Convert JS tests to Selenium

[takluyver]

We have a number of Javascript tests:

• https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/tree/master/notebook/tests/base
• https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/tree/master/notebook/tests/notebook
• https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/tree/master/notebook/tests

We would like to convert these to use Selenium, in this folder. To run selenium tests, you will need the Selenium Python package and a 'driver' (a backend for it to talk to your browser). Once you have those, you can run:

py.test -v notebook/tests/selenium

This is quite a big task, and it probably won't be done in one pull request, but rather several smaller ones converting individual bits of the tests.

I'm marking this 'good first issue', though it's a bit borderline. It requires a decent understanding of Javascript and Python, but you don't need to know much about Jupyter to translate the tests. It should get easier as more of the tests are translated, because there will be more examples to refer to.

[parkerduckworth]

I would like to take this on. Getting started on it now

[parkerduckworth]

Hmm. It appears that the Selenium IDE is no longer being supported in Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/selenium-ide/

There is a chrome extension, but it is still under development and has a lot of issues. Have we considered Endtest? Are there any other testing frameworks we would consider using?

[takluyver]

The Selenium IDE isn't important to us - I haven't used it at all. We're using Selenium Webdriver, and the Firefox backend is still supported.

[parkerduckworth]

Ah, ok! Can I be assigned this issue?

[varshneydevansh]

I want to contribute to this good first issue.
I am proficient in Python, C++ and Good at JS but need help to get started.

[takluyver]

Github only lets us assign issues to people with push access to the repo, so just commenting that you plan to work on it is sufficient - especially since this is one a large task which multiple people can work on.

You can see the existing JS tests, for example this file. By comparison, here's the initial Selenium test. We want to add a Selenium (Python) version of each JS test, check that it passes, and then delete the JS test.

[takluyver]

PhantomJS has suspended development, providing some extra impetus to make this switch.

[shubhsherl]

I see this is a good first issue.
Can you guide me how can I begin with this?

[sheshtawy]

If no one is working in this issue I'd be happy to help

[takluyver]

This is an issue that can be split up into small pieces, so multiple people can work on it at once. However, as I describe in the first message, it's not the easiest issue. You need to look at the Javascript tests (see the links in the first message), pick a test and understand what it's doing. Then look at the Selenium tests (also linked in the first message), and understand how they work. Then translate the Javascript test you chose to Selenium.

This should get easier as we convert more of the tests, because there will be more examples to look at. @mpacer and I are working on converting some of them, so if you're not sure what to do, I can hopefully point you to an example pull request soon.