Automating Legacy Web Apps: Mastering Internet Explorer Testing with Selenium

Automating applications with Internet Explorer is becoming complicated nowadays as Internet Explorer was retired by Microsoft. Many organizations still depend on old web applications in the current digital ecosystem. Legacy web applications are older systems that are mostly designed concerning outdated technologies and require specialized maintenance and testing to ensure ongoing functionality.

With the testers’ increased demand to strive for efficiency, it becomes important to ensure these applications perform well in all environments. In this article we will delve into mastering Internet Explorer online testing with Selenium, we will also bring forth some best practices and strategies with which testers can effectively automate and manage legacy applications.

By having proficiency in this testing approach, testers, and developers can maintain reliability and user satisfaction while navigating the complexities of outdated technology. So let’s get started.

What is Selenium?

Selenium can be defined as an open-source framework that is used to automate web browsers. It enables developers and testers to make scripts that can simulate real user interactions with web applications and therefore facilitates a way for conducting regression and functional testing. There are various reasons why testers prefer using Selenium.

Cross-browser testing: Selenium shows compatibility with various browsers including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

Language support: Selenium works efficiently with multiple programming languages like C#, Java, Python, and Ruby, all of which make it versatile for different tech stacks.

Integration capabilities: Testing frameworks like TestNG, and JUnit can be easily integrated with Selenium. And with Jenkins for continuous integration.

What is Internet Explorer testing?

Internet Explorer testing can be defined as the process of making sure that the web applications are performing correctly in Internet Explorer. It is a browser that is known because of its unique behaviors and compatibility. This testing helps verify that the features of the website are working as needed and that seamless user interaction is provided. As it is already known that many legacy applications depend on IE, comprehensive testing is crucial to maintain performance and user experience across various versions of the browser.

Understanding legacy web app automation

Legacy web applications are usually identified by outdated frameworks, older codebases, and dependence on technologies that are not widely used or supported. These applications bring forth many challenges including:

• Browser compatibility: A lot of legacy web applications were created for older browsers, in particular, Internet Explorer.
• Reduced support: With the rapid evolution of technology, it becomes difficult to find support for outdated frameworks.
• Technical debt: Legacy applications can be burdened with technical debt, which makes it difficult to maintain and test.

Because of these difficulties, testers need to have a strong testing plan that will ensure the proper functioning of their legacy systems, especially when integrating them with online services and contemporary frameworks.

Benefits of using Internet Explorer with Selenium for automating legacy web applications

Selenium plays a vital role in automating legacy web applications through Internet Explorer (IE). It offers a framework for designing automated test scripts that can interact with Internet Explorer (IE) browsers. It enables testers to mimic user actions and validate the functionality of legacy web applications even on former IE versions, even though official support for standalone Internet Explorer is now discontinued.

Many organizations still depend on legacy applications that work primarily in Internet Explorer. The benefits include Selenium’s legacy compatibility which helps testers ensure that the application is working as per the requirement. Other benefits are:

Automation of repetitive tasks: Selenium enables the automation of repetitive testing tasks in Internet Explorer, which in turn saves time and therefore the chances of human error are also minimized.

Cross-browser testing: Selenium offers functionality for testing in multiple browsers in addition to IE, which in turn makes possible a comprehensive testing strategy that includes modern browsers.

Robust framework: Selenium’s vast set of libraries and community support offers tools for handling common issues in Internet Explorer, like unique element interactions and alerts.

Integration with CI/CD: Automated testing can be easily included in the development process by using Selenium’s seamless integration into pipelines for continuous integration and deployment.

Multi-language support: Testers can build their test scripts in familiar programming languages by using Selenium’s support for a variety of programming languages.

Detailed reporting: With testing frameworks that integrate with Selenium, testers can create detailed reports for tracking issues, and ease the debugging process.

Customizable waits: Explicit waits can be implemented using Selenium, which helps to control the timing problems that are likely to arise with Internet Explorer.

By leveraging these benefits, testers can ensure their legacy web applications remain user-friendly and functional.

The challenge with Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer faced many challenges in which the competition between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator was one of the main obstacles it had to overcome. In the early days of the internet, Netscape controlled the industry and had a sizable percentage of the browser market. Security vulnerabilities are also an issue.

There have been many security issues with Internet Explorer, like Internet Explorer Zero Day, which makes it possible for hackers to infect the computer with malware. Another challenge of testing in Internet Explorer is its inconsistent support for modern web standards, which can be responsible for its unpredictable behaviors and compatibility issues in web applications.

The Send key’s extremely slow operation with Selenium script is yet another widespread problem with Internet Explorer. For this, testers can just replace the current IEDriverServer.exe if their machine is a 64-bit machine with IEDriverServer.exe of 32-bit. Outdated architecture is also troublesome.

Because Internet Explorer’s design is built on technology that is quite old, security experts believe it to be vulnerable. Another challenge is the ever-growing competition with other web browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome, which has overtaken Internet Explorer in popularity. Additionally, Internet Explorer has had performance problems too.

Even though the usage of Internet Explorer has declined, it is still a key browser for a large number of legacy applications. Testing in IE can be difficult because of its lack of support for modern web standards and unique behaviors. Despite that, with the right configurations and strategies, Selenium can effectively automate testing in Internet Explorer.

Best practices for testing legacy web applications with Selenium and Internet Explorer

Optimize locators

When it comes to best practices for testing legacy web applications and mastering Internet Explorer with Selenium, testers can opt for the most reliable locator strategy. This can be according to each element as per the IE page structure, and consider preferring options such as XPath, ID, and CSS selectors.

Capture screenshots of failure

Another practice that can be followed is to implement taking screenshots in the test cases. This approach will help in identifying issues of failing tests easily.

Consider different browsers

As known that Internet Explorer is phased out to a large extent, testers can prioritize testing on modern browsers and only test Internet Explorer’s functionality where necessary.

Implement modular test design

Testers should design the tests in a modular way for an optimized result. Breaking down the tests into smaller, reusable components aids them in maintaining the code and also makes it easier to detect and identify issues when they take place.

Use Page Object Model (POM)

Implementing the Page Object Model design pattern is also a good approach. This design pattern helps to extract the details of the web page and therefore makes the tests more maintainable and cleaner. Each page of the web application can have a corresponding class that gives the summary of the operations related to that page.

Maintain comprehensive test coverage

Testers should emphasize achieving comprehensive test coverage for critical paths within the legacy application. This includes making sure that the authentication workflows are tested in depth. Make sure that user login is also done correctly and check for the automation of data entry forms and submissions.

Testers should also ensure the navigation flows and check that every navigation path is functioning as it should.

Implement Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) workflow

Integrating Selenium tests into a CI/CD workflow is a simple task for testers. This process ensures that the legacy web application continues to work overtime by enabling automated testing every time there is a modification to the code. Opting for Jenkins and other tools can be a beneficial approach for automatically running Selenium tests on new updates.

Use Internet Explorer driver

Testers can also utilize the Internet Explorer driver. This can be done by installing a zip file from the official site. Then after unzipping, copy the file to a designated location. Present all of the dependencies for Selenium, and for providing the IE Driver its path, use the setProperty method. Make an object called InternetExplorerDriver and send it to InternetExplorerOptions.

Use WineBottler

When it comes to using IE on a Mac, testers can download and install the WineBottler application. Testers will also have to install the application development environment on the virtual Windows OS, although this will install Internet Explorer by default.

Implement reporting and logging features

Implement a reliable framework for recording and reporting. Testers can take advantage of frameworks like JUnit or TestNG to get detailed test reports, which in turn can foster the process of detecting issues. When the test is executed, make sure to note down the important data that will help with debugging issues.

Use a cloud-testing platform

Utilize a cloud-based testing platform to easily access different Internet Explorer versions and operating systems for extensive testing. Numerous cloud platforms are prevailing in the digital landscape, among which LambdaTest outshines in the list with its captivating benefits.

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test execution and orchestration platform that allows testers and developers to run both manual and automated tests at scale. With this platform, testers and developers can test in real-time and automatically across more than 3000 different environments and real mobile devices.

Testers can make use of automated snapshot capturing and real-time testing features using LambdaTest to find UI differences quickly. It provides a secure platform for automating older web applications, especially when it comes to utilizing Selenium for testing in Internet Explorer. Another standout feature is its ability to run cross-browser tests in a cloud environment, which enables developers to ensure compatibility over multiple configurations and browser versions.

The platform also supports Selenium scripts, which foster the execution of existing test cases without modifications, and also provide seamless integration. Additionally, LambdaTest’s extensive browser and operating combinations allow testers to quickly switch between Internet Explorer and modern browsers like Microsoft Edge online, which is crucial because teams are advancing their tech stacks rapidly.

Conclusion

Automating testing for legacy web applications, especially the ones that rely on Internet Explorer is not free from challenges. But, by taking advantage of tools like Selenium and best practices in place, testers and developers can ensure their legacy systems continue to be reliable and functional.

By understanding the complexities of Internet Explorer, setting the environment correctly, and leveraging Selenium’s capabilities, testers and developers can build robust test suites that are free from regression and ensure a seamless user experience.

Mastering the grip of handling legacy web applications is very fruitful in the tech world where new changes are taking place in every blink. This approach not only aids in maintaining operational efficiency and user satisfaction. So hold tight to embrace automation today, and set your legacy web applications on the path to sustainable success in the future.

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