Neha Tewari
Let us consider an example of Selenium WebDriver in this article and analyse what Selenium test scenarios are not greatly supported with it when used as a stand-alone tool. We will also see what all Selenium test scenarios are not best for automation..
As Selenium WebDriver is specifically used for automated testing of web applications, we cannot use it for windows based applications.
For example, if we want to automate tests for a Windows application, such as a native ‘Calculator’, it is not possible via Selenium. We cannot even launch the Calculator app in the windows machine using Selenium or Appium commands.
Hence, Microsoft has been implementing and working on automating tests on Windows-based applications, which were otherwise not possible in Selenium and Appium for the last few years.
Today, Microsoft’s WinAppDriver works to a great extent when combined with the Selenium and Appium test framework on some of the native built-in apps of Windows 10 applications.
WinAppDriver sounds promising on Windows Apps Testing, yet there is a minor limitation here. It requires a C# codebase environment such as Visual Studio to run the first-level automation test scenarios, running on Windows apps before configuring it on a CI/CD tool like Jenkins.
Popular tools such as Sikuli and AutoIT are widely used to test applications of some Windows native components. that are often found integrated to an existing Selenium testing framework. This practice, in general, is not very helpful hence not much recommended for extensive usage.
We also have HP’s UFT, which is licensed and used in some windows-based application testing purposes. One needs to know Visual Basic (VB) scripting, as the tool does not have a diverse language support feature like Selenium.
Similar to windows applications, Mac apps cannot be considered as Selenium test scenarios. However, Appium’s Mac driver can be integrated into an existing Selenium Test Framework to support a certain extent of basic automation on Mac applications.
As Appium Mac Driver is a layer written on top of XCUITest Framework, it would also be a better idea to go with Apple’s XCUITest Framework..
Selenium does not support testing of apps developed for Smart Televisions (TVs) It would most probably continue to be unsupported in the future, as Selenium test scenarios are meant for automated cross browser testing
As of date, automating tests developed for smartwatches (e.g. iOS, Tizen, etc.) is not possible with Selenium automation framework. There are hardly any options to realize this testing.
Undoubtedly, the same cannot be automated using Selenium anytime soon and shall remain unsupportive for some time to come.
Selenium cannot be used to automate testing on Customised/Embedded Hardware..
Also, we always need to remember that if manual testing takes less time and effort, then automating those flows would be a bad idea, as automation test scenarios are usually considered for saving time, effort, and increasing reliability.
Selenium automation testing is not suited for testing native mobile applications. Appium, when combined with Selenium, works fine on mobile applications.
Appium is a layer on top of UIAutomator, Espresso, and XCUITest frameworks. Hence, would be a better approach to go for the latter tools to achieve better efficiency and testability of maximum test scenarios.
