Learn how to design a test automation framework for automating web-based applications.

Test Automation

Testing the user interface for any application is generally time-consuming when done for each new release. UI test automation is the most common and effective way to simulate the actual user journey and business use cases for any application.

In this module, we’ll learn to design a test automation framework from scratch to automate any web-based application using Java, Selenium, and TestNG. We’ll start by learning the basics of Selenium and TestNG and then learn about build management, logging, and reporting, all of which are key concepts for any QA engineer or developer. By the end of this module, we will successfully create a UI test automation framework.

Design a Test Automation Framework with Selenium and Java

### Need for creating custom annotations 

We can create custom annotations and use them using TestNG configurations methods to make annotations more customizable per your needs.

### Example of custom annotation
As a demonstration, we will create a single `@DataProvider` method that reads from different files with a file to read given in a test method.


An annotation that is applicable to methods that pass on the file path to read data from:

```java
@Retention(java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(java.lang.annotation.ElementType.METHOD)
public @interface DataProviderFile {

	String file() default "";
}
```

`DataProviderFactory` class containing the `@DataProvider` methods:

```java
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

public class DataProviderFactory {

	@DataProvider(name = "data")
	public static Iterator<Object[]> getData(Method method) throws IOException {
		DataProviderFile file = method.getAnnotation(DataProviderFile.class);
		if (file != null) {
			List<Object[]> list = new ArrayList<>();
			for (String line : Files.readAllLines(Paths.get(file.file()))) {
				list.add(new Object[] { line });
			}
			return list.iterator();
		}
		return Collections.emptyIterator();
	}
}
```
In the above code snippet, we are getting the file path that is passed to the `@DataProvider` method using `@DataProviderFile` annotation and transforming the lines in the file to `Object[]` and returning as `Iterator<Object[]>` as expected from `@DataProvider` method.

Test Class passing different files to read from:

```java
public class DataProviderExample {

	@DataProviderFile(file = "sampleA.txt")
	@Test(dataProvider = "data", dataProviderClass = DataProviderFactory.class)
	public void testA(String line) {
		assertNotNull(line);
	}

	@DataProviderFile(file = "sampleB.txt")
	@Test(dataProvider = "data", dataProviderClass = DataProviderFactory.class)
	public void testB(String line) {
		assertNotNull(line);
	}

}
```

In the above test class, both the test methods are using the same `@DataProvider` method but reading from different files that are passed using `@DataProviderFile`. Thus, we are reusing the same `@DataProvider` method instead of writing two different ones.

---

That is it for the details of the TestNG framework. You now know how the different functionalities provide support for effective testing of a UI. There is a quiz in the next lesson for you to solve.

# Need for creating custom annotations 

We can create custom annotations and use them using TestNG configurations methods to make annotations more customizable per your needs.

# Example of custom annotation
As a demonstration, we will create a single `@DataProvider` method that reads from different files with a file to read given in a test method.


An annotation that is applicable to methods that pass on the file path to read data from:

```java
@Retention(java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(java.lang.annotation.ElementType.METHOD)
public @interface DataProviderFile {

	String file() default "";
}
```

`DataProviderFactory` class containing the `@DataProvider` methods:

```java
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

public class DataProviderFactory {

	@DataProvider(name = "data")
	public static Iterator<Object[]> getData(Method method) throws IOException {
		DataProviderFile file = method.getAnnotation(DataProviderFile.class);
		if (file != null) {
			List<Object[]> list = new ArrayList<>();
			for (String line : Files.readAllLines(Paths.get(file.file()))) {
				list.add(new Object[] { line });
			}
			return list.iterator();
		}
		return Collections.emptyIterator();
	}
}
```
In the above code snippet, we are getting the file path that is passed to the `@DataProvider` method using `@DataProviderFile` annotation and transforming the lines in the file to `Object[]` and returning as `Iterator<Object[]>` as expected from `@DataProvider` method.

Test Class passing different files to read from:

```java
public class DataProviderExample {

	@DataProviderFile(file = "sampleA.txt")
	@Test(dataProvider = "data", dataProviderClass = DataProviderFactory.class)
	public void testA(String line) {
		assertNotNull(line);
	}

	@DataProviderFile(file = "sampleB.txt")
	@Test(dataProvider = "data", dataProviderClass = DataProviderFactory.class)
	public void testB(String line) {
		assertNotNull(line);
	}

}
```

In the above test class, both the test methods are using the same `@DataProvider` method but reading from different files that are passed using `@DataProviderFile`. Thus, we are reusing the same `@DataProvider` method instead of writing two different ones.

---

That is it for the details of the TestNG framework. You now know how the different functionalities provide support for effective testing of a UI. There is a quiz in the next lesson for you to solve.

In this topic, we will see how to create a custom annotation and hookup with TestNG configuration methods.

Introduction to UI Test Automation

Selenium WebDriver Basics

TestNG Framework

Build Management

Configuration Management

Logging

Reporting

Designing the UI Test Automation Framework

Sample UI Test Framework

Conclusion

Writing Custom Annotations

Need for creating custom annotations #

Example of custom annotation #