Detailed Roadmap for Selenium Automation Testing with Java
This roadmap provides a step-by-step guide to mastering Selenium WebDriver with Java, covering fundamentals, frameworks, CI/CD integration, and advanced
concepts.
Phase 1: Prerequisites
1.1 Java Fundamentals
Core Java Concepts:
Variables, Data Types, Operators
Control Statements (if-else, loops)
OOPs (Classes, Objects, Inheritance, Polymorphism)
Exception Handling
Collections (List, Set, Map)
File I/O
Recommended Learning:
Java Tutorial for Beginners (Oracle)
Book: Head First Java (Kathy Sierra)
1.2 Basic HTML & CSS
Key Concepts :
HTML Tags ( <div> , <input> , <button> )
CSS Selectors (ID, Class, XPath)
Practice:
Inspect elements using Chrome DevTools (F12)
1.3 Introduction to Testing
Manual Testing Basics :
Test Cases, Test Scenarios
Bug Life Cycle
Types of Testing:
Functional, Regression, Smoke, Sanity
Phase 2: Selenium WebDriver Basics
2.1 Setup & Configuration
Install:
Java JDK (v11+)
Eclipse/IntelliJ IDEA
Maven (for dependency management)
Selenium WebDriver (via Maven)
<dependency>
<groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
<artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
<version>4.10.0</version>
</dependency>
Browser Drivers:
ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver (Firefox)
Configure using WebDriverManager :
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
2.2 Locators & WebElement Interactions
Locators:
By.id() , By.name() , By.className()
By.xpath() (Absolute & Relative)
By.cssSelector()
WebElement Methods:
click() , sendKeys() , getText()
isDisplayed() , isEnabled() , isSelected()
Handling Dropdowns :
Select dropdown = new Select(driver.findElement(By.id("dropdown")));
dropdown.selectByVisibleText("Option 1");
2.3 Waits & Synchronization
Implicit Wait:
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
Explicit Wait (WebDriverWait):
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("element")));
Fluent Wait (Custom polling & conditions)
2.4 Handling Alerts, Frames, and Windows
Alerts:
Alert alert = driver.switchTo().alert();
alert.accept(); // or alert.dismiss();
Frames:
driver.switchTo().frame("frameName");
Multiple Windows/Tabs:
for (String windowHandle : driver.getWindowHandles()) {
driver.switchTo().window(windowHandle);
}
Phase 3: Test Frameworks & Best Practices
3.1 TestNG Framework
Annotations ( @Test , @BeforeMethod , @AfterMethod )
Parameterization ( @Parameters , DataProvider )
Assertions ( Assert.assertEquals() , Assert.assertTrue() )
Test Reports (ExtentReports, Allure)
Parallel Execution (TestNG XML Suite)
<suite name="Suite" parallel="tests" thread-count="3">
3.2 Page Object Model (POM)
Design Pattern :
Separate Page Classes (e.g., LoginPage.java , HomePage.java )
Reusable methods ( login() , navigateToDashboard() )
Example:
public class LoginPage {
WebDriver driver;
By username = By.id("username");
public LoginPage(WebDriver driver) {
this.driver = driver;
}
public void enterUsername(String user) {
driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
}
}
3.3 Data-Driven Testing
Excel (Apache POI):
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("data.xlsx");
XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);
JSON (Jackson/Gson) :
String json = "{ \"username\": \"admin\" }";
JSONObject obj = new JSONObject(json);
3.4 Logging & Reporting
Log4j for logs:
Logger log = LogManager.getLogger("TestLogger");
log.info("Test Started");
ExtentReports for HTML reports:
ExtentReports extent = new ExtentReports();
extent.createTest("Login Test").pass("Test Passed");
extent.flush();
Phase 4: Advanced Selenium Concepts
4.1 Cross-Browser Testing
BrowserStack / Sauce Labs :
DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.setCapability("browser", "Chrome");
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(URL), caps);
4.2 Headless & Dockerized Testing
Headless Chrome:
ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
options.addArguments("--headless");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
Selenium Grid (Distributed Testing):
java -jar selenium-server-standalone.jar -role hub
java -jar selenium-server-standalone.jar -role node
4.3 Performance & Visual Testing
Lighthouse (Performance Audits)
Applitools (Visual AI Testing)
Phase 5: CI/CD Integration
5.1 Jenkins Integration
Configure Maven Project :
mvn clean test
Schedule Tests (Cron Jobs):
H/15 * * * * # Run every 15 mins
5.2 GitHub Actions
Automated Test Pipeline:
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- name: Run Tests
run: mvn test
Phase 6: Beyond Selenium
6.1 API Testing (RestAssured)
given().when().get("/users").then().statusCode(200);
6.2 Mobile Testing (Appium)
DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.setCapability("platformName", "Android");
6.3 BDD (Cucumber)
Feature: Login
Scenario: Valid Login
Given I am on the login page
When I enter username and password
Then I should see the dashboard
Tools & Resources
Category Tools/Libraries
Browser
ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver
Drivers
Frameworks TestNG, JUnit
Reporting ExtentReports, Allure
CI/CD Jenkins, GitHub Actions
Selenium Grid, Docker,
Advanced
BrowserStack
Next Steps
Build a portfolio project (e.g., E-commerce site automation)
Contribute to open-source Selenium projects
Get certified (ISTQB, Selenium WebDriver with Java)
Would you like a sample project structure or interview Q&A for Selenium?
