How to use WebDriver Backed Selenium

Thanks for posting the article, that is very useful.

Regards

Adam

I think this info will also help Selenium with Python Training learners.

The Java version of Webdriver provides an implementation of the Selenium-RC API. This means that you can use the underlying WebDriver technology using the Selenium-RC API. This is primarily provided for backward compatibility. It allows those who have existing test suites using the Selenium-RC API to use WebDriver under the covers. It’s provided to help ease the migration path to Selenium-Web driver.Sample Backed web driver script looks like this:

package webone;

import org.junit.After;

import org.junit.Before;

import org.junit.Test;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverBackedSelenium;

import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.SeleneseTestCase;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.Selenium;

@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")

public class BackedSelenium extends SeleneseTestCase {

//web driver ??here we are declaring the browser

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

@Before

public void setUp() throws Exception {

String baseUrl = "https://www.google.co.in/";

selenium = new WebDriverBackedSelenium(driver, baseUrl);

}

@TEST

public void testBackedSelenium() throws Exception {

//This is using selenium

selenium.open("/");

selenium.click("id=gbi5");

selenium.click("id=gmlas");

selenium.waitForPageToLoad("30000");

selenium.type("name=as_q", "test");

//Here we are using Webdriver

driver.findElement(By.id("as_oq1")).sendKeys("naga");

driver.findElement(By.id("as_oq2")).sendKeys("Webdriver");

Thread.sleep(5000);

}

@After

public void tearDown() throws Exception {

selenium.stop();

}

}

By using the above format, you can use both the Selenium API and Web driver API.

If you're not already using Selenium Remote Control (RC), you want to use the WebDriver option.

Longer answer: RC is the older 1.0 version of Selenium. WebDriver is the newer 2.0 version. WebDriver-Backed is a middle ground, allowing you to use the old RC API through the new WebDriver implementation.

You can switch between the options in the IDE and see for yourself the different tests that are generated.

More info at the Selenium Classes in Pune

As you probably know, WebDriverBackedSelenium provides Selenium 1. x (Selenium RC) compatible interfaces but it's 100% implemented using WebDriver.

There are many downsides to using it, for example - WebDriverBackedSelenium is significantly slower than using WebDriver APIs directly. But let's stick with the original question :)

With the release of Selenium 3.0, it was decided to delete the original Selenium Core implementation. For the one that has used the old RC interfaces, the Selenium team has provided an alternative implementation that’s backed by WebDriver which is the same as WebDriverBackedSelenium which has been available as part of Selenium 2 since its release.

This implementation is the Selenium Leg Rc. In order to use it, just include the dependency in your project, for example, using Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
    <artifactId>selenium-leg-rc</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.1</version>
</dependency>

And now you will be able to work as you worked until now, Learn Selenium 3.0 with WebDriverBackedSelenium.

This means that you can use the underlying WebDriver technology using the Selenium-RC API. This is primarily provided for backward compatibility. It allows those who have existing test suites using the Selenium-RC API to use WebDriver under the covers.

It’s provided to help ease the migration path to the Selenium-Web driver.
Sample Backed web driver script looks like this:
 

package webone;

import org.junit.After;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverBackedSelenium;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import com.thoughtworks.selenium.SeleneseTestCase;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.Selenium;
@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
public class BackedSelenium extends SeleneseTestCase {
//web driver ??here we are declaring the browser
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
@Before
public void setUp() throws Exception {
String baseUrl = "https://www.google.co.in/";
selenium = new WebDriverBackedSelenium(driver, baseUrl);
}

@TEST
public void testBackedSelenium() throws Exception {
//This is using selenium
selenium.open("/");
selenium.click("id=gbi5");
selenium.click("id=gmlas");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad("30000");
selenium.type("name=as_q", "test");
//Here we are using Webdriver
driver.findElement(By.id("as_oq1")).sendKeys("naga");

driver.findElement(By.id("as_oq2")).sendKeys("Webdriver");
Thread.sleep(5000);
}

@After
public void tearDown() throws Exception {
selenium.stop();
}
}

This is all about WebDriver Backed Selenium. Learn basic and advanced levels of selenium training are available for online training.