Elegant Browser Automation with Python and Selenium

Let's get python downloaded and installed, so we can minimize the possibility of errors and other frustration.

In order to avoid errors and make this course as smooth as possible, we need to set up a virtual environment for you to run your automation in. It's also a skill you'll need as a professional automator!

Don't worry Mac OS and Linux users, I've got you covered! We'll install Python 3.8 and set up your virtual environment to make sure your experience is smooth and error-free!

Before we dive in, let's have a quick discussion about Selenium, browsers, and how the two communicate.

I will walk you through setting up Selenium and ChromeDriver. Next step, your first automation!

For Mac users, adding the location of your webdriver to the PATH environment variable is slightly different than the process on a Windows machine. Follow along as we ensure our machine is set up to use Selenium effectively.

Enough setup, let's automate! We use Python and Selenium (with chromedriver) to open up a Chrome browser and perform a google search.

In order to manipulate elements, we must be able to find them. In this hands-on tutorial we practice finding a variety of elements in the DOM.

Now that we know how to find good locator paths using the console on the browser's developer tools, we can use these paths to create Element objects in python and manipulate these objects, which also manipulates the elements on the page!

There are some situations where we cannot find elements using a unique identifier. We will learn how to leverage the XPATH's tree structure so we can move around the DOM and find the element we need.

It's time to put your new skills to the test! I have created three short challenges for you to overcome using Python and Selenium.

Batman has an awesome utility belt. You should too. We also answer common questions like, "Why is it almost never good to use time.sleep()?" and "What happens if an alert pops up during the automation?"

Learn how to manipulate multiple browser windows at the same time and switch between browser tabs.

Why can't I find elements that are in an iframe? Let's learn how to use webdriver.switch_to.frame() and webdriver.switch_to.default_content() to do just that!

What are Page Objects, and why should we use them? We discuss when they are useful, and when they are harmful.

Let's start with the most common implementation of Page Objects, using functions for each action taken on a web page. This is not the most elegant approach, but it is one of the most common in the industry, and useful for an introduction to the idea of Page Objects. The benefits of upgrading to Base Elements and Base Pages will become apparent very quickly.

Today you learn the secrets of writing fast, non-brittle, readable automation by using Base Elements, Explicit Waits, and properties. This may be the most important lecture in this course, because it is the knowledge that will set you apart from most of the industry. 

Let's wrap up all of the basic browser automation concepts into an elegant script that proves just how fast it can be to write robust, readable automation scripts!

Let's improve our locators so they are more useful, readable, and waste less code.

How can we analyze listings like Amazon or Ebay? How can we solve the Two Merchants problem from the Skills Trial more efficiently? We answer both of these questions as we explore Element Trees, and why they are faster and more efficient than calls to the browser.

In this lecture we learn how to use classes to take advantage of the flexibility of Element Trees.