Configure Selenium-Java Webdriver in Eclipse
Welcome to the Selenium-Java series. This is the first tutorial in this series. In this tutorial we are going
to study about selenium-webdriver overview plus how to download and configure selenium-java jars in
eclipse from scratch!!
What you will Learn:
Selenium Webdriver overview
Selenium Webdriver Architecture
Java API document
Limitations of WebDriver
Create Java project in eclipse
First Java class
Add Selenium java jars in eclipse
Selenium Webdriver overview:
Selenium is a browser automation tool which interacts with browser and automate end to end tests of a
web application. It is a suite of tools: Selenium IDE (for record and playback), Selenium grid (to execute
tests in parallel in different browsers/machines) and Selenium webdriver. We will be using selenium
webdriver for automation.
1. Selenium WebDriver is a browser automation framework that accepts commands and sends
them to a browser. It is implemented through a browser-specific (chrome, Mozilla, IE) driver. It
controls the browser by directly communicating with it. Selenium WebDriver supports Java, C#,
PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby.
2. Operation System Support – Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Solaris
3. Browser Support – Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Android,
iOS, HtmlUnit
Selenium Webdriver Architecture:
See figure 1. There are 4 components of Selenium architecture:
1) Selenium client library/Language bindings:- Selenium Developers have developed language bindings
to allow Selenium to support multiple languages libraries such as Java, Ruby, Python, etc.
2) JSON Wire Protocol over HTTP:- JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is used to transfer data
between HTTP server and a client on the web. Each BrowserDriver (such as FirefoxDriver, ChromeDriver
etc.,) has its own HTTP server.
3) Browser Drivers:- Each browser has its own separate browser driver. Browser drivers communicate
with respective browser. When a browser driver receives any command then that command will be
executed on the respective browser and the response will go back in the form of HTTP response.
4) Real Browsers:- Selenium supports multiple browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari etc.
Figure 1
Java API document:
Go to the website https://www.seleniumhq.org/download/ & click the API docs seen against Java
Figure 2
The below page comes up. On the left hand panel, search for WebDriver. Since WebDriver is an
interface, it is seen in italics. As can be seen on the right hand panel, all the web browers (example,
chrome driver etc) implement this interface. We will study more about this interface in further
tutorials.
Figure 3
Limitations of WebDriver:
WebDriver Cannot Readily Support New Browsers. Remember that WebDriver operates on the OS
level. Also, remember that different browsers communicate with the OS in different ways. If a new
browser comes out, it may have a different process of communicating with the OS as compared to
other browsers. So, you have to give the WebDriver team quite some time to figure that new
process out before they can implement it on the next WebDriver release. However, it is up to the
WebDriver's team of developers to decide if they should support the new browser or not.
Create Java project in eclipse:
File >New >Java project
Figure 4
Enter java project name
Figure 5
Next, you see that, DAY1 project would be created that will contain src folder
Figure 6
Finish. Now, right click on DAY1 project
Figure 7
Click ‘Properties’ >click ‘Java Build Path’ >click ‘Libraries’ tab. You will see that java libraries are already
added, see below
Figure 8
First Java class:
Create first java class having the main method. To do that, expand DAY1 folder & right click ‘src’ folder >
click ‘New’ > click ‘Other’, see below
Figure 9
The below window comes up. Expand ‘Java’ & select ‘Class’, see below
Figure 10
Click ‘Next’, below window comes up. Enter class name ‘Demo’ & select the checkbox
‘public static void main(String[] args)
Figure 11
Click Finish. Write the print statement System.out.println("Welcome!"); as seen below
Figure 12
Right click on the program > Run As > Java Application, see below
Figure 13
You would see ‘Welcome!’ gets printed in console.
Figure 14
Add Selenium Java jars in eclipse:
Now this java project DAY1 that we have created does NOT have any knowledge about selenium. So let
us add that knowledge by adding selenium jars. Selenium is not a tool. It’s a jar file package. Go
to official website https://selenium.dev/ > Downloads >you will see the current version of
selenium-java jars is 3.141.59
Figure 15
Click ‘Download’ link >unzip jars
Figure 16
Go inside selenium-java-3.141.59 folder. You will see few jars outside ‘libs’ folder
Figure 17
Go inside ‘libs’ folder. You will see few jars inside ‘libs’ folder
Figure 18
Go to java build path (Right click on DAY1 project >Click ‘Properties’ >click ‘Java Build Path’ >click
‘Libraries’ tab)
Figure 19
Click ‘Add External jars’, the below window comes up. Browse to the location in your machine where
you have downloaded the selenium jars, see below. Select all the jars outside ‘libs’ folder
Figure 20
Click ‘Open’. The jars should be seen as added in the ‘Java Build Path’ like seen below
Figure 21
Click ‘Add External jars’. Select all the jars inside ‘libs’ folder like seen below
Figure 22
Click ‘Open’. So we should see all the jars added in the ‘Java Build Path’ like seen below (7 jars in this
case)
Figure 23
Click ‘Apply and close’. So we have now made a connection between selenium & java project
In the next tutorial, we would study about how to inspect elements in various web browsers. Thank you
for reading!!!
