Technology

To Automate Or Not To Automate? Selenium Grid Makes It Easy

Published

2 years ago

June 3, 2022

Selenium is an open-source test automation framework used to automate web application testing using its automation framework, which includes the Selenium Grid, one of its four components.

Selenium was developed by Jason Huggins in 2004 as a web-based automated testing interface that quickly gained a lot of popularity.

Automated browser testing with Selenium Grid: What Makes It Ideal?

Testing automation is often a time-consuming process when it comes to designing and implementing test cases, especially when there are a large number of operating systems, browser versions, and devices that have to be tested on.

Patrick Lightbody came up with a feature called Hosted QA which allowed him to run test cases simultaneously on multiple platforms and devices, later renamed Selenium Grid.

Selenium grid enabled QA and development teams to run different test scripts on different browsers and platforms, resulting in a significant reduction in test time.

The Selenium Grid can easily automate Selenium tests, regardless of the browser, operating system, or version you are using. Selenium Grid supports Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and others.

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An overview of the Selenium Grid Architecture

Basically, Selenium Grid uses a client/server architecture, where the client corresponds to a ‘Hub’ and the server corresponds to a ‘Node’. Together, they form the grid ‘Selenium Grid’.

Selenium Grid Hub: In this central system, clients submit test case requests and the requests are distributed automatically to different nodes based on their capabilities. In a grid, you are only allowed to use one node.

Selenium Grid Node: The node machine is connected to the hub and executes scripts from the hub, which allows launching of multiple nodes on different devices running different environments.

Install and setup a Grid: A Selenium server needs to be installed in order to use Selenium Grid. Creating a Selenium Grid hub requires opening a command prompt or terminal and navigating to where the Selenium Standalone Server jar file is located.

Following the creation of the Hub, launching a node would be the next step to setting up Selenium Grid for parallel execution.

Having covered all the basics of Selenium Grid, we will focus on a few key reasons why Selenium Grid is considered ideal for automated browser testing.

Benefits of Selenium Grid

Selenium Grid allows you to distribute your test cases for execution.
Batch processing is sped up
Performs multi-browser testing
Tests on multiple operating systems

Multi-Browser Support

In grid testing, multiple runtime environments, specifically different browsers, are tested at the same time. For instance, the application to be tested can be tested on a ‘grid’ of virtual machines, each running a different browser.

The first machine has Internet Explorer 8, the second has Internet Explorer 9, machine three has Chrome, and machine four has Firefox. During the execution of the test suite, Selenium-Grid receives each test and browser combination and runs each test against the browser specified for the test. One can also create a grid with all the same browser, type, and version.

One could create a server-farm (in a sense) of Firefox instances by having a grid of four machines each running three instances of Firefox 70. Upon running the suite, each test is passed to Grid that assigns it to the next Firefox instance that is available.

The result is that 12 tests can run concurrently at the same time in parallel, thereby reducing the time required to complete a test pass.

Parallel Test Execution (Local and Cloud-Based)

Parallel testing reduces the amount of time and effort required for testing and results in a faster release time. It is especially useful for cross-browser testing, compatibility testing, localization testing, and internalization testing.

We can compare two versions of software simultaneously and find issues faster in a situation where we have two versions of software available and need to check their stability and compatibility.

Selenium framework allows testing on local machines and local Selenium Grid, which lets you test browser compatibility with a few combinations of browsers and operating systems.

Android & iOS Mobile App Testing

You should always test your web-based apps and websites on mobile devices, as well as on desktop devices to make sure there are no usability issues.

With Selenium Grid and the associated frameworks such as PyTest, NUnit, etc., testing can be done predominantly on desktop devices, using different combinations of browsers and operating systems.

Optimum Hardware Usage

Whenever a software operation is executed, the developer optimizes the code to make it as CPU-efficient as possible.

In order to ensure that the speed of an application’s execution is not adversely impacted by browser cross-platform testing, code optimization is vital, regardless of whether it is performed on local infrastructure or cloud infrastructure.

In comparison with other testing tools such as UFT, QTP and others, Selenium test automation scores high points when it comes to CPU utilization.

Automation of Browser Interactions

Browser compatibility tests involve both keyboard and mouse interaction in addition to the browser buttons.

There are many ways in which Selenium automation testing can deal with flaky test scenarios, such as Implicit/Explicit Wait, Wait for JavaScript to Load, etc.

Selenium enables automation of complicated browser interactions like clicking the Back button, Refresh button, etc. which can come handy in websites that do not store cookies or store data in the cache.

Selenium allows web developers to automate complicated browser interactions like clicking back and forward, refreshing, etc. that are frequently used in websites that do not store cookies or cache data.

No External Server Requirement

You do not require any investment of additional servers to automate Selenium test cases if you plan to use local machines for testing. The Selenium WebDriver will allow you to execute browser compatibility tests.

Using a remote machine acting as a Selenium server or moving manual browser testing to the Selenium Grid cloud can be the most effective means of performing comprehensive automated browser testing.

Selenium test automation through the cloud

What is your team’s process for testing browser compatibility across a wide range of devices, browsers, and operating systems?

Anyhow, with so many combinations of browsers, manual testing won’t be possible.

You can conduct parallel testing via remote Selenium Grid, which is essentially a Selenium Grid on the cloud, using cloud-based Selenium frameworks.

Last but not the least: Extensive Language Support

CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Docker, etc. can be integrated with the Selenium framework, thereby leveraging the benefits of continuous testing.

As a result, developers can take advantage of Selenium test automation for verifying cross-browser scenarios.

With experience in a particular programming language, you also become more at ease with the language, and this is equally true for test frameworks.

More experienced programmers can quickly adjust to a new language, but might have to spend more time troubleshooting after development.

The advantage of a Selenium test framework over competing frameworks is that it is platform-agnostic, so you can write a Linux source code and it will run on Windows, Mac, etc.

With Selenium, you can test applications written in JavaScript, C#, Python, Ruby on Rails, Perl, etc.

In closing, a few important words

Those with experience in test automation prefer Selenium Grid automation since they only have to learn the nuances and implement it for their project.

LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that allows you to test your website/web application across 3000+ browsers, browser versions, and operating systems.

LambdaTest provides an online Selenium Grid to assist you in parallelizing browser testing. You may also combine your LambdaTest account with a variety of CI/CD solutions, project management tools, codeless automation tools, and so on for a faster time to market.You can also perform live interactive real-time cross-browser testing as well as responsive testing on your web app/website.

In addition to helping other Selenium Grid users on technical forums, the Selenium framework is updated frequently, so there is always excitement about new releases!

Since Selenium test automation is widely used by consumer tech startups and large enterprises alike, there is a vibrant support ecosystem.

In addition to checking StackOverFlow, which has an extensive collection of questions under the Selenium and Selenium WebDriver tags, you can also check out the Selenium Slack Channel and the Selenium user group.

Artifical Intelligence

How AI Can Help You Redeem Points for Maximum Value

Published

22 hours ago

April 25, 2024

James Oliver

In this digital age, everything is changing rapidly due to emerging technologies. Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) is improving customer experiences, and focuses more on personalization by evaluating the behavior, and preferences of the customers. It is also greatly beneficial for the accumulation of reward points, as it can suggest effective ways to maximize your reward point values, according to your previous redemption options. Generative AI is now able to guide you on, how to spend your credit card reward points. It also provides advice on, how to book flights in exchange for rewards points.

Use Of AI For Maximum Reward Points

Artificial Intelligence (AI) utilizes tasks based on human intelligence, recognizing patterns and predicting them based on these recommendations. You can gain more benefits, by applying AI and ML to loyalty programs. It can improve customer segmentation, and personalization by evaluating user behavior, and preferences. This helps you in providing more personalized offers, and rewards that you can earn easily.

These technologies also enable you to identify various methods to earn more points. These methods include the automation of some tasks, from which you automatically gain reward points such as paying monthly bills automatically, applying for sign-up bonuses, and reaching the threshold of quarterly spending.

How To Redeem Points for Maximum Value Using AI

With the help of generative AI, everyone can get maximum points using reward credit cards, to redeem for traveling or other services. AI is now suggesting custom travel packages, based on the user’s preferences like travel destinations, specific dates, likings, etc. These suggestions are also beneficial in improving the user experience, with the development of reward programs. Here are some methods to redeem maximum reward points with the help of AI:

Social Media Incorporation

Social media consists of a large amount of user data, and everyone loves to upload their activities and preferences on it. AI can evaluate this data, by asking for user permission, and identify the user’s likings and his everyday life. With this data, AI can suggest relative exchanging options, that suit you best, based on your activities. For example, if you post about outdoor activities on social media, AI will suggest redemption options related to them, like traveling, dining, hiking, etc. These also improve the user experience, by providing more engaging and relative redemption options.

Effective Guidance Of Spending Reward Points

Generative AI is extremely helpful in guiding you, on how to spend your reward points for maximum value. You only need to write a prompt, and add some other preferences that you want in it, and it will generate a response related to it with complete guidance. It also suggests some places, where you can redeem your reward points effectively. You can also obtain information about a specific service, by knowing how much they value your reward points, and what their services are being offered in exchange for reward points. All this data generated from AI is based on reality, as it has upgraded algorithms, that are beneficial in achieving real-time data.

Suggest Specific Credit Cards

AI can also help you, to use specific credit cards for redemption options, by suggesting which one suits best for maximum value. It is highly beneficial for those, who hold multiple credit cards and do not know, which card they can use for redemption, to achieve maximized value. You can also get help from AI, in this matter by asking about your credit cards, which gives more value for specific services.

Certain credit cards are specifically for limited services, where you can redeem your points. Some offer redemption options on services, like dining and other hoteling services, traveling, groceries, etc. Some companies provide services based on the type of credit card you hold, as enterprise credit cards have more value for their reward points.

Evaluate The Value of Credit Card Points

In the past, every credit card point held the value of 1 penny each, but nowadays these values vary over time from 0.2 cents to 2.8 cents. Some card issuers tell their users about the value of their points, when they are useless, or have a minimum value. You need to have complete knowledge about, how much value your points hold currently. AI assistants can guide you, by providing extensive information, and telling you the average value of the reward points considered throughout the world these days. These assistants are integrated with various algorithms, and are capable of gaining information from various financial websites, to discover an overall average value. It helps you in not redeeming your reward points, when they hold an extremely low value.

Effective Planning Of Redemption Options

There are so many AI services available on the internet, that guide you according to your prompts. These services provide you with complete information on the service, which you want to receive in exchange for your reward points. These assistants provide good recommendations about numerous company services, based on their charges and values, offered for reward points redemption. You can save most of your reward points, by receiving effective information about every service provider. You can plan for your vacations or business trips from this information, based on the offered values on your reward points. Your reward points value will be determined, according to the service provider you choose, as some services cost more reward points and some are less expensive. Some AI assistants also helps credit card users save and make money online with their cards.

Final Thoughts

You can extract the most beneficial information from various AI models. These are extremely helpful for you, to redeem your reward points for maximum value. These models suggest numerous exchange options according to your interests, and preferences. AI also prevents you from wasting your reward points for extremely low cost.

There are numerous card-monitoring applications, integrated with AI models, that offer some automatic tasks like signing up for bonuses, reminding you about the points, that are near expiration, paying monthly bills automatically, and applying for quarterly bonuses. There will be more advancements in the future, that will enhance the reward points further. Many companies are partnering with credit card issuers, and offering its services as a redemption option which results in maximizing the value of your reward points.

Technology

Samsung develops the fastest DRAM chip for AI applications in the industry

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

IANS

Samsung develops industry's fastest DRAM chip for AI applications

In a groundbreaking development, Samsung has announced the creation of the industry’s first low-power double data rate 5X (LPDDR5X) DRAM chip for AI applications. The new chip boasts high performance of up to 10.7 Gbps, marking a significant improvement in both speed and capacity compared to previous models.

Low-power, high-performance LPDDR chips are becoming increasingly important in the on-device AI market. Samsung’s latest LPDDR5X products, developed with 12 nanometer-class process technology, are the smallest in size among existing LPDDR chips, further cementing the company’s position as a leader in the low-power DRAM sector.

A company spokesperson stated, “Samsung will continue to innovate and deliver optimized products for the upcoming on-device AI era through close collaboration with customers.” Mass production of the LPDDR5X is set to commence in the second half of the year, pending verification by mobile application processor and device providers.

The unveiling of Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM chip represents a significant step forward in the field of AI technology. The chip’s impressive performance and capacity enhancements are expected to further drive the adoption of on-device AI solutions in various industries. This groundbreaking innovation is sure to set a new standard for memory solutions tailored for AI applications.

Technology

PM Modi expresses strong interest in Zoho’s rural development model: Sridhar Vembu

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

IANS

PM Modi showed keen interest in our model of rural development: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) – Zoho Founder and CEO, Sridhar Vembu, revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed interest in Zoho’s rural development model in Tenkasi district, Tamil Nadu during his recent meeting. PM Modi praised the company’s efforts in creating high-tech capabilities and jobs in rural areas.

During an election rally in Ambasamudram, PM Modi met Vembu to discuss Zoho’s rural development through R&D model. Vembu expressed gratitude towards PM Modi for taking the time to understand and appreciate the company’s operations in Tenkasi as a model of rural development.

“PM Modi came to Ambasamudram which is close to my village. Even in the middle of his hectic campaign schedule, he gave me time to meet him and brief him on our rural development through R&D model and on creating high-tech capability and jobs in rural areas,” Vembu shared on social media.

Vembu highlighted that PM Modi showed keen interest in Zoho’s Tenkasi operations. He praised the Prime Minister’s leadership and expressed his support for his continued health and service to the nation. Zoho, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Chennai, employs over 15,000 individuals globally.

During his rally in Ambasamudram, PM Modi criticized the DMK in Tamil Nadu, alleging that they conspired with the Congress to hand over the Katchatheevu island to a foreign nation. PM Modi emphasized his commitment to developing a ‘Viksit Tamil Nadu’ along with a ‘Viksit Bharat’ for overall progress.

The interaction between PM Modi and Zoho’s CEO highlights the government’s interest in innovative rural development models like the one implemented by Zoho in Tenkasi district. The meeting signifies a recognition of the potential for high-tech job creation in rural areas leading to localized economic growth and development.