Installation (Python, PyCharm):-

Python Download & Install: Version 3.7.4

Step 1:-Download the Python Installer binaries

• Open the official Python website (https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/) in your web browser. Navigate to the Downloads tab for Windows
• Choose the latest Python 3 release. In our example, we have chosen the Python 3.7.3 version
• Click on the link to download Windows x86 executable installer if you are using a 32-bit installer. In case your Windows installation is a 64-bit system, then download Windows x86-64 executable installer   

                                

Step 2:- Run the Executable Installer

• Once the installer is downloaded, run the Python installer
• Check the Install launcher for all users check box. Further, you may check the Add Python 3.7 to path check box to include the interpreter in the execution path

• Select Customize installation.

         Choose the optional features by checking the following check boxes :

            1. Documentation

            2. Pip

            3. tcl/tk and IDLE (to install tkinter and IDLE)

            4. Python test suite (to install the standard library test suite of Python)

            5. Install the global launcher for `.py` files. This makes it easier to start Python

            6. Install for all user

         Click Next

• This takes you to Advanced Options available while installing Python. Here, select the Install for all users and Add Python to environment variables check boxes.Optionally, you can select the Associate files with Python, Create shortcuts for installed applications and other advanced options. Make note of the python installation directory displayed in this step. You would need it for the next step.

         After selecting the Advanced options, click Install to start installation

• Once the installation is over, you will see a Python Setup Successful window

Step 3: Verify the Python Installation

You have now successfully installed Python 3.7.3 on Windows 10. You can verify if the Python installation is successful either through the command line or through the IDLE app that gets installed along with the installation

Search for the command prompt and type “python”. You can see that Python 3.7.3 is successfully installed.

Installing PyCharm

• To download PyCharm visit the website https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/ and Click the "DOWNLOAD" link under the Community Section

  

• Once the download is complete, run the exe for install PyCharm. The setup wizard should have started. Click “Next

                 

•           On the next screen, Change the installation path if required. Click “Next”

                 

•     On the next screen, you can create a desktop shortcut if you want and click on “Next”

 

•      Choose the start menu folder. Keep selected JetBrains and click on “Install”.

                    

•          Wait for the installation to finish

•      Once installation finished, you should receive a message screen that PyCharm is installed. If you want to go ahead and run it, click the “Run PyCharm Community Edition” box first and click “Finish”.

     

Overview

What is Selenium:-

Selenium is one of the most widely used Open Source Web UI(User Interface) automation testing suite.Selenium supports automation across different browsers,platforms and programming languages.

Selenium supports a variety of programming languages ,Browsers & Platforms as mentioned below :-

Programming Languages :- C#, Java , Perl , PHP , Python and Ruby

Operating System:- Windows,Linux,Solaris and Macintosh

Browsers:- Internet Explorer,Mozilla Firefox,Google Chrome and Safari

                                                           

              

 


History of Selenium:-

• It was developed in 2004 by Jason Huggins as a JavaScript library used to automate his manual testing routines.

• Simon Stewart at Thought Works had been working on different web testing tool called WebDriver. It did not rely on JavaScript  to do the heavy lifting,but instead had a client for each browser that was coded from scratch.It also had a 'higher level' API than Selenium-RC and showed lots of promise.Simon presented the tool at GTAC ,and started work on compatibility with Selenium-RC,which gave rise to the obvious conclusion that the two projects should merge.Simon,at Google from 2007 to 2012,and now at Facebook,gets to spend some of his time making that a reality.

                                                                                                                            

Simon Stewart

Jason Huggins

Key Comparison:-

Below are some key factors to consider Selenium for the Test Automation:-

• Open Source Availability
• Multi-Browser Support
• Support Across Various Operating System
• Multi language Support
• Easy to learn and use 

Comparison with Cypress:-

Pros & Cons of using Selenium for Test Automation:-

Pros

• It is open source tool anyone can download & use
• It supports various operating environments(Windows,Linux,Mac etc..)
• It supports various programming languages to create and execute Tests
• It supports all popular web browsers
• It supports parallel test execution
• It uses less Hardware resources as compare to other popular tools like QTP/UFT

Cons

• Since it is an open source tool,No reliable Technical support(Official Users Group,Chat room in seleniumq.org)
• It doesn't support Desktop Applications/Windows bases applications
• No other tool integration for Test Management
• Difficult to use as compare to other tools like QTP/UFT
• New features may not work properly
• Deployment of selenium is manual and thus more difficult than the UI tools like UFT/RFT

                                                                                               

Why Python for Test Automation?

Yes, why should you consider using Python for Test Automation? 

A question which has been asked numerous times across blogs/forums and has been a topic for discussion among Test Automation Enthusiasts. 

Below are some few pointers which I feel should suffice this need:- 
- Because it is very much easier to start with if we compare with Java, .NET etc. 
- The learning curve with Python is very low 
- Fully Open Source 
- Its a beginner-friendly language and tend to outperform in all automation needs/requirements 
- Developer time is more important nowadays and Python helps promote faster script development 
- Holistic list of available Open Source frameworks for use 
- Python has seamless integration with the DevOps stack 
- Less Verbose 
- Python is known for its Readability 
- Community support and Documentation Developing Frameworks using unittest or PyTest is a breeze. The API is minimal, to the point and provides everything we need to take care for our regressions. 

So planning to use Python for Test Automation? 
A comprehensive curated list of python test automation frameworks, tools, libraries and software to help software engineers easily bootstrap test automation on python.

https://github.com/atinfo/awesome-test-automation