How to Build Selenium Tests Faster with Ranorex Webtestit

Discover the Methods to Rapidly Develop Selenium Tests with Ranorex Webtestit: Hands-on Ranorex Webtestit Review Tutorial

If you’re similar to most testing professionals, you prioritize efficiency!

When it comes to test automation, your focus should be on test creation rather than configuration and setup. It’s particularly important to avoid wasting time on repetitive boilerplate code or troubleshooting failing tests.

Why Choose Ranorex Webtestit?

Currently, Selenium Webdriver is widely regarded as the most popular solution for web test automation. It is an open-source tool that works on major desktop platforms and supports leading programming languages. However, setting it up can be time-consuming and mastering it requires specific expertise.

One of the initial setup tasks is selecting an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). There are several IDEs available for use with Selenium WebDriver, including Eclipse, IntelliJ, and NetBeans. Even the old Selenium IDE has been revived after being discontinued in 2017.

Now, a new option is available: Ranorex Webtestit. This specialized IDE is designed for building UI tests for websites and web apps using Selenium (or Protractor) with Java or Typescript.

However, Ranorex Webtestit offers more than just an IDE. It is a comprehensive web testing toolset that streamlines the setup and maintenance of a Selenium Webdriver test environment.

For further reading => Ranorex Studio Tutorial

Accelerate your test environment setup with Ranorex Webtestit:

Comparison of Selenium WebDriver and Ranorex WebTestit Quick Setup:

Below is a quick comparison of the time required to complete a basic setup (step-by-step instructions included) for Selenium WebDriver and Ranorex WebTestit.

In addition to significantly faster setup, Ranorex Webtestit provides time-saving features for automating web tests, such as automatic locators generation for web elements, conditional execution logic, built-in test reporting, and more.

Setting up and Running a Sample Test

=> To follow the steps discussed below, please download and install the free trial of Ranorex Webtestit.

The installation will also provide access to the Ranorex Webtestit user forum: https://discourse.webtestit.com/. This forum is an excellent resource for help and interaction with the Ranorex team.

You should also add the free Ranorex Selocity browser extension to Google Chrome, as it is incredibly useful for generating UI element locators.

#1) Launch Ranorex Webtestit and sign in. The Start screen will appear.

#2) Click on Download sample project.

#3) Select Java – Demoshop, and then click Download and open. This sample project represents a fictional web store, and you can find it at http://demoshop.webtestit.com/

#4) The Ranorex Webtestit project view will open, displaying the project tree on the left.

The project tree contains several Page Object files that represent major sections of a web page (not necessarily the entire page). Utilizing the Page Object model separates the UI definition from test code, making tests easier to maintain and less susceptible to breaking.

If you’re unfamiliar with Page Objects, you can learn more about them here.

#5) Within the page objects, you will find two test cases: “TC1” and “TC2.” The first test case adds items to a cart and completes the checkout process. The second test case verifies the “fast checkout” functionality.

#6) Ranorex Webtestit includes a “Get Started” panel at the bottom left corner of the screen (if not visible, you can open it from the menu by choosing Help => Get Started).

As this is a demo project, steps 1-3 are already completed. To run the test, all that’s needed is to add one or more endpoints.

#7) Open the Execution panel and click on Add Endpoint.

#8) Choose Local endpoint. Name it “Local Chrome,” set the Platform to Desktop, and select the Google Chrome browser. Lastly, click on Save endpoint.

#9) The new endpoint will appear in the Execution panel, indicating that you’re ready to execute the test suite.

#10) Click on Run all test files. The first test run may involve downloading several dependencies, which will speed up for future executions. You can monitor the progress in the Log panel below the Execution panel.

#11) Once the test run is complete, click on Show Report.

#12) The test run report displays the test duration, number of test failures (if any), the count of executed test suites and test cases, and more. You can expand the TestSuite(Desktop) item to view the duration of each executed test case.

Getting Started with Your Own Web Test

Now that you have seen a sample test running on your desktop, let’s explore the process of building your own test.

#1) Click on New Project and the “Create new project” dialog will appear.

#2) Enter a project name, select your preferred programming language, and then click on Save. If you choose Java, Ranorex Webtestit will automatically set up your project with Maven and the widely used TestNG testing framework. The project workspace will then appear.

#3) You may see a warning stating that Ranorex Webtestit is disconnected from Ranorex Selocity. If you haven’t done so already, install the Ranorex Selocity add-on in Google Chrome’s DevTools.

Next, open the Chrome browser, right-click on any web element, choose Inspect, click on Ranorex Selocity in the DevTools panel, and finally click on Connect.

#4) Return to Ranorex Webtestit. Click on New Page Object file. A file called “newpofile.java” will appear in the Project tree. Rename it to “mainPO.java”.

#5) Open the Chrome browser and go to your web application. Right-click in the search box, and choose Selector actions.

A list of available selectors for the search box web element will be displayed. Copy and paste the desired selector into your new Page Object file.

(If you have linked Ranorex Selocity with Ranorex Webtestit, you will also have the option to send the selector directly to Ranorex Webtestit along with a screenshot.)

#6) Return to Ranorex Webtestit, and you will see the new element in the Elements panel. If the default name of the element is not meaningful, you can edit it. In the example below, the name has been changed to “Searchbox.” Finally, click on Close.

#7) To use the new element in a test, simply add it to your page object by dragging it into the page object and selecting an action, such as Click on element or Type into the element. Ranorex Webtestit will automatically generate the associated code for you.

#8) Now you can start coding your test. Right-click on the “tests” folder in the Project panel, choose New, and then select Test file. Ranorex Webtestit will create a new test file with the necessary boilerplate code for you. You can invoke the actions in the Page Object to perform your test steps.

#9) Once your test is complete, add an endpoint (similar to the demoshop example described above) and execute your test.

The Fine Print:

Ranorex Webtestit is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. It integrates seamlessly with tools like TFS, Jenkins, Jira, Git, TestRail, and TravisCI through a command-line interface.

In Conclusion

If you are currently using or considering Selenium WebDriver, Ranorex Webtestit is definitely worth exploring. It simplifies the initial setup process and saves you time by providing built-in features like the Page Object model, reduced boilerplate code, automatic web element locator generation, and more.

To learn more about Ranorex Webtestit, visit their official documentation.

We welcome you to share your experiences in the comments section below!