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 ASCII Table - ASCII Character Codes, HTML, Octal, Hex, Decimal 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”.

ASM Documentation

Comparing Selenium IDE Scripts to ASM Scenarios