The release of Selenium 4.26, packed with exciting features, key enhancements, and crucial bug fixes! Whether you use Selenium in JavaScript, Ruby, Python, .NET, Java, or for the Grid, this update has something for everyone. Let’s peek into the highlights!

🚨 General Updates

1. Chrome DevTools Support
   Selenium now supports Chrome DevTools Protocol versions v130, v129, and v128. (Firefox still uses v85 across all versions).
2. Growing User Base
   Selenium’s popularity continues to skyrocket, with over 4.8 million active users in the last 30 days—an impressive jump of 800k users in just one month!
3. Selenium Manager Enhancements
   Improved handling of invalid browser versions and enhanced logging make managing browsers smoother than ever.
4. Grid UI Improvements
   • New sorting options by Platform, Status, and ID.
   • Display session timeouts.
   • Enhanced WebSocket connection management.
5. CI/CD Pipeline Upgrades
   Updates to artifact handling and testing configurations streamline workflows for better stability and productivity.

🌟 Highlights by Language

.NET

• Enhanced BiDi (Bidirectional WebDriver Protocol):
  • Improved WebSocket communication and CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) integration.
  • Expanded logging for better debugging.
• Added support for the GetLog command in Remote WebDriver.
• Upgraded PrintOptions for finer control over page dimensions and margins.
• Deprecated old constructors for cleaner exception handling and improved AOT compatibility.

Java

• Improved Appium compatibility with extended property scopes.
• Bug fixes for ChromiumDriver and PortProber with updated SpotBugs settings.
• PAC Proxy URL support added to Selenium Manager, expanding proxy configurations.

Python

• Enhanced internal logging for CDP and better WebDriver HTTP client configurations.
• Deprecated old EdgeService parameters and removed outdated Python 2.x code.
• Aligned WebDriverWait polling between Java and Python for consistent behavior.

JavaScript

• Improved BiDi session management by closing WebSocket connections at session end.
• Fixed sendKeys issues, addressing errors in FileDetector handling.

Ruby

• Added RBS type support for BiDi-related classes.
• Updated BiDi script structures for compliance with recent specifications.

Selenium Grid

• Enhanced Grid UI with improved sorting and session management.
• Enabled asynchronous requests in HTTPClient for better performance.
• Improved node handling for scalability and stability.

Docker Selenium

• Updated FFmpeg to v7.1 for video recording.
• New Helm chart updates for Kubernetes deployment.
• Added GraphQL metrics exporter for monitoring.
• Templates for Relay nodes and customizable videoRecorder configurations.

🎉 20 Years of Selenium

2024 marks 20 years of Selenium revolutionizing browser automation! Selenium started as an open-source project with humble beginnings. It has become the go-to tool for testers and developers worldwide. Selenium has reshaped the automation landscape.

In celebration, the team hosted a special webinar on October 28, 2024. They discussed the journey so far. The future of WebDriver BiDi was also a topic. They talked about what lies ahead.

💻 Ready to Upgrade?

Head over to the official Selenium downloads page and get started with Selenium 4.26.

Until next time, happy automating! ✨