What's the Point of Selenium?

Question

Ok, maybe I\'m missing something, but I really don\'t see the point of Selenium. What is the point of opening the browser using code, clicking buttons using code, and checking f

Answer 1

If you do not like the Selenium approach, you can try HtmlUnit, I find it more useful and easy to integrate into existing unit tests.

Answer 2

In a past job we used to unit test our web-app. If the web-app changes its look the tests don't need to be re-written. Record-and-replay type tests would all need to be re-done.

Answer 3

The point is the same as for any kind of automated testing: writing the code may take more time than "just clicking around and visually verifying things work", maybe 10 or even 50 times more.

But any nontrivial application will have to be tested far more than 50 times eventually, and manual tests are an annoying chore that will likely be omitted or done shoddily under pressure, which results in bugs remaining undiscovered until just bfore (or after) important deadlines, which results in stressful all-night coding sessions or even outright monetary loss due to contract penalties.