Writing Your First Selenium Script in Java

 Selenium is one of the most popular tools for automating web browsers. It allows testers and developers to simulate user actions on web applications, making it easier to test and validate functionality. If you’re new to Selenium and working with Java, this guide will walk you through writing your first Selenium script step-by-step.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is an open-source automation tool used for testing web applications across different browsers and platforms. It supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Python, C#, and JavaScript. In this blog, we’ll focus on Selenium WebDriver with Java.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

Java Development Kit (JDK)

Eclipse IDE or IntelliJ IDEA

Selenium WebDriver (Java bindings)

Chrome browser

ChromeDriver executable

Setting Up Your Project

Open Eclipse and create a new Java project.

Right-click on the src folder, select New → Class, and name it FirstSeleniumTest.

Download the Selenium WebDriver Java client from the official Selenium website.

Add the Selenium .jar files to your project:

Right-click on your project → Build Path → Configure Build Path

Under Libraries, click Add External JARs

Select the downloaded Selenium .jar files and click Apply and Close

Writing the Selenium Script

Here is a simple Selenium script that opens Chrome, navigates to Google, and searches for “Selenium WebDriver”.

java

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import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class FirstSeleniumTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Set the path to the ChromeDriver

        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");

        // Create a new instance of ChromeDriver

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

        // Navigate to Google

        driver.get("https://www.google.com");

        // Find the search box

        WebElement searchBox = driver.findElement(By.name("q"));

        // Enter search keyword

        searchBox.sendKeys("Selenium WebDriver");

        // Submit the search

        searchBox.submit();

        // Wait for a few seconds to see the results

        try {

            Thread.sleep(3000);

        } catch (InterruptedException e) {

            e.printStackTrace();

        }

        // Close the browser

        driver.quit();

    }

}

Note: Replace "path/to/chromedriver" with the actual path of your ChromeDriver file.

What This Script Does

Sets up the WebDriver to use Chrome.

Opens the Google homepage.

Locates the search input field using its name attribute.

Enters a search term and submits the form.

Waits briefly before closing the browser.

Conclusion

Writing your first Selenium script in Java is simple once your environment is set up. With just a few lines of code, you can automate tasks that would otherwise be repetitive and time-consuming. As you progress, you can explore more advanced concepts like waits, page object models, data-driven testing, and integrating with testing frameworks like TestNG or JUnit.

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