Question

What is Firebug and how it is useful in Selenium Automation testing

Answer 1

Hello Amit, FireBug is a plugin which comes with Firefox browser, hence it is easily be downloadable from Firefox itself. Firebug integrates with Firefox to lets you can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. Most of the times it is used to Inspect Elements on a Webpage and to get the XPath of the Elements from a Webpage. It is useful with Selenium Automation Testing because of the following points: 

1. View source live : Firefox has a “View Source” window, but it doesn’t show you what the HTML source really looks like once it has been transformed by JavaScript. Firebug’s HTML tab shows you what the HTML looks like right now.

2. See changes highlighted: In any JavaScript-driven website, HTML elements are constantly being created, removed, and modified. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see exactly what, when, and where these changes take place? Firebug highlights changes to the HTML in yellow immediately when they occur. If you want to spy even closer, you have the option to also scroll every change into view, so you won’t miss a thing.

3. Find elements with the mouse: Something in your page doesn’t quite look right and you want to know why. There’s no faster way to get answers than to click the “Inspect” button on Firebug’s toolbar and then prepare for immediate gratification. As you move around the page, whatever is beneath your mouse will be instantly revealed within Firebug, showing you the HTML and CSS behind it.

4. Copy the source: Right-click on any element, and you’ll have several options for copying aspects of that element to the clipboard, including its HTML fragment, the value of its “innerHTML” property, or an XPath expression that identifies the element uniquely.

Hope this helps!

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