This blog will help you understand the strengths of Selenium and CodedUI, and guide you through choosing the correct tool. There are six useful features for both Selenium and CodedUI.
1. Recording and Playback Functionality
Each of the testing tools can record actions and playback the recorded actions. Selenium provides the plug-in named Selenium IDE with Mozilla Firefox with which the actions can be recorded.
With Visual Studio, CUIT provides Coded UI Test Builder for recording actions.
2. IDE and Tools the Tester Can use to Write the Scripts
With Selenium IDE, there is no special tool and specific technology to write the script. We can insert commands with ‘Table or Source View’ when required. Selenium IDE comes as a plug-in for Mozilla Firefox, which we can use to create a test suite which comprises of various test cases. With Selenium IDE, you can convert recorded Selenium IDE scripts into different languages (Java, c#, Ruby).
For CUIT, we can use Visual Studio IDE to write scripts. This IDE is elaborate and thorough, as the recording can be done by Visual Studio. All the features of Visual Studio are applicable.
3. Ease of Test Case Execution
With Selenium IDE, we can choose to execute the entire test suite already recorded or a test case at a time.
Coded UI can be executed with Visual Studio or with Microsoft Test Manager. Microsoft Test Manager can provide various settings for the test case execution, which will allow us to gather a large amount of information while executing the test case.
4. Language Support
There are many programming languages like C#, Java, Perl, PHP, Python or Ruby, which can be used to write tests.
For Coded UI, we can write the script with Visual Studio, which we can use for all the object programming concepts.
5. Support for Various Application Types
Selenium supports only Web applications.
CUIT supports Windows Applications, Web Application, WPF applications, SharePoint, Office Client Applications, and Dynamics CRM Web Client applications.
6. Support for Data Driven Testing
Selenium IDE supports XML data sources.
Coded UI Test supports any data source supported by.NET framework, which can come in the form of a.CSV file, XML file. It can also support any other data source like SQL Server table, Access table etc.
Validations or Assertions
Selenium assertions are available in 3 modes to assert, verify and wait For. When an “assert” fails, the test is aborted. When a “verify” (Soft Assertions) fails, the test will continue execution, logging the failure. This facility can be used within the testing framework.
We can use Coded UI Test Builder to add assertions for UI controls. We need to edit the assertion condition as required (equal to, in between, contains etc.), provide expected value and generate code for it. Mouse hover events can be recorded manually.
[table style=”solid”]
# | Features | Selenium | CodedUI |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
Record and Play Back |
√ |
√ |
2 |
IDE and tools |
√ |
√ |
3 |
Ease of Test Case execution |
√ |
√ |
4 |
Language Support |
C#, JAVA, PERL, PHP, Python or Ruby |
C# & VB.NET |
5 |
Support for various application types |
Only Web |
Almost All |
6 |
Support for Data Driven Testing |
CSV & XML |
CSV, XML, Access SQL Server & Oracle*. |
Read our blog on “What will it cost me to test this Application“