Selenium_Firefox_Driver"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Run Tests using Selenium Firefox Driver</a></li><li><a href="#How_can_I_use_Selenium_WebDriver_to_configure_a_proxy_in_Firefox"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> How can I use Selenium WebDriver to configure a proxy in Firefox?</a></li><li><a href="#Summing_Up"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Summing Up</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Frequently Asked Questions:</a><ul><li><a href="#Is_Firefox_or_Chrome_better_for_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">6.1</span> Is Firefox or Chrome better for Selenium?</a></li><li><a href="#Can_a_website_detect_when_you_are_using_Selenium_with_Firefox"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">6.2</span> Can a website detect when you are using Selenium with Firefox?</a></li><li><a href="#Which_Firefox_version_is_best_for_Selenium"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">6.3</span> Which Firefox version is best for Selenium?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="what-is-a-selenium-firefox-driver"><span id="What_is_a_Selenium_Firefox_Drivernbsp">What is a Selenium Firefox Driver?&nbsp;</span></h2>



<p>The Selenium Firefox Driver — or GeckoDriver, developed by Mozilla, works as a mediator between Selenium test cases and the Firefox browser. This enables Selenium to control actions performed by the browser like:</p>



<ul><li>Going to web pages</li><li>Clicking on elements</li><li>Typing text</li><li>Working with forms</li><li>Taking screenshots</li></ul>



<p>In other words, it equips Selenium to communicate with Firefox for automation purposes.</p>



<h2 id="h-the-significance-of-using-geckodriver"><span id="The_Significance_of_using_GeckoDriver">The Significance of using GeckoDriver</span></h2><br>


<p><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone" style="width: 600px;" src="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/migrated_images/45ZJZvCqJMIhJx6crCQQm_ScshgzaMqgIMjQj6d53-n_IqI3CAv_DV68ovmC486GVN0mDiY1AKAHgNlfSXJEgF7hhmJ_gj_pJzrn5B4Tjc_Enk55Jrso3WWvpuxrkHA6WxhQMa_ubPJN_1748949274.png" alt="Gecko Driver" width="1600" height="612"></p>


<p class="has-text-align-center"><a href="https://www.toolsqa.com/selenium-webdriver/selenium-geckodriver/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Source<br></a></p>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">GeckoDriver is used as a proxy between Selenium and the Firefox browser for your automated browser tests. The protocol followed for communication here is the <a href="https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/testing/marionette/Intro.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Marionette automation protocol.</em></a>&nbsp;</p></p>



<p>Since Selenium is designed to be cross-browser compatible, GeckoDriver enables Selenium to interact with Firefox in a similar way it interacts with other browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer and Edge, etc.</p>



<h3 id="h-a-step-by-step-walkthrough-to-setting-up-geckodriver"><span id="A_Step-by-Step_Walkthrough_to_setting_up_GeckoDrivernbsp">A Step-by-Step Walkthrough to setting up GeckoDriver&nbsp;</span></h3>



<p><p style="padding-bottom: 20px">Here are the steps to set up GeckoDriver for use with Selenium WebDriver:</p></p>



<ol><li>Download the latest version of GeckoDriver from the official GitHub release page.</li></ol>



<ol start="2"><li>Extract the downloaded archive to a location on your system. The executable file inside the archive is the GeckoDriver.</li></ol>



<ol start="3"><li>Add the location of the GeckoDriver executable to your system&#8217;s PATH environment variable. This will allow the Selenium WebDriver to locate and communicate with the GeckoDriver.</li></ol>



<ol start="4"><li>In your Selenium script, import the Selenium WebDriver library and use the FirefoxDriver class, which is provided by the Selenium WebDriver to interact with the Firefox browser.</li></ol>



<ol start="5"><li>Finally, use the FirefoxDriver to create a new instance of the WebDriver for Firefox. You can now interact with the Firefox browser using Selenium WebDriver commands.</li></ol>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">After you&#8217;ve instantiated the FirefoxDriver, you can use it to interact with web pages just as you would with other web drivers like Chrome or Edge driver. For example, you can navigate to a web page using the get() method, find elements on the page using the find_element_by_*() method, and interact with those elements using methods like click() and send_keys().</p></p>



<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that Mozilla has been working to implement the WebDriver protocol in Firefox directly, and there is a plan to deprecate GeckoDriver. From Firefox ver 79 onwards, you no longer need to download and set the path for GeckoDriver; Firefox itself includes the implementation of the WebDriver protocol.</p>



<h2 id="h-run-tests-using-selenium-firefox-driver"><span id="Run_Tests_using_Selenium_Firefox_Driver">Run Tests using Selenium Firefox Driver</span></h2>



<p>Here&#8217;s how you can use Selenium with GeckoDriver to launch Firefox:</p>



<p style="padding-bottom: 20px;padding-top: 20px">Keep in mind that it&#8217;s a good practice to put the ‘driver initialization’ and ‘quit’ in the ‘try’ and ‘finally’ blocks. This is to make sure that the driver is closed and resources are freed no matter what happens.</p>



<styled-code>
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxOptions;

public class FirefoxExample {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Specify the path of the GeckoDriver executable
    System.setProperty(&#8220;webdriver.gecko.driver&#8221;, &#8220;/path/to/geckodriver&#8221;);

    // Create a new instance of the Firefox driver
    FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
    WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);

    try {
      // Navigate to a web page
      driver.get(&#8220;http://www.yourwebsite.com&#8221;);

      // Interact with elements on the page
      driver.findElement(By.name(&#8220;q&#8221;)).sendKeys(&#8220;Firefox Driver for Selenium&#8221;);
      driver.findElement(By.name(&#8220;q&#8221;)).submit();
    } finally {
      // Close the browser
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
</styled-code>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">It&#8217;s important to note that you need to download the GeckoDriver executable, put it in your machine and specify the path of the executable in the code.</p></p>



<p>On Windows, this path should use forward slashes &#8216;/&#8217; or double backslashes &#8221; instead of single backslashes &#8221;, also need to prefix the path with &#8216;r&#8217; for example, r&#8217;C:pathtogeckodriver.exe&#8217;</p>



<h2 id="h-how-can-i-use-selenium-webdriver-to-configure-a-proxy-in-firefox"><span id="How_can_I_use_Selenium_WebDriver_to_configure_a_proxy_in_Firefox">How can I use Selenium WebDriver to configure a proxy in Firefox?</span></h2>



<p>You can set a proxy using the FirefoxDriver for Selenium by creating a FirefoxOptions object, setting the proxy information in the object, and then passing the object to the FirefoxDriver constructor.</p>



<p style="padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px">Here is the code for how you can set a proxy in Firefox using Selenium WebDriver:</p>



<styled-code>
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.GeckoDriverService;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

// Create a FirefoxOptions object
FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();

// Set the proxy information
options.setPreference(&#8220;network.proxy.type&#8221;, 1);
options.setPreference(&#8220;network.proxy.http&#8221;, &#8220;proxy_host&#8221;);
options.setPreference(&#8220;network.proxy.http_port&#8221;, 8080);
options.setPreference(&#8220;network.proxy.ssl&#8221;, &#8220;proxy_host&#8221;);
options.setPreference(&#8220;network.proxy.ssl_port&#8221;, 8080);

// Set the path to the GeckoDriver executable
System.setProperty(GeckoDriverService.GECKO_DRIVER_EXE_PROPERTY, &#8220;/path/to/geckodriver&#8221;);

// Create a WebDriver for Firefox
FirefoxDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);

// Navigate to a web page
driver.get(&#8220;http://www.examplewebsite.com&#8221;);

// Close the browser
driver.quit();
</styled-code>



<p><p style="padding-top: 20px">Here, &#8220;network.proxy.type&#8221; is set to 1 to indicate that a proxy should be used. &#8220;network.proxy.http&#8221; and &#8220;network.proxy.http_port&#8221; is set to the host and port of the HTTP proxy, and &#8220;network.proxy.ssl&#8221; and &#8220;network.proxy.ssl_port&#8221; are set to the host and port of the SSL proxy.</p></p>



<p>Please make sure to provide the correct host and port of the proxy you would like to use.</p>



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<h2 id="h-summing-up"><span id="Summing_Up">Summing Up</span></h2>



<p>Selenium is great for testing web applications and pages. However, this tool requires technical expertise and programming skills. Besides, it is hard to maintain or modify tests in Selenium; this is where Testsigma comes in.</p>



<p><a href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma</a> is a no-code test automation tool that can help you write automated tests up to 5 times faster, without the need to learn to code. The platform lets you execute your tests for <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-web-application-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">web applications</a>, mobile applications and APIs. It is much more simpler and intuitive to handle tests and manage test reports with Testsigma. Thus, you can execute your tests on different types of browsers including Firefox.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="h-frequently-asked-questions"><span id="Frequently_Asked_Questions">Frequently Asked Questions:</span></h2>



<h3 id="h-is-firefox-or-chrome-better-for-selenium"><span id="Is_Firefox_or_Chrome_better_for_Selenium">Is Firefox or Chrome better for Selenium?</span></h3>



<p>The choice between Firefox and Chrome for Selenium testing can depend on a variety of factors, and ultimately it is up to the individual or team using Selenium to decide which browser is the best fit for their specific needs. In general, Chrome is the most preferred browser (<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/browsers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">79.9% market share as of October 2022</a>) for all kinds of tasks.</p>



<h3 id="h-can-a-website-detect-when-you-are-using-selenium-with-firefox"><span id="Can_a_website_detect_when_you_are_using_Selenium_with_Firefox">Can a website detect when you are using Selenium with Firefox?</span></h3>



<p>It is possible for a website to detect when you are using the Firefox Driver for Selenium, it automates a real web browser, and the browser&#8217;s user agent string will be the same as if a real user were browsing the site.</p>



<p>Website administrators can use browser fingerprinting techniques to detect Selenium by looking at the browser&#8217;s characteristics, such as browser version, installed fonts, screen resolution, plugins, and more. Each request sends these characteristics as HTTP headers, so a website can use JavaScript or server-side code to read these headers and detect Selenium automation.<br><br>However, this technique is not 100% accurate, as there may be many legitimate reasons why a browser&#8217;s characteristics would match those of a Selenium-controlled browser.</p>



<h3 id="h-which-firefox-version-is-best-for-selenium"><span id="Which_Firefox_version_is_best_for_Selenium">Which Firefox version is best for Selenium?</span></h3>



<p>The best version of Firefox to use with Selenium depends on the specific requirements of your project, as well as the versions of Selenium and the Firefox browser you are using.<br><br>Selenium supports a wide range of Firefox versions, but the most recent version of Firefox is recommended as it will have the latest features and bug fixes. It&#8217;s also important to note that the version of Firefox you are running your tests on should be compatible with the version of Selenium WebDriver you are using. You can check <a href="https://www.selenium.dev/categories/releases/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium&#8217;s release notes</a> for the version compatibility matrix.</p>


A Simple Guide to using Firefox Driver for Selenium to Run your Tests

A Comprehensive Guide to Automating Clicks using Selenium