3 reasons to switch from Selenium to Functionize (and 2 reasons to stick)

Selenium has been a popular choice for test automation for good reason. It’s open source and free. It can be used to do almost any type of browser testing. It works with a huge range of browsers and scripting languages. It also offers an extensive selection of add-ons, bindings, plug-ins, extensions and software integrations. But development methods are changing with cloud adoption, CI/CD, and AI/ML technology. So, test engineers have to look beyond the traditional Selenium ecosystem to AI-powered tools such as Functionize.

Here, we help you determine when to adopt Functionize versus when Selenium may be the right option for you. 

1. When you have to frequently run automated tests: use Functionize.

Selenium has real problems with handling selector position and functionality changes. Selenium testing can be difficult if your development team uses CI/CD to make frequent changes to the UI. Modern UIs are always evolving—styles change, objects move, buttons are renamed. This amounts to a huge volume of tests to create, run and maintain. Selenium’s features make it challenging to test these UI changes. 

Functionize’s machine learning features allows your testing to self-heal. Your test suite can dynamically learn from its failures. It can adapt the test cases for subsequent runs. The Functionize interface identifies every unusual or unexpected element change during each execution. This makes it easier for you to check exactly what has changed. 

What’s more, Functionize  can detect even the smallest changes in your UI using ML and computer vision. It builds a visual model of your application using data collected during test creation. This allows you to compare elements or full pages in a visual format. It also opens up your test suite to non-coders thanks to the low-code Architect recorder.  

So, use Functionize when you have to create many tests for UIs that change often. It is also your only choice when you want to leverage ML-based visual testing.  

2. When you have tests that need heavy upkeep: use Functionize.

If your test suite has grown in volume and complexity, you might find your team spending a lot of time on heavy upkeep. Functionize can help you mitigate that effort.  

You can now use the Live Debug feature to access test machines and interact with your tests. Live Debug allows you to edit your tests in real time, changing in test workflows, element selections, and verifications with a few clicks. This means you can quickly diagnose test failures or modify tests in clean execution environments.  

You can insert breakpoints in the test or just wait for failures to see where you need to make changes. This approach can save significant wasted time since you can fix tests in real time. So, when you need a robust approach to update and upkeep your test cases, use Functionize. 

3. When you have too many manual tests: use Functionize.

In any application, there is a limit to what you can test using automation. At some point you need human intervention to iron out kinks or review with a qualitative, subjective eye.  

Take for example testing modern signup actions. Many countries need the user to click on a confirmation email to complete the account creation process. In fact, two-factor authentication (2FA) is now the norm for account signups. These actions require data to be passed to a system outside the scope of your application, which is tricky for test automation to handle.  

Another example of manual testing is validating files generated from applications. Say you have to test that the user downloads the correct white paper from your website. Or generate a populated PDF or Excel form to file their taxes.  

Manual testing is typically the appropriate way to handle these types of tests. But if your team is working on these tests frequently, it’s time to consider automating them. Functionize’s File Viewer tool allows you to upload your file or input the raw document, displaying your file as HTML within the browser. This means you can track actions on the file just like any other web page. And Architect makes it easy to add validation steps. So, if you have a lot of tests like this, switch to Functionize.

When should you stick to Selenium?

If you still have many tests that are not automated, you may want to divide them into those that need a lot of upkeep and those that don’t. Consider transitioning Selenium tests that need urgent upkeep to a modern solution like Functionize.

If you have test engineers who are also coders

If your whole test team has the right skills, you can still leverage Selenium. It takes a lot of manual coding to build the testing solution you want in Selenium. But this isn’t a problem if you have skilled engineers who can create and maintain those test scripts. And if your code library is small and not particularly complex, then you can keep the cost of those advanced skill sets and time spent under control too.

If your team doesn’t spend much time on test maintenance

If your team can execute their test cases quickly without much human involvement, then Selenium can work for you. However, Selenium does not have built-in reporting capabilities which may be a problem. If not, smaller, leaner teams can still use Selenium without falling into a spiral of increasing test debt.

Conclusions

If you are considering transitioning to Functionize, speak to our team. We will guide you step by step to get you easily through the transition. We help you with ROI assessment, training, implementation and support. Book a demo today to find out how Functionize can help you optimize your test automation.