20 Most Asked Interview Questions On Selenium

Software testing is in high demand these days because it ensures high-quality software applications. Day by day, expectations of highly functioning software applications with zero bugs necessitate robust software testing as part of the software development cycle. This attracts many engineers to pursue careers in software testing. This requires a sound knowledge of related tools and frameworks. Selenium is always at the top of the list when software testing is discussed. It is one of the most used automation testing tools, and every QA should have complete information.

Preparing for an interview on Selenium is a path to getting into the field of software testing. However, you must be familiar with the Selenium automation framework for the best interview. Cracking the Selenium interview question is the key to getting a Selenium-related job. However, you might think about which questions should be prepared?

In this present blog, we present the 20 most frequently asked interview questions on Selenium. It will guide you through all the basic and crucial questions on Selenium and help you succeed in the interview.

Let us get started with the most asked interview question.

20 most asked interview questions on Selenium

Question 1: What do you understand from Selenium?

Selenium is an open-source automation testing framework utilized to test web applications, including native, hybrid, and mobile web applications on mobile devices. The testing can be done across different browsers and platforms. It also provides a single interface for writing test scripts in multiple programming languages like Java, Ruby, NodeJS, Python, C#, Perl, and PHP.

Question 2: What are the different components of the Selenium automation framework?

Selenium is composed of three components that work together to automate web application testing. Those components are as follows:

Selenium WebDriver: It is an enhanced version of Selenium RC that allows for the execution of cross-browser tests. It is the core component of Selenium and controls web browsers through a programming interface. We can write test scripts through browser-specific drivers, which consist of an API, library, driver, and framework.

Selenium Grid: It is understood as the distributed test execution environment and eases running parallel tests across different browsers, OS, and devices.

Selenium IDE: It is a Firefox or Chrome plug-in that is known to accelerate the development of automation test scripts. It is basically a record-and-run tool for developing test cases, through which you can play back the activities executed during the test on the web.

Question 3: Why should you use Selenium for software testing?

Selenium offers the crucial feature of supporting cross-browser testing. It provides a common API to interact with diverse types of web browsers, thus allowing to write code executables in multiple browsers. Through this, we do not have to write discrete test scripts for each browser. Thus, as software developed needs to be functional in all browsers, devices, and OS, Selenium can be one of the best options. We can use a cloud-based platform like LambdaTest, which offers end-to-end Selenium testing across 3000+ browsers, OS, and devices.

Question 4: Does Selenium have disadvantages?

Yes, Selenium exists with certain disadvantages. It is open source and does not have reliable tech support. It also needs built-in reporting and test management facilities. In addition, we have to depend on external libraries and tools to execute tests. Some of those tools are testing frameworks (TestNG, JUnit).

Question 5: Which is the latest version of Selenium?

Selenium 4.8.0 is the latest version January released on 23rd January 2023. Chrome DevTools now supports v:107, v108, and v109.

Question 6: What are the different locators in Selenium?

In Selenium, there are numerous locators for determining the location of an element. Some of those are:

• Id
• XPath
• CSS selector
• tagName
• Link text
• className

Question 7: What do you understand from Selenese?

Selenese is categorized under a set of commands used for testing web applications. Using this, we can test the broken links and check the presence of certain objects on UI, and others. Basically, it is classified under three types:

Actions: Utilized to execute operations and performance on target elements

Accessors: Utilized to store values in variables.

Assertions: Utilized as checkpoints for tracking the sequential flow of commands.

Question 8: In Selenium WebDriver, explain different types of wait.

Two types of wait commands are available with Selenium WebDriver:

• Implicit wait: Provide default waiting time between the test steps or commands across the complete test script executed consecutively.
• Explicit wait: Halt the execution of the test until the meeting of the particular condition required for testing or elapsed maximum time is done.
• Fluent wait: Utilized to add wait to the web driver for a condition and also to tell the frequency with, which we wish to test the condition before giving an “ElementNotVisibleException” exception.

Question 9:  What different types of tests can be done with the Selenium automation framework?

Many different types of tests are supported by Selenium. For example, functional testing, regression testing, sanity testing, responsive testing, cross-browser testing, UI testing, integration testing, and smoke testing.

Question 10: How is the Type key different from the Type command?

Type keys and Type commands are different aspects. Type keys on a particular element mimic keystroke events as we type the value key-by-key. It is a useful approach for every character to call for keyDown, keyUP, keyPress mentioned in the specified string. It dwells value attributes utilizing JavaScript.

While in the text box and text area fields, you can type text with the Type command. You can have a given value on the page.

Question 11: Can Selenium handle Windows-based pop-ups?

Mainly Selenium is designed to manage web applications and does not support window-based features. However, with the use of tools like Robot and AutoIT, we can manage pop-ups and different features of windows.

Question 12: Is it possible to use Selenium for testing API and web services?

Theoretically, it seems possible, but Selenium could not be the best tool to test API and web services. Generally, Selenium automates web browsers and uses user interface interaction to interact with web pages. For example, by clicking on buttons, navigating through the pages, and filling out forms. In contrast, APIs and web services interact with different software applications using protocols like SOAP and REST. Hence, for testing APIs and web services, it is always suggested to use specific tools like Postman and JMeter.

Question 13: How are XPath and CSS selectors different from each other?

XPath and CSS selectors are different approaches for locating elements. The main difference between the two is with respect to their use. For example, XPath navigates through HTML structure using path expression. However, CSS selectors select elements based on their attributes using pattern-matching syntax. In a nutshell, they are different in terms of syntax and capabilities.

Question 14: How can you differentiate between close and quit commands?

The main difference between the close and quit commands lies in their focus. The close command “driver.close()” closes the currently focused browser, whereas the quit command “driver.quit()” closes all browser instances.

Question 15: By what means multiple windows can be handled in Selenium?

A specific identifier used to manage the address of all windows is known as a window handle. It is understood as the pointer to a window that returns the string value. We can follow the below-given steps to handle multiple windows:

1. driver.switch_to.window()is used to switch to the parent window. Then pass the window handle as an argument.
2. driver.window_handles gives a list of window handles related to open windows.
3. driver.switch_to.window() uses to loop and switch to the window and follows the passing of the window handles of the window we wish to switch to.
4. On the switched window, we can follow doable actions.
5. On its completion, we can return to the parent window and pass the handle to it with the use of driver.switch_to.window()

Question 16: How is WebDriver more advantageous than a Selenium server?

Below are some crucial points that show the advantage of WebDriver over the Selenium server.

• Selenium server’s dependency may be non-considered when we use Selenium WebDriver.
• Selenium servers act as a mediator between the application and browsers. However, Selenium WebDriver directly interacts with the browser to support automation.

Question 17: List the steps for debugging the test using Selenium IDE

Debugging the test follows the below given steps:

• Insert breakpoint where debugging was required.
• Run the test case.
• On executing the test, running is stopped at the breakpoint.
• For continuing the execution of all the commands, we can resume the run by clicking on the Run button.

Question 18: Give examples of some automation tools, which are integrated with Selenium for continuous testing.

Some of the automation tools, which integrate with Selenium for continuous testing are as follows:

• Jenkins
• CircleCI
• AWS CodePipeline
• Azure DevOps
• Travis CI
• Bitbucket Pipeline

Question 19: Give examples of WebDriver APIs in Selenium

There are many different types of WebDriver in Selenium. Some of those are as follows:

• AndroidDriver
• ChromeDriver
• EventFiringWebDriver
• RemoteWebDriver
• HTMLUnitDriver
• FirefoxDriver
• RemoteWebDriver
• iPhoneDriver

Question 20: Explain the working of cross-browser testing with Selenium

Cross-browser testing with the use of Selenium indicates the execution of a similar set of tests on the diverse browsers. It is done to ensure the compatibility of software applications and functions across multiple browser environments. Some of the ways through which we can perform cross-browser testing using Selenium are as follows:

Selenium WebDriver supports ChromeDriver, FirefoxDriver, and InternetExplorerDriver, through which the test is run on different browsers. Similarly, using the Selenium Grid, execution of the test is done on different browsers and devices in parallel, which lowers cross-browser testing time.

We can also use cloud-based testing platforms like LambdaTest, which helps run Selenium tests on different browsers and operating systems. We can execute the Selenium test on 3000+ browsers and devices to ensure application compatibility in different environments. LambdaTest offers a reliable, secure, and scalable cloud Grid for cross-browser testing.

Conclusion

Detailing on 20 most asked interview questions on Selenium with solutions will help you gain deeper insight into this. Such a question will help you get started with the interview based on Selenium testing. However, to gain expertise or skill in Selenium automation testing, you can also opt for different training or certification courses. Such can be easily accessed with LambdaTest.