Selenium - Industry Standard Browser Automation

Overview of Selenium WebDriver and its role in legacy system testing.

Table of contents

  1. Overview
    1. Framework Information
  2. Why Still Use Selenium?
    1. Selenium vs. Playwright
  3. Selenium Grid Architecture
  4. Security Testing Example
  5. Resources

Overview

Selenium WebDriver is the industry-standard open-source framework for browser automation and web application testing. First released in 2004, it remains widely used despite newer alternatives like Playwright.

Framework Information

   
Framework Selenium WebDriver
Maintainer Selenium Project (Open Source)
First Release 2004
Current Version 4.x
Website https://www.selenium.dev
License Apache 2.0 (Open Source)
Notable Most widely adopted test automation framework

Why Still Use Selenium?

Selenium vs. Playwright

Factor Selenium Playwright
Maturity 20 years 4 years
Ecosystem Massive Growing
Language Support Java, Python, C#, Ruby, JS TypeScript, Python, .NET, Java
Performance Slower Faster
Auto-Wait Manual waits Automatic
Best Use Case Legacy systems, existing tests New projects

Customer Uses Both:

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Selenium for:
├── Legacy insurance systems (20 years old)
├── Existing test suites (5,000+ tests)
├── Java-based applications
├── Grid infrastructure (already invested)
└── Team expertise (10+ years)

Playwright for:
├── New Cursor integrations
├── Modern web apps
├── Azure portal testing
├── API testing
└── Faster test development

Why Not Migrate?
- 5,000 Selenium tests = 6 months to rewrite
- Cost: $500K (labor)
- Benefit: Marginal (tests work fine)
- Decision: Keep Selenium, add Playwright for new tests

Selenium Grid Architecture 

graph TB
    subgraph "Test Execution"
        A[Azure DevOps Agent]
        B[Test Scripts]
    end
    
    subgraph "Selenium Grid Hub"
        C[Hub]
        D[Session Queue]
    end
    
    subgraph "Browser Nodes"
        E[Chrome Node]
        F[Firefox Node]
        G[Edge Node]
        H[Safari Node]
    end
    
    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> D
    D --> E
    D --> F
    D --> G
    D --> H
    
    style C fill:#10b981,stroke:#059669,color:#fff

Security Testing Example 

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// Test Key Vault access requires authentication
@Test
public void testKeyVaultRequiresMFA() {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    
    // Navigate to Azure Portal
    driver.get("https://portal.azure.com");
    
    // Login with test account
    driver.findElement(By.id("i0116")).sendKeys(testUser);
    driver.findElement(By.id("idSIButton9")).click();
    
    // Enter password
    driver.findElement(By.id("i0118")).sendKeys(testPassword);
    driver.findElement(By.id("idSIButton9")).click();
    
    // MFA challenge should appear
    WebElement mfaPrompt = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
        .until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(By.id("idDiv_SAOTCAS_Title")));
    
    assertTrue(mfaPrompt.isDisplayed(), "MFA prompt should be displayed");
    
    driver.quit();
}

Resources

Last Updated: October 10, 2025