How Many Types of Web Drivers are in Testing?

Introduction

Selenium Web driver is one of the most useful tools ever that can be used for controlling a web browser automatically. Many of the testers, as well as developers, use this to copy what a real user would do on a website, as well as make sure everything works on the different browsers. The Web Driver interface is an important part of cross-browser testing. Also, this offers a common way for communicating with the different web browsers.

This article mainly focuses on understanding different types of drivers in Selenium. If you are looking to work with test automation, then it is important to understand the various kinds of drivers. To understand this, you should have sound knowledge of Selenium, which can be gained by taking the Selenium Training in Vizag. If you are not able to take in-class training, then many of the institutions offer remote training as well. So let’s begin discussing how Web driver works.

How does Web Driver Work?

Selenium Web driver is like a mediator test code and the browser. This sends your commands to the browser as well as this get the information back. As each of the web browsers works differently on the inside, each one may need its own driver to communicate properly.

Main Types of Web Drivers

There are different types of Selenium Web drivers, and each of them is made for a specific browser. Well, if you take the Software Testing Training in Delhi, then this may let you understand these different types of web drivers easily.

Chrome Driver:

The Chrome Driver is used for Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers. Well, it is one of the most popular browsers, and this driver is used most often. Also, it is kept updated, works fast as well as follows the modern web standards. This also communicates with Chrome using the Chrome Dev Tools Protocol.

Gecko Driver (Firefox Driver):

This Gecko Driver (Firefox Driver) allows Selenium to work with Mozilla Firefox. It connects Selenium with Firefox’s Marionette automation system. Firefox is used by many of the developers, and Gecko driver is an open-source as well as well-maintained. Also, it is great for testing the websites outside the Chromium world.

Edge Driver

Edge Driver is used for the Microsoft Edge, and it uses Chromium. Edge Driver works much like Chrome Driver. This is especially important for the companies that depend highly on Microsoft products.

Safari Driver

This Safari Driver allows you to run the tests on Apple’s Safari browser.  It is mainly built into Safari on macOS. Well, you just need to turn this on in the developer settings. It is important to test the websites on Apple devices, though it may not support every Selenium feature.

Internet Explorer Driver

This driver is mainly built for Internet Explorer. Even though IE is no longer supported by Microsoft. Some older systems still need IE, so this driver is kept around for legacy testing. But it is not ideal for the new projects

Opera Driver

Opera Driver is used for the Opera browser. Since Opera also uses Chromium, it works similarly to Chrome Driver. It is less common but still useful if you need full browser coverage.

Special Types of Web Drivers:

There are some of the Special Types of web drivers that one should also have knowledge of. If you take Software Testing Training Institute in Noida, then this may let you learn these types easily and implement them in practice:

Remote Web Driver:

Remote Web Driver allows you to run the tests on other systems in the cloud. Well, this works with Selenium Grid and is useful for running many of the tests at once. When this comes to testing on different operating systems or testing without owning every device. Cloud testing tools such as Browser Stack and Sauce Labs use this driver.

Appium Driver:

Appium Driver uses the Web driver protocol for mobile apps. This may allow you to test the apps on Android and iOS using the same methods as web testing.

Choosing the Right Web Driver:

When this comes to choosing the right web driver, it completely depends on the browser that your users prefer to use on Chrome, which starts with the Chrome driver. For full coverage, you should test this on multiple drivers. Chrome Driver and Gecko Driver usually give the best speed and reliability.

Setting Up Web Drivers

There are many tools that developers can download as well, and they can also manage the drivers for them. Web Driver Manager (Java) and web driver-manager (Python) can help avoid manual downloading as well as updating the driver files. These tools are best for choosing the right driver version for your project. These can help solve compatibility issues and automatically download outdated versions.. Well, they can detect the correct driver for your system as well as automatically download the latest version, which can help save time and reduce errors. This automation also ensures that you are always using compatible driver versions, which is essential for smooth test execution. If you use these tools in your organization, this won’t just improve the efficiency but also reduce the setup and maintenance time for your test environment.

Conclusion

As discussed above, Selenium Web driver supports a huge range of drivers that also allow you to test your web applications across various browsers. Each of these web drivers are specifically designed for interacting with the browser it supports. This can also help ensure that your tests can mimic user behaviour on the different platforms. Whenever these web drivers are used together allows the testers to ensure that their websites work smoothly across the web browsers.