Selenium WebDriver is the industry-standard tool for web automation testing. This comprehensive course covers everything from initial setup to advanced automation techniques, providing you with the skills needed to build robust, maintainable test automation frameworks.

You'll learn WebDriver architecture, browser automation, element location strategies, and advanced techniques for handling dynamic content, frames, and complex web applications.

This course is part of the Frontend (UI) Test Automation Program and provides the foundation for mastering web automation testing.

1. Selenium WebDriver Setup

• •Installation & Configuration: Installing Selenium WebDriver, setting up development environment, configuring IDE (VS Code, IntelliJ, Eclipse)
• •Browser Drivers: ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver (Firefox), EdgeDriver, SafariDriver setup and configuration
• •WebDriverManager: Automatic driver management, driver version management, driver path configuration
• •Project Setup: Creating Maven/Gradle projects, adding Selenium dependencies, project structure best practices
• •TypeScript/JavaScript Setup: npm initialization, installing @types/selenium-webdriver, TypeScript configuration for WebDriver
• •First WebDriver Script: Writing your first automation script, basic browser launch, script execution

2. WebDriver Architecture

• •WebDriver Interface: Understanding the WebDriver interface, driver implementations, browser-specific drivers
• •JSON Wire Protocol: Communication protocol between WebDriver and browsers, HTTP-based communication
• •W3C WebDriver Protocol: Standard WebDriver protocol, modern browser support, protocol commands
• •Driver Architecture: ChromeDriver architecture, GeckoDriver architecture, driver-browser communication
• •Remote WebDriver: Selenium Grid setup, remote execution, distributed testing architecture
• •WebDriver Lifecycle: Driver initialization, session management, driver cleanup and teardown

3. Browser Automation

• •Browser Launch: Launching different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari), browser options configuration
• •Browser Options: ChromeOptions, FirefoxOptions, EdgeOptions, setting preferences and arguments
• •Browser Navigation: get(), navigate().to(), navigate().back(), navigate().forward(), navigate().refresh()
• •Window Management: getWindowHandle(), getWindowHandles(), switchTo().window(), window sizing and positioning
• •Browser Information: getTitle(), getCurrentUrl(), getPageSource(), browser capabilities
• •Headless Mode: Running browsers in headless mode, headless Chrome, headless Firefox, CI/CD integration
• •Browser Profiles: Using existing browser profiles, profile preferences, user data directories

4. Element Location Strategies

• •Locator Types: ID, Name, ClassName, TagName, LinkText, PartialLinkText, CSS Selector, XPath
• •findElement() vs findElements(): Finding single elements, finding multiple elements, handling NoSuchElementException
• •CSS Selectors: Basic CSS selectors, attribute selectors, pseudo-classes, complex CSS selector strategies
• •XPath Strategies: Absolute XPath, relative XPath, XPath axes (parent, child, sibling), XPath functions
• •Best Practices: Locator priority (ID > Name > CSS > XPath), stable locators, avoiding brittle selectors
• •Dynamic Elements: Handling dynamic IDs, waiting for elements, locating elements with changing attributes
• •Element Identification Tools: Browser DevTools, SelectorsHub, ChroPath, element inspection techniques
• •Relative Locators: above(), below(), toLeftOf(), toRightOf(), near() - modern locator strategies

Learning Outcomes

• ✓Set up and configure Selenium WebDriver in your development environment
• ✓Understand WebDriver architecture and browser communication protocols
• ✓Automate browser actions including navigation, window management, and browser options
• ✓Master all element location strategies including CSS selectors and XPath
• ✓Create stable, maintainable locators following best practices