Comparing Selenium IDE Scripts to ASM Scenarios

Selenium IDE is a standalone 3rd party tool for creating Selenium test cases. These test cases can be imported as script files into ASM and used within Browser Checks to collect performance metrics for the scenario. In some cases, users must make changes to their Selenium IDE script before it can be used within ASM as a Scenario. This article explains how ASM handles Selenium IDE scripts so you can easily understand how to convert your scripts into Scenarios.

Supported Selenium IDE Commands

Use the following table as a reference when determining whether a certain Selenium IDE command is compatible with your ASM Scenario.

Actions

Keyboard &  Mouse interaction

Verification and Assertion

Waits

Scenario Flow

JS Execution

Stored Variables

Custom (ASM Specific) Commands

Actions

Keyboard &  Mouse interaction

Verification and Assertion

Waits

Scenario Flow

JS Execution

Stored Variables

Custom (ASM Specific) Commands

open

keyDown

assertElementPresent

waitForVisible

gotoIf

fireEvent

storeTitle

setPageBreak

clickAndWait

keyDownAndWait

assertTitle

waitForValue

goto

runScript

storeXpathCount

insertPageBreak

clickAtAndWait

keyUp

assertLocation

waitForAttribute

label

runScriptAndWait

storeCssCount

takeScreenshot

clickAndNotWait

keyUpAndWait

assertVisible

waitForNotText

close

executeScript

storeValue

startRecording

click

keyPress

assertElementNotPresent

waitForNotValue

pause

getEval

storeText

clearRecording

clickAt

keyPressAndWait

assertNotVisible

waitForNotAttribute

setSpeed

 

storeLocation

stopRecording

doubleClick

mouseOver

assertAttribute

waitForText

setTimeout

 

storeExpression

getDictionary

doubleClickAt

 

assertNotAttribute

waitForTextPresent

echo

 

storeEval

setLocation

doubleClickAndWait

 

assertValue

waitForTextNotPresent

 

 

storeAttribute

 

doubleClickAtAndWait

 

assertNotValue

waitForElementPresent

 

 

storeElementPresent

 

clickInvisible

 

assertText

waitForEditable

 

 

store

 

clickInvisibleAndWait

 

assertTextNotPresent

waitForElementNotPresent

 

 

setLocation

 

type

 

assertTextPresent

waitForNotVisible

 

 

 

 

sendKeys

 

assertExpression

waitForTitle

 

 

 

 

typeKeys

 

assertNextConfirmation

waitForLocation

 

 

 

 

select

 

assertNextAlert

waitForAlert

 

 

 

 

selectAndWait

 

assertAlert

waitForConfirmation

 

 

 

 

selectFrame

 

assertConfirmation

waitForPageToLoad

 

 

 

 

selectWindow

 

assertEval

 

 

 

 

 

submit

 

verifyTitle

 

 

 

 

 

createCookie

 

verifyLocation

 

 

 

 

 

deleteCookie

 

verifyElementPresent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyVisible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyElementNotPresent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyNotVisible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyAttribute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyNotAttribute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyValue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyNotValue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyText

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyTextNotPresent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyTextPresent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

verifyExpression

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Custom ASM Commands

ASM supports several commands which are not utilized in native Selenium IDE: insertPageBreak, takeScreenshot, and getDictionary.

setLocation

The setLocation command may be utilized in order to mimic a certain location from within the browser. To use, specify “setLocation” as the command and specify the desired coordinates as the Target:

Accepted syntax for Target coordinates includes:

  • latitude: 59.3259965, longitude: 18.0057939

  • 59.3259965, 18.0057939

insertPageBreak

ASM scenarios support a custom command called insertPageBreak. This command creates a new page break that separates different pages (which typically consist of multiple URL calls) from each other. The command expects one argument - a name - which will be shown on the Result Details page in ASM.

For example, If the login portion of a web page sequence takes place over two or three HTML pages, the manual Page Break could organize the set of HTML pages into a single group before the next logical page navigation - another Page Break. Manual page breaks are helpful when requests triggered by executing multiple different commands all end up as part of the same step, and there is a need to split these requests into multiple steps.

It is possible to disable automatic insertion of page breaks via the Edit Check settings. See Understanding Browser Check Results | Page Breaks in a Browser Check Result for more information on page breaks.

 

takeScreenshot

The command takeScreenshot takes a screenshot that will be visible in the Check Details. The command will insert an additional screenshot onto the page in addition to whatever screenshots have been added in the Edit Check settings. This command is helpful when troubleshooting scripts as it gives a snapshot of what exactly happens at a particular step.

getDictionary

See Storing and Retrieving Information Using the ASM Dictionary.

Limitations of Selenium IDE within ASM Scenarios

Key Codes

When using sendKeys in Selenium IDE, the key codes ${KEY_ENTER}, ${KEY_SHIFT}, and ${KEY_LEFT} are not valid commands within Selenium IDE. Use keyPress or keyPressAndWait (if the keystroke triggers a new page load) instead. When entering a keystroke, use the respective ASCII values for the key you want to be pressed. For example, if you want to press Enter within an application, use the command keyPress and the value \13.

Command

Target

Value

keyPressAndWait

id=gh-ac

\13

The “value” of the command corresponds to the ASCII “Oct” value of the key you are trying to press; see https://www.asciitable.com/ for a full list. Some examples of values which correspond to keys include the following:

\10 corresponds to “backspace”

\9 corresponds to “tab”

JavaScript Execution

Selenium WebDriver’s JavascriptExecutor will wrap all JavaScript and evaluate it as an anonymous expression. Therefore, the “return” keyword must be used when executing JavaScript within the “Target” field for the following commands:

GotoIf

GetEval

StoreEval

StoreExpression

The following commands do not require the use of “return”:

RunScript

RunScriptAndWait

For example, if you are trying to determine whether the result of the expression ${stored_var} > 0 is true, use the following code:

Command

Target

Value

assertEval

return ${stored_var} > 0

true

The following screenshot (supplemental text provided) shows an example in which JavaScript is being used to execute another check upon completion of the current scenario. Basically, the check kicks off another check when it’s finished.

Within the scenario:

Run execution log:

Javascript snippet:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); xhr.open('POST', 'https://api-asm.apica.io/v3/checks/3393731/job?auth_ticket=${auth_ticket}', true); xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=UTF-8'); xhr.onreadystatechange = function () { if (xhr.readyState === 4) { if (xhr.status === 200) { var response = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText); console.log('Success:', response); } else { console.error('Error:', xhr.statusText); } } }; xhr.send(); return "check ID 3393731 has been executed!"

The “runScript” or “runScriptAndWait” commands could also be used with the above Javascript if the “return” statement is omitted.

Javascript comments are NOT allowed in the body of a Javascript snippet!

Type & sendKeys

Even though the type command works in most cases, Apica strongly recommends using sendKeys instead of type. The type command edits the HTML format of the code, while the sendKeys command attempts to simulate actual typing and is therefore able to trigger javascript code in fields.

Incrementing a Stored Numeric Value

It is currently not possible to change the value of a variable from within a JavaScript snippet. This Selenium IDE code will change the value of $counter:

Command

Target

Value

 storeEval

return (storedVars'counter' + 1)

counter

The following command will not change the value of $counter:

Command

Target

Value

 runScript

storedVars'counter' += 1;

counterTwo

Knowing how to increment a value is useful when running through a loop in an ASM script!

Usage Assertion Modes

In order to assert a command within Selenium IDE, you can use the assert, verify, or waitFor commands; the assert command will stop the Selenium IDE script if the expected condition is not met, while the verify command will log an error message but not stop the script. ASM scenarios, by contrast, treat the assert and verify commands the same way - if the expected condition is not met, both commands will result in a failure of the scenario.

By contrast, the behavior of the waitFor command is the same within Selenium IDE and ASM Scenarios. Within both tools, the waitFor command will wait for a specified element and will result in a script failure if the element is not found within the specified timeframe. The default timeframe is 30 seconds and can be changed with “setTimeout”.

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