5 ms·

Show HN: Open-Source Selenium IDE Light Extension for Chrome, Kantu for Chrome

38 points by a9t9 9y ago

chickenfries 9y ago
Tried it and I have a few questions about how to use it: Am I supposed to visit the url I want to start from, even after entering the base url? I was expecting it to open a tab with the base url. How do I take the JSON export and run it with selenium? We have a bunch of selenium tests at work that are extremely fragile and generated by coding instead of something that records actions like this. It takes a long time to write tests and no one does it as a result. I would love to get to a system where the tests are created like this and saved to a folder where CI can run them.
- a9t9 9y ago
  Thanks for testing ;) The documentation is still very basic. I made a quick screencast just now and put it on https://a9t9.com/kantu/web-automation/chrome#video https://a9t9.com/kantu/web-automation/chrome#video In Chrome, you first navigate to the page that you want to automate/test, and then start record. For use with the Firefox Selenium IDE, use the "HTML" export (not JSON). Then, in the Firefox IDE, you can import these macros simply via the "Open" menu.
- smoll 9y ago
  In my experience, record & playback tools (like Selenium IDE) generate test code that is a lot more fragile than tests written in code from scratch. I suppose if no one knows how to write anti-fragile tests or it takes way too long, then using a tool like this is a step up. But keep in mind that you may be trading one problem (no one wants to write tests) for another (what the hell are these autogenerated tests even doing? this isn't a regression, it's a feature! etc.)
  - chickenfries 9y ago
    > I suppose if no one knows how to write anti-fragile tests or it takes way too long, then using a tool like this is a step up. This is kind of the situation I'm in, but I see how you could get yourself in a position where you have no idea what your longer integration tests do because they're generated by Selenium IDE. Browser integration testing is hard.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
zootam 9y ago
neat, any idea on how long it will take to add asserting/verifying stuff?
- a9t9 9y ago
  Not very long... Assert, frame/iframe and EVAL support are next on the list. Plus fixing any bugs that might show up. For bug reports and feature requests you can email us (team AT a9t9.com) or simply open a github ticket: https://github.com/A9T9/Kantu-for-Chrome/issues https://github.com/A9T9/Kantu-for-Chrome/issues
navalsaini 9y ago
Is it safe to use it? Are my username, passwords and important numbers accessible to chrome extensions?
- a9t9 9y ago
  Extension can/could read all data that you enter in websites. So you should only install extensions from trusted sources/developers. And/or: What I do is to have one Chrome profile for important websites (e. g. online banking) and another one for the casual web surfing. This "casual" profile is where I try out all new extensions. And only the ones I really need are used in the "secure" profile as well.
defied 9y ago
Nice work! We work on a cloud-based Selenium grid [1] that can run both WebDriver and Selenium IDE. I just tried your plugin and exported a test as HTML, uploaded it and was immediately able to run the test on all the browsers in our cloud. [1] https://testingbot.com https://testingbot.com

38 points by a9t9 9y ago

Tried it and I have a few questions about how to use it: Am I supposed to visit the url I want to start from, even after entering the base url? I was expecting it to open a tab with the base url. How do I take the JSON export and run it with selenium? We have a bunch of selenium tests at work that are extremely fragile and generated by coding instead of something that records actions like this. It takes a long time to write tests and no one does it as a result. I would love to get to a system where the tests are created like this and saved to a folder where CI can run them.

a9t9 9y ago
Thanks for testing ;) The documentation is still very basic. I made a quick screencast just now and put it on https://a9t9.com/kantu/web-automation/chrome#video https://a9t9.com/kantu/web-automation/chrome#video In Chrome, you first navigate to the page that you want to automate/test, and then start record. For use with the Firefox Selenium IDE, use the "HTML" export (not JSON). Then, in the Firefox IDE, you can import these macros simply via the "Open" menu.
smoll 9y ago
In my experience, record & playback tools (like Selenium IDE) generate test code that is a lot more fragile than tests written in code from scratch. I suppose if no one knows how to write anti-fragile tests or it takes way too long, then using a tool like this is a step up. But keep in mind that you may be trading one problem (no one wants to write tests) for another (what the hell are these autogenerated tests even doing? this isn't a regression, it's a feature! etc.)
- chickenfries 9y ago
  > I suppose if no one knows how to write anti-fragile tests or it takes way too long, then using a tool like this is a step up. This is kind of the situation I'm in, but I see how you could get yourself in a position where you have no idea what your longer integration tests do because they're generated by Selenium IDE. Browser integration testing is hard.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

zootam 9y ago

neat, any idea on how long it will take to add asserting/verifying stuff?

a9t9 9y ago
Not very long... Assert, frame/iframe and EVAL support are next on the list. Plus fixing any bugs that might show up. For bug reports and feature requests you can email us (team AT a9t9.com) or simply open a github ticket: https://github.com/A9T9/Kantu-for-Chrome/issues https://github.com/A9T9/Kantu-for-Chrome/issues

navalsaini 9y ago

Is it safe to use it? Are my username, passwords and important numbers accessible to chrome extensions?

a9t9 9y ago
Extension can/could read all data that you enter in websites. So you should only install extensions from trusted sources/developers. And/or: What I do is to have one Chrome profile for important websites (e. g. online banking) and another one for the casual web surfing. This "casual" profile is where I try out all new extensions. And only the ones I really need are used in the "secure" profile as well.

defied 9y ago

Nice work! We work on a cloud-based Selenium grid [1] that can run both WebDriver and Selenium IDE. I just tried your plugin and exported a test as HTML, uploaded it and was immediately able to run the test on all the browsers in our cloud. [1] https://testingbot.com https://testingbot.com