Dropdown menus are a common feature in web applications, and mastering how to handle them efficiently is crucial for automation testers. In this blog post, we will dive into different strategies for dealing with dropdown menus, using examples and insights from real-world scenarios.

When it comes to handling dropdowns in automation testing, there are two main approaches - using click steps or type steps. Let's explore both strategies with practical examples to give you a better understanding.

One common method to interact with dropdown menus is by using click steps. By clicking on specific elements, such as icons or options, testers can trigger the dropdown to appear. This approach is demonstrated when navigating through websites like Google, where clicking on elements reveals dropdown lists.

If the dropdown collapses unexpectedly, a useful tip is to ensure the browser window remains focused during automation tasks. By clicking cancel and replaying the steps without refocusing the browser, testers can successfully interact with dropdown options and validate their functionality.

In certain scenarios, such as dealing with native system dropdowns or specialized menu structures, using type steps can be more effective than multiple click actions. For example, when customizing options on a real estate website, testers can utilize type steps to directly input values into dropdown fields.

Identifying the need for a type step is essential when dropdown menus behave differently, like not generating suggested steps upon interaction. By incorporating type steps into automation scripts, testers can accurately input data and validate dropdown behavior with precision.

To ensure the effectiveness of dropdown handling strategies, testers can simulate interactions by clicking through steps or utilizing playback functions. By testing the automation scripts on different dropdown variations, such as those found on Facebook Marketplace or specialized websites, testers can refine their approach and improve script reliability.

Mastering dropdown menu handling in automation testing requires a combination of strategic approaches and practical insights. By leveraging click steps for standard dropdowns and type steps for complex menu structures, testers can streamline automation scripts and enhance testing efficiency.

Next time you encounter dropdown menus in your automation testing, remember these tips and tricks to navigate through them seamlessly and validate their functionality with ease.

Step 1-Write google.com in URL —Click on Save go to URL

Step 2- Click on Click Step

Step 3- Click on Google option —Click on Confirm

Step 4- Click on click step- Click on Google account—click on confirm

Step 5- Click on type step

Step 6- Select the dropdown options —Click confirm- Click yes i m

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

There are two different ways you're going to handle dropdowns. If we start in automation here, I can show you two basic examples of the different strategies you may use, which is going to be using two click steps or just a type step. So one example of this is if I go to google. com, although this isn't a standard dropdown, it gives you an idea of how some are built.

We can add a click step. To select the grid icon over here, which when we confirm this, we'll show a dropdown or a list of options from the page here. This is just how some websites set up their dropdowns as well. Even though it looks like a, uh, we can call it like a form field. Next, if we wanted to select an option from here, we would record a click step.

And if we see this option go away, we, this is because the browser, sometimes when we go out of focus, it collapses that dropdown. So I didn't know that was going to specifically happen with Google. So this is good to show you in the video. What we can do to handle this is click cancel and then click play on the step that we just ran.

And now that we haven't refocused Chromium, we can never, Unfocus Chromium. So when we click on the click step to record it, Google will no longer close this pop up and we can record this step. So I can select the actual option that I wanted now, and then I'll click confirm. We can test these steps by clicking through these, by clicking the play icon.

And that will allow us to check our work there. There was a suggested step I had clicked as I was leaving this. Um, but this is how you can go about recording that type of a dropdown that is popular. Like I said, on some sites, I believe Facebook marketplace has the same type of setup where you're going to use two click steps to handle it.

Now, an example where it's a little bit different is going to be this real estate website. Let me pull this up really quick. And I may need to go through a couple of clicks here. Let me get a direct URL actually.

Okay, here we go. So this is an example of when we're going to use a type step. So if we wanted to change the options right here in this dropdown that we see, we would want to use a type step instead of two click steps. So this dropdown, you can see it looks a little bit different. It's this native system dropdown with this gray background, the blue highlight.

Windows has its own native thing. You'll notice that also when clicking it, it does not fire any suggested steps. This is one indicator that you may want to use a type step when handling this. So what we can do is add a type step, and then we're going to change this value to whatever else we wanted. And we'll see that that was captured in the list here too.