TestNG Interview Questions

Last updated on October 28, 2020

TestNG is one of the most widely used testing frameworks for both unit and
automated testing. In this tutorial, we have compiled the top frequently asked
testNG interview questions and answers for both fresher and experienced
professionals.
If you want to learn about TestNG, you can also check our – TestNG Tutorial.
For Selenium-TestNG Interview Questions, check – Top Selenium Interview
Questions.

Ques.1. What is TestNG?

Ans. TestNG(NG for Next Generation) is a testing framework that can be
integrated with selenium or any other automation tool to provide multiple
capabilities like assertions, reporting, parallel test execution, etc.

Ques.2. What are some advantages of TestNG?

Ans. Following are the advantages of TestNG-

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 1. TestNG provides different assertions that help in checking the expected
and actual results.
2. It provides parallel execution of test methods.
3. We can define the dependency of one test method over others in
TestNG.
4. We can assign priority to test methods in Selenium.
5. It allows grouping of test methods into test groups.
6. It allows data-driven testing using @DataProvider annotation.
7. It has inherent support for reporting.
8. It has support for parameterizing test cases using @Parameters
annotation.

Ques.3. How is TestNG different from Selenium WebDriver?

Ans. Selenium is an automation tool using which we can automate web-based
applications. In order to add testing capabilities in the Test Automation suites –
Selenium is clubbed with TestNG. With TestNG, we can have different features
in our automation suite like different types of assertions, reporting, parallel
execution, and parameterization, etc.
In short, for doing Automation Testing, Selenium helps with ‘automation’ and
TestNG helps with ‘testing’ capabilities.

Ques.4. What is the use of testng.xml file?

Ans. The testng.xml file is used for configuring the whole test suite. In testng.xml
file, we can create a test suite, create test groups, mark tests for parallel
execution, add listeners, and pass parameters to test scripts. We can also use
this testng.xml file for triggering the test suite from the command
prompt/terminal or Jenkins.

Ques.5. How can we group test cases like separate test cases for Sanity
suite, Regression suite, etc?

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Ans. Using groups attribute in TestNG, we can assign the test methods to
different groups.

//Test method belonging to sanity suite only

@Test(groups = {"sanitySuite"})
public void testMethod1() {
//Test logic
}

//Test method belonging to both sanity and regression suite

@Test(groups = {"sanitySuite", "regressionSuite"})
public void testMethod2() {
//Test logic
}

Ques.6. How can we exclude a Test method from getting executed via
testng.xml file?
Ans. Using the exclude tag in testng.xml file, we can exclude a particular test
method from getting executed.

<suite name="Test Suite" verbose="1">

<test name="TestName">
<classes>
<class name="TestClassName">
<methods>
<exclude name="testMethodToBeExcluded"/>
</methods>
</class>
</classes>
</test>
</suite>

Ques.7. What are some commonly used TestNG annotations?

Ans. The commonly used TestNG annotations are-

@Test – @Test annotation marks a method as a Test method.

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 @BeforeSuite – The annotated method will run only once before all tests
in this suite have run.
@AfterSuite – The annotated method will run only once after all tests in
this suite have run.
@BeforeClass – The annotated method will run only once before the first
test method in the current class is invoked.
@AfterClass – The annotated method will run only once after all the test
methods in the current class have been run.
@BeforeTest – The annotated method will run before any test method
belonging to the classes inside the <test> tag is run.
@AfterTest – The annotated method will run after all the test methods
belonging to the classes inside the <test> tag have run.
@BeforeMethod – The annotated method will run before each test
method marked by @Test annotation.
@AfterMethod – The annotated method will run after each test method
marked by @Test annotation.
@DataProvider – The @DataProvider annotation is used to pass test
data to the test method. The test method will run as per the number of
rows of data passed via the data provider method.

Ques.8. What is the order of execution of the test method based on the
different annotations?
Ans. The test methods in TestNG follow the Suite->Test->Class->Method
sequence combined with the Before annotions->Test annotations->After
annotations sequence. So, the order of execution is-
@BeforeSuite
@BeforeTest
@BeforeClass
@BeforeMethod
@Test
@AfterMethod
@AfterClass

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 @AfterTest
@AfterSuite

Ques.9. What are some common assertions provided by TestNG?

Ans. Some of the common assertions provided by testNG are-

1. assertEquals(String actual, String expected, String message) and other

overloaded data types in parameter
2. assertNotEquals(double data1, double data2, String message) and other
overloaded data types in parameter
3. assertFalse(boolean condition, String message)
4. assertTrue(boolean condition, String message)
5. assertNotNull(Object object)
6. fail(boolean condition, String message)
7. true(String message)

Ques.10. How can we disable or prevent a test case from running?

Ans. By setting the “enabled” attribute as false, we can disable a test method
from running.

//In case of a test method

@Test(enabled = false)
public void testMethod1() {
//Test logic
}

//In case of test method belonging to a group

@Test(groups = {"NegativeTests"}, enabled = false)
public void testMethod2() {
//Test logic
}

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Ques.11. How can we make one test method dependent on others using
TestNG?
Ans. Using dependsOnMethods parameter inside @Test annotation in TestNG
we can make one test method run only after the successful execution of the
dependent test method.

@Test(dependsOnMethods = { "preTests" })

Ques.12. How can we set the priority of test cases in TestNG?

Ans. We can define the priority of test cases using the “priority” parameter in
@Test annotation. The tests with lower priority value will get executed first.
Example-

@Test(priority=1)

Ques.13. What is the default priority of test cases in TestNG?

Ans. The default priority of a test when not specified is integer value 0. So, if we
have one test case with priority 1 and one without any priority then the test
without any priority value will get executed first (as default value will be 0 and
tests with lower priority are executed first).

Ques.14. How can we run a Test method multiple times in a loop(without

using any data provider)?
Ans. Using invocationCount parameter and setting its value to an integer value,
makes the test method to run n number of times in a loop.

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 @Test(invocationCount = 10)
public void invocationCountTest(){
//Test logic
}

Ques.15. What is threadPoolSize? How can we use it?

Ans. The threadPoolSize attribute specifies the number of threads to be
assigned to the test method. This is used in conjunction
with invocationCount attribute. The number of threads will get divided with the
number of iterations of the test method specified in the invocationCount
attribute.

@Test(threadPoolSize = 5, invocationCount = 10)

public void threadPoolTest(){
//Test logic
}

Ques.16. What is the difference between soft assertion and hard assertion
in TestNG?
Ans. Soft assertions (SoftAssert) allows us to have multiple assertions within a
test method, even when an assertion fails the test method continues with the
remaining test execution. The result of all the assertions can be collated at the
end using softAssert.assertAll() method.

@Test
public void softAssertionTest(){
SoftAssert softAssert= new SoftAssert();

//Assertion failing
softAssert.fail();
System.out.println("Failing");
//Assertion passing
softAssert.assertEquals(1, 1);
System.out.println("Passing");
Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 //Collates test results and marks them pass or fail
softAssert.assertAll();
}

Here, even though the first assertion fails still the test will continue with
execution and print the message below the second assertion.
Hard assertions on the other hand are the usual assertions provided by TestNG.
In case of hard assertion in case of any failure, the test execution stops,
preventing the execution of any further steps within the test method.

Ques.17. How to fail a testNG test if it doesn’t get executed within a

specified time?
Ans. We can use the timeOut attribute of @Test annotation. The value
assigned to this timeOut attribute will act as an upperbound, if test doesn’t get
executed within this time frame then it will fail with timeOut exception.

@Test(timeOut = 1000)
public void timeOutTest() throws InterruptedException {
//Sleep for 2sec so that test will fail
Thread.sleep(2000);
System.out.println("Will throw Timeout exception!");
}

Ques.18. How can we skip a test case conditionally?

Ans. Using SkipException, we can conditionally skip a test case. On throwing
the skipException, the test method is marked as skipped in the test execution
report and any statement after throwing the exception will not get executed.

@Test
public void testMethod(){
if(conditionToCheckForSkippingTest)
throw new SkipException("Skipping the test");
//test logic
}

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Ques.19. How can we make sure a test method runs even if the test
methods or groups on which it depends fail or get skipped?
Ans. Using “alwaysRun” attribute of @Test annotation, we can make sure the
test method will run even if the test methods or groups on which it depends fail
or get skipped.

@Test
public void parentTest() {
Assert.fail("Failed test");
}
@Test(dependsOnMethods={"parentTest"}, alwaysRun=true)
public void dependentTest() {
System.out.println("Running even if parent test failed");
}

Here, even though the parentTest failed, the dependentTest will not get skipped
instead it will executed because of “alwaysRun=true”. In case, we remove the
“alwaysRun=true” attribute from @Test then the report will show one failure and
one skipped test, without trying to run the dependentTest method.

Ques.20. How can we pass the parameter to test script using TestNG?
Ans. Using @Parameter annotation and ‘parameter’ tag in testng.xml we can
pass parameters to test scripts.
Sample testng.xml –

<suite name="sampleTestSuite">
<test name="sampleTest">
<parameter name="sampleParamName" value="sampleParamValue"/>
<classes>
<class name="TestFile" />
</classes>
</test>
</suite>

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Sample test script-

public class TestFile {

@Test
@Parameters("sampleParamName")
public void parameterTest(String paramValue) {
System.out.println("Value of sampleParamName is - " + sampleParamNam
}

Ques.21. How can we create data driven framework using TestNG?

Ans. Using @DataProvider we can create a data-driven framework in which
data is passed to the associated test method and multiple iterations of the test
run for the different test data values passed from the @DataProvider method.
The method annotated with @DataProvider annotation return a 2D array of
object.

//Data provider returning 2D array of 3*2 matrix

@DataProvider(name = "dataProvider1")
public Object[][] dataProviderMethod1() {
return new Object[][] {{"kuldeep","rana"}, {"k1","r1"},{"k2","r2"}};
}
//This method is bound to the above data provider returning 2D array of 3*2 m
//The test case will run 3 times with different set of values
@Test(dataProvider = "dataProvider1")
public void sampleTest(String s1, String s2) {
System.out.println(s1 + " " + s2);
}

Ques.22. What is the use of @Listener annotation in TestNG?

Ans. TestNG provides us different kinds of listeners using which we can perform
some action in case an event gets triggered. Usually, testNG listeners are used
for configuring reports and logging. One of the most widely used listeners in

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 testNG is ITestListener interface. It has methods like onTestSuccess,
onTestFailure, onTestSkipped etc. We need to implement this interface creating
a listener class of our own. After that using the @Listener annotation we can
use specify that for a particular test class our customized listener class should
be used.

@Listeners(PackageName.CustomizedListenerClassName.class)
public class TestClass {
WebDriver driver= new FirefoxDriver();@Test
public void testMethod(){
//test logic
}
}

Ques.23. What is the use of @Factory annotation in TestNG?

Ans. @Factory annotation helps in the dynamic execution of test cases. Using
@Factory annotation we can pass parameters to the whole test class at run
time. The parameters passed can be used by one or more test methods of that
class.
Example – there are two classes TestClass and the TestFactory class. Because
of the @Factory annotation, the test methods in class TestClass will run twice
with the data “k1” and “k2”

public class TestClass{

private String str;

//Constructor
public TestClass(String str) {
this.str = str;
}

@Test
public void TestMethod() {
System.out.println(str);
}
}

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 public class TestFactory{
//The test methods in class TestClass will run twice with data "k1" and "k2"
@Factory
public Object[] factoryMethod() {
return new Object[] { new TestClass("K1"), new TestClass("k2") };
}
}

Ques.24. What is the difference between @Factory and @DataProvider

annotation?
Ans. @Factory method creates instances of test class and run all the test
methods in that class with a different set of data.
Whereas, @DataProvider is bound to individual test methods and run the
specific methods multiple times.

Ques.25. How can we run test cases in parallel using TestNG?

Ans. In order to run the tests in parallel just add these two key-value pairs inside
the suite tag of the testng.xml file-

parallel=”{methods/tests/classes}”
thread-count=”{number of thread you want to run simultaneously}”.

<suite name="ArtOfTestingTestSuite" parallel="methods" thread-count="5">

Check Running Selenium Tests in parallel for details.

This completes our comprehensive list of TestNG interview questions. For

learning more about TestNG, you can also check our complete – TestNG
Tutorial. If you think we have missed any of the popular interview questions on
TestNG, do let us know in comments.

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Kuldeep Rana
Kuldeep is the founder and lead author of ArtOfTesting. He is skilled in
test automation, performance testing, big data, and CI-CD. He brings
his decade of experience to his current role where he is dedicated to
educating the QA professionals. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

Interview

10 thoughts on “TestNG Interview Questions”

Shruti Bhatt
April 27, 2020 at 11:32 am

Nice One… Questions are interesting and easy to understand…. Keep

sharing! 🙂

Reply

Kuldeep Rana
April 27, 2020 at 12:19 pm

Thanks for the feedback, Shruti.

Reply

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Vaijayanti Kulkarni
October 20, 2020 at 10:37 pm

Very useful for preparing job interview

Good work

Reply

Kuldeep Rana
October 21, 2020 at 9:15 am

Thanks Vaijayanti 🙂

Reply

Nikita
October 21, 2020 at 4:13 am

This is helpful for a quick glance before interviews

Reply

Kuldeep Rana
October 21, 2020 at 9:14 am

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Thanks for your feedback 🙂

Reply

Nithya
February 1, 2021 at 7:39 pm

This is very.v.v.helpful. I see most of the interview questions got

covered.

Reply

Mohammad Aafaque
April 12, 2021 at 11:59 pm

Excellent collection!!!

Reply

Samson Edward
July 26, 2021 at 1:43 pm

Excellent Collection nice to have in one website have all the topics are
covered

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Reply

Saimadhuri
October 29, 2021 at 6:00 pm

Superb content. Thanks for covering all the concepts at one place.

Reply

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com