Debugging tests

We have successfully created a number of tests and have seen how we can work against AJAX applications, but unfortunately, creating tests that run perfectly the first time can be difficult. Sometimes, as a test automator, you will need to debug your tests to see what is wrong.

To work through this part of the chapter, you will need to have a test open in Selenium IDE.

These two steps are quite useful when your tests are not running and you want to execute a specific command. They are:

When a test is running, you can press the pause button to pause the test after the step that is currently being run. Once the test has been paused, the step button is no longer disabled and you can press it to step through the test as if you were stepping through an application.

If you are having issues with elements on the page, you can type in their location and then click on the Find button. This will surround the element that you are looking for with a green border that flashes for a few seconds. It should look like the following screenshot:

The echo command is also a good way to write something from your test to the log. This is equivalent to the Console.log code in JavaScript, for example, echo | ${textOnThePage}, as shown in the following screenshot:

Also, remember that if you are trying to debug a test script that you have created with Selenium IDE, you can set breakpoints in your test. You simply right-click on the line and select breakpoint from the list. It will be similar to the following screenshot:

You can also use the keyboard shortcut of B to allow you to do it quicker.