Table of contents

Introduction

Architecture

Speed

Object Oriented

Testing Mobile Application

Browser Support

FAQs

Key Takeaways

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

Selenium WebDriver vs Selenium RC

Author Aman Thakur

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Introduction

This article will stress upon, differences between selenium webdriver and Selenium remote control. We'll look at why a selenium webdriver is needed and how it differs from selenium remote control. We'll look into architecture, speed, Object oriented design, mobile application testing, and browser support in depth.

Selenium WebDriver is a cross-platform testing framework that lets you run tests on Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and other browsers. It's a programming interface that allows you to design and execute test scenarios. It communicates natively with browser apps and does not require a core engine like Selenium Remote Control. Selenium WebDriver communicates with the browser directly, utilising browser drivers specific to each browser not only that it has support for various programming language such as Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Perl and PHP. Now Let's get started with discussing the difference.

Architecture

Selenium Remote Control's architecture is difficult since it communicates with the browser through an intermediary Remote Control Server. Before executing the test scripts, one must first install the Remote Control Server, which works as a mediator between your Selenium instructions and your browser.

The following processes are performed internally when we run a test script in Selenium Remote Control.

1. Selenium Core is a JavaScript application that the server injects into the browser.
2. Selenium Core will begin receiving instructions (Selenium commands) from the Remote Control Server after that.
3. Selenium Core will execute all of the instructions as JavaScript commands once they have been received.
4. These JavaScript commands provide the browser instructions.
5. The browser will carry out all of Selenium Core's instructions and send an overall summary to the server. The ultimate result, which is presented on the user's screen, is this comprehensive summary.

In comparison to Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver has a simpler architecture.

The browser is directly controlled by the OS (Operating System). The following are the minimum prerequisites for using WebDriver to execute a test script:

1. Any supported programming language (Java, C#, etc.) with an IDE (Integrated Development Environment).
2. To run the test script's instructions, you'll need a browser.

Speed

Because it communicates directly with the browser rather than utilising an external proxy server, Selenium WebDriver is quicker than Selenium Remote Control. Selenium Remote Control, on the other hand, communicates with the browser through an intermediary Remote Control Server.

Because Selenium Remote Control employs JavaScript commands as instructions to the browser, it takes longer to execute test scripts than WebDriver.

Object Oriented

Selenium WebDriver is a completely object-oriented API, whereas Selenium Remote Control is less so. WebDriver is built exclusively in object-oriented programming languages such as Java, C#, and others.

Testing Mobile Application

Selenium WebDriver supports OS (Operating System) such as iOS, Windows, Mobile, and Android for mobile apps. On the other hand, Selenium Remote Control does not allow testing of mobile apps.

Browser Support

Selenium WebDriver also supports the headless HTMLUnit browser (Invisible Browser). Selenium Remote Control does not support the headless HTMLUnit browser since it requires a real browser.

Check this out : Xpath in Selenium

FAQs

1. What is Selenium RC?
Ans: Selenium RC is an important component of Selenium. It's a testing framework that lets testers and developers create test scripts in a variety of languages in order to automate frontend UI test cases. It comes with a client library and a server that, by default, begins and stops browser sessions.

2. Is Selenium RC still used?
Ans: The significant news is that Selenium RC is no longer active. While everyone who has been using Selenium RC for years has been warned to switch to WebDriver, there are bound to be a few stragglers who will be negatively impacted if they wish to keep upgrading their version of Selenium.

3. What is the Selenium WebDriver utility?
Ans: The Selenium WebDriver programme is used to automate web application testing in order to ensure that it functions properly. It works with a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari. We can, however, automate testing for web applications solely using the Selenium WebDriver.

4. What is Selenium IDE RC and WebDriver?
Ans: The primary distinction between RC and WebDriver is that RC employs a remote control to turn your tests into browser native code; your tests communicate with the remote control, which interacts with the browser, whereas WebDriver interacts directly with the browser without the use of a remote server.

Key Takeaways

If you have reached till here that means you really enjoyed reading this article, here are something which i will wrap up for easier understanding of the article, Selenium WebDriver is quicker than Selenium Remote Control because of its simplified design. Selenium Remote Control, unlike WebDriver, does not support the HtmlUnit browser. Selenium Remote Control uses the Remote Control Server to communicate with the browser, whereas WebDriver communicates directly with the browser. WebDriver is a tool for evaluating web-based applications in a variety of browsers and computer languages.