"Record and play" tools or "Code/script based" tools?

Question

I am new in test automation.

We are going to plan to start test automation for our platforms (iOS, Android and Web). I should decide between "Record and Play" tools (eg. Ranorex) or "Code/script based" tools (eg. Selenium) with C# programming.

I have already tried both Ranorex and Selenium, but I cannot decide which tools should I choose.

I would be so grateful, if you could help me to choose the right tools.

Answer 1

Based on my own experience and the experience of all the professionals I worked with and spoken with it is much better to work with Code/script based tools like Selenium.
The most "problem" in this approach - you will need engineers with good coding skills to perform this job while to make automation with Record and Play tools you can do with less professional staff.

Answer 2

Recored and play for e.g. SELENIUM IDE .

Disadvantage :

1. Works in Mozilla only.
2. No object orientation.

Advantage :

1. Record and play option.
2. Does not require server to start testing.
3. It has UI.
4. Core engine is Javascript based.

for this Code/script based we have Selenium webdriver.

Advantage :

1. Support for multi browser.
2. API's are entirely object oriented.
3. Interacts natively with browser applications.
4. Does not require server to start testing.

Disadvantage :

1. Does not support record and playback and has No UI.

Conclusion :

It depends on your team, budget, software, and there are n number of factors, but My preference has been code, since once you've the code written you can run that code on multiple browser and on multiple platform. so basically you have more coverage with mere changes.

Answer 3

if you go for ranorex you'll get both:

Selenium WebDriver is built into the Ranorex core

Here you can find a list, comparing selenium vs. ranorex