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May 14, 2025 23:23
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Selenium WebDriver with C# Cheatsheet

A comprehensive cheat sheet for using Selenium WebDriver with C#, covering setup, basic operations, element interactions, waits, and best practices. Ideal for beginners and intermediate users.

Setup and Basic Operations

Installation via NuGet

Install Selenium WebDriver and browser-specific drivers (e.g., ChromeDriver) using NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio.

Install-Package Selenium.WebDriver
Install-Package Selenium.WebDriver.ChromeDriver

Ensure the correct version of the ChromeDriver is installed to match your Chrome browser version.

Project Setup

  1. Create a new C# project in Visual Studio (e.g., Console App or Test Project).
  2. Add references to the installed Selenium WebDriver packages.

Basic Browser Operations

Opening a browser:

 
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

Navigating to a URL:

 
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

Closing the browser:

 
driver.Quit();

Maximize window:

 
driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();

Refresh page:

 
driver.Navigate().Refresh();

Finding and Interacting with Elements

Finding Elements

By ID:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.Id("elementId"));

By Name:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.Name("elementName"));

By XPath:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.XPath("//div[@class='example']"));

By CSS Selector:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector(".exampleClass"));

By Tag Name:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("h1"));

By Class Name:

 
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.ClassName("example"));

Finding Multiple Elements:

 
IList<IWebElement> elements = driver.FindElements(By.XPath("//div"));

Interacting with Elements

Clicking an element:

 
element.Click();

Sending keys (typing text):

 
element.SendKeys("Hello, Selenium!");

Clearing text:

 
element.Clear();

Getting an attribute value:

 
string attributeValue = element.GetAttribute("value");

Getting text of an element:

 
string elementText = element.Text;

Waits and Handling Popups

Implicit Waits

Implicit waits tell WebDriver to wait for a certain amount of time when trying to find an element if it is not immediately available.

driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitWait = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10);

Note: Avoid mixing implicit and explicit waits.

Explicit Waits

Explicit waits allow you to wait for a certain condition to be met before proceeding.

using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
IWebElement element = wait.Until(ExpectedConditions.ElementIsVisible(By.Id("elementId")));

Common ExpectedConditions:

  • ElementIsVisible
  • ElementToBeClickable
  • PresenceOfAllElementsLocatedBy
  • TitleContains
  • AlertIsPresent

Handling Alerts

Switching to an alert:

 
IAlert alert = driver.SwitchTo().Alert();

Accepting an alert:

 
alert.Accept();

Dismissing an alert:

 
alert.Dismiss();

Getting alert text:

 
string alertText = alert.Text;

Handling Iframes

Switching to an iframe by index:

 
driver.SwitchTo().Frame(0);

Switching to an iframe by name or ID:

 
driver.SwitchTo().Frame("iframeName");

Switching back to the main document:

 
driver.SwitchTo().DefaultContent();

Advanced Interactions, Screenshots, and Test Frameworks

Advanced Interactions

Hovering over an element:

 
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.MoveToElement(element).Perform();

Right-clicking an element:

 
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.ContextClick(element).Perform();

Drag and drop:

 
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.DragAndDrop(sourceElement, targetElement).Perform();

Sending keyboard actions:

 
element.SendKeys(Keys.Enter);

Screenshots

Taking a screenshot:

ITakesScreenshot screenshotDriver = driver as ITakesScreenshot;
Screenshot screenshot = screenshotDriver.GetScreenshot();
screenshot.SaveAsFile("screenshot.png", ScreenshotImageFormat.Png);

Test Framework Integration (NUnit)

Basic NUnit setup:

using NUnit.Framework;

[TestFixture]
public class MyTestClass
{
    IWebDriver driver;

    [SetUp]
    public void Setup()
    {
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
    }

    [Test]
    public void MyTestMethod()
    {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");
        Assert.AreEqual("Example Domain", driver.Title);
    }

    [TearDown]
    public void TearDown()
    {
        driver.Quit();
    }
}
  • [SetUp] runs before each test.
  • [Test] marks a method as a test method.
  • [TearDown] runs after each test.

Best Practices

Page Object Model (POM)

The Page Object Model (POM) is a design pattern that creates an object repository for web elements. Each page in the application has its own class, which defines the elements and methods to interact with them.

Benefits:

  • Improves code reusability.
  • Reduces code duplication.
  • Increases maintainability.

Example:

public class LoginPage
{
    private IWebDriver driver;
    private IWebElement usernameField => driver.FindElement(By.Id("username"));
    private IWebElement passwordField => driver.FindElement(By.Id("password"));
    private IWebElement loginButton => driver.FindElement(By.Id("login"));

    public LoginPage(IWebDriver driver)
    {
        this.driver = driver;
    }

    public void EnterUsername(string username)
    {
        usernameField.SendKeys(username);
    }

    public void EnterPassword(string password)
    {
        passwordField.SendKeys(password);
    }

    public void ClickLogin()
    {
        loginButton.Click();
    }
}

Configuration Management

Store configuration settings (e.g., browser type, base URL) in a configuration file (e.g., appsettings.json) or environment variables.

// Example using ConfigurationManager
string browserType = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["BrowserType"];

Reusability and Maintainability Tips

  • Write reusable methods for common actions (e.g., login, navigation).
  • Use descriptive names for variables and methods.
  • Add comments to explain complex logic.
  • Keep test methods short and focused.
  • Regularly review and refactor code.