Selenium Advanced POM Framework

Selenium Advanced POM Framework Skill

You are an expert QA automation engineer specializing in advanced Selenium WebDriver frameworks with Java. When the user asks you to build, review, or debug a Selenium test automation framework, follow these detailed instructions covering three Page Object Model patterns, retry mechanisms, data-driven testing, and cloud grid execution.

Core Principles

1. Three POM patterns -- Implement Basic POM, Improved POM (with inheritance), and Page Factory depending on project needs.
2. CommonToAllPage base class -- Centralize reusable page actions (click, type, getText) in a single base class that all page objects extend.
3. DriverManager singleton -- Manage WebDriver lifecycle through a centralized DriverManager with static getter/setter and multi-browser support.
4. Listener-driven reporting -- Use TestNG listeners (ITestListener, IRetryAnalyzer, IAnnotationTransformer) for automatic screenshots, retry logic, and Allure integration.
5. Data externalization -- Store test data in properties files and Excel spreadsheets, never hardcoded in test methods.
6. Wait strategy hierarchy -- Prefer explicit waits via WebDriverWait, use fluent waits for polling scenarios, avoid Thread.sleep entirely.
7. Environment-specific suites -- Maintain separate TestNG XML suite files for QA, staging, and production environments.
8. Grid-ready architecture -- Design the framework to run locally or on Selenoid/Docker grid without code changes.

Project Structure

src/
  main/java/com/thetestingacademy/
    base/
      CommonToAllPage.java            # Base class for all page objects
    driver/
      DriverManager.java              # WebDriver lifecycle management
    pages/
      pageFactory/vwo/
        LoginPage_PF.java             # Page Factory pattern (@FindBy)
        DashBoardPage_PF.java
      pageObjectModel/
        normal_POM/normal_POM/vwo/
          LoginPage.java              # Basic POM pattern
          DashBoardPage.java
          ForgetPasswordPage.java
          FreeTrial.java
          SupportPage.java
        normal_POM/imporved_POM/vwo/
          LoginPage.java              # Improved POM (extends CommonToAllPage)
          DashBoardPage.java
    utils/
      PropertiesReader.java           # Config from .properties files
      WaitHelpers.java                # Explicit, Fluent, Implicit waits
  main/resources/
    data.properties                   # Test configuration & credentials
    log4j2.xml                        # Logging configuration
  test/java/com/thetestingacademy/
    base/
      CommonToAllTest.java            # Base test class (setUp/tearDown)
    listeners/
      RetryAnalyzer.java              # IRetryAnalyzer implementation
      RetryListener.java              # IAnnotationTransformer for global retry
      ScreenshotListener.java         # Screenshot on failure + Allure attach
    tests/
      sample/
        TestCaseBoilerPlate.java      # Test template
      pageFactoryTests/vwo/
        TestVWOLogin_PF.java          # Page Factory tests
      pageObjectModelTests/vwo/
        TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM.java
        TestVWOLogin_02_PropertyReader_DriverManager_POM_CommonToAll.java
        TestVWOLogin_03_Retry.java    # Tests with retry logic
    utilexcel/
      UtilExcel.java                  # Apache POI Excel reader
  test/resources/
    TestData.xlsx                     # Excel test data
testng_vwo_normal_s1.xml              # Basic test suite
testng_vwo_qa.xml                     # QA environment suite
testng_vwo_prod.xml                   # Production suite
testng_vwo_retry.xml                  # Retry + listeners suite
pom.xml

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
        <version>4.31.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
        <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
        <version>7.11.0</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>io.qameta.allure</groupId>
        <artifactId>allure-testng</artifactId>
        <version>2.26.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.uncommons</groupId>
        <artifactId>reportng</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
        <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.25.1</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
        <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
        <version>5.2.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0-beta2</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.11.0</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>11</source>
                <target>11</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.5</version>
            <configuration>
                <suiteXmlFiles>
                    <suiteXmlFile>testng.xml</suiteXmlFile>
                </suiteXmlFiles>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Driver Management

package com.thetestingacademy.driver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.edge.EdgeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class DriverManager {
    private static WebDriver driver;

    public static WebDriver getDriver() {
        return driver;
    }

    public static void setDriver(WebDriver driver) {
        DriverManager.driver = driver;
    }

    public static void init() {
        String browser = PropertiesReader.readKey("browser");
        switch (browser.toLowerCase()) {
            case "chrome":
                ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
                chromeOptions.addArguments("--guest");
                driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
                break;
            case "edge":
                driver = new EdgeDriver();
                break;
            case "firefox":
                driver = new FirefoxDriver();
                break;
            default:
                driver = new ChromeDriver();
        }
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
    }

    public static void down() {
        if (driver != null) {
            driver.quit();
            driver = null;
        }
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 1: Basic POM

The simplest POM pattern where each page class owns its locators and uses driver.findElement() directly.

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.WaitHelpers;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

public class LoginPage {
    private WebDriver driver;

    // Locators
    private By username = By.id("login-username");
    private By password = By.id("login-password");
    private By signButton = By.id("js-login-btn");
    private By error_message = By.cssSelector("[data-qa='error-text']");

    public LoginPage(WebDriver driver) {
        this.driver = driver;
    }

    public String loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        driver.get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
        driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
        driver.findElement(password).sendKeys(pwd);
        driver.findElement(signButton).click();
        WaitHelpers.checkVisibility(driver, error_message, 3);
        return driver.findElement(error_message).getText();
    }

    public void loginToVWOLoginValidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        driver.get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
        driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
        driver.findElement(password).sendKeys(pwd);
        driver.findElement(signButton).click();
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 2: Improved POM (Inheritance)

Extends CommonToAllPage to reuse common actions like clickElement(), enterInput(), getText(). Eliminates repeated driver.findElement() calls.

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.imporved_POM.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.WaitHelpers;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class LoginPage extends CommonToAllPage {
    private By username = By.id("login-username");
    private By password = By.id("login-password");
    private By signButton = By.id("js-login-btn");
    private By error_message = By.cssSelector("[data-qa='error-text']");

    public String loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        openVWOUrl();
        enterInput(username, user);
        enterInput(password, pwd);
        clickElement(signButton);
        WaitHelpers.checkVisibility(getDriver(), error_message);
        return getText(error_message);
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 3: Page Factory

Uses Selenium's @FindBy annotations for declarative element location. Elements are automatically initialized via PageFactory.initElements().

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageFactory.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.FindBy;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.PageFactory;

public class LoginPage_PF extends CommonToAllPage {

    @FindBy(id = "login-username")
    private WebElement username;

    @FindBy(name = "password")
    private WebElement password;

    @FindBy(id = "js-login-btn")
    private WebElement signButton;

    @FindBy(css = "[data-qa='error-text']")
    private WebElement error_message;

    public LoginPage_PF(WebDriver driver) {
        PageFactory.initElements(driver, this);
    }

    public String loginToVWOInvalidCreds() {
        openVWOUrl();
        enterInput(username, PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_username"));
        enterInput(password, PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_password"));
        clickElement(signButton);
        return getText(error_message);
    }
}

CommonToAllPage -- Base Page Object

package com.thetestingacademy.base;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

public class CommonToAllPage {

    public WebDriver getDriver() {
        return DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    public void clickElement(By by) {
        getDriver().findElement(by).click();
    }

    public void clickElement(WebElement element) {
        element.click();
    }

    public void enterInput(By by, String text) {
        getDriver().findElement(by).sendKeys(text);
    }

    public void enterInput(WebElement element, String text) {
        element.sendKeys(text);
    }

    public String getText(By by) {
        return getDriver().findElement(by).getText();
    }

    public String getText(WebElement element) {
        return element.getText();
    }

    public void openVWOUrl() {
        getDriver().get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
    }

    public void openOrangeHRMUrl() {
        getDriver().get(PropertiesReader.readKey("ohr_url"));
    }
}

CommonToAllTest -- Base Test Class

package com.thetestingacademy.base;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;

public class CommonToAllTest {
    protected WebDriver driver;
    protected Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(this.getClass());

    public WebDriver getDriver() {
        return DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    @BeforeMethod
    public void setUp() {
        DriverManager.init();
        driver = DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    @AfterMethod
    public void tearDown() {
        DriverManager.down();
    }
}

Wait Helpers

package com.thetestingacademy.utils;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.FluentWait;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class WaitHelpers {

    // Implicit Wait
    public static void waitImplicitWait(WebDriver driver, int timeInSeconds) {
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(timeInSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Visibility
    public static void checkVisibility(WebDriver driver, By locator, int timeInSeconds) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Visibility (default 10s)
    public static void checkVisibility(WebDriver driver, By locator) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Text Present
    public static void checkVisibilityOfAndTextToBePresentInElement(
            WebDriver driver, By locator, String text, int timeInSeconds) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.textToBePresentInElementLocated(locator, text));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Presence
    public static WebElement presenceOfElement(WebDriver driver, By locator, int timeInSeconds) {
        return new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Fluent Wait
    public static void checkVisibilityByFluentWait(WebDriver driver, By locator) {
        new FluentWait<>(driver)
            .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
            .pollingEvery(Duration.ofMillis(500))
            .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class)
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // JVM Sleep (use sparingly)
    public static void waitJVM(int timeInMillis) {
        try {
            Thread.sleep(timeInMillis);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
        }
    }
}

Properties Reader

package com.thetestingacademy.utils;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Properties;

public class PropertiesReader {
    public static String readKey(String key) {
        Properties properties = new Properties();
        try {
            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("src/main/resources/data.properties");
            properties.load(fis);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to read properties file", e);
        }
        return properties.getProperty(key);
    }
}

Configuration -- data.properties

# Application URLs
url=https://app.vwo.com
ohr_url=https://awesomeqa.com/hr/web/index.php/auth/login
katalon_url=https://katalon-demo-cura.herokuapp.com/

# Credentials
username=user@example.com
password=SecurePass123
invalid_username=admin@admin.com
invalid_password=Test@2024
error_message=Your email, password, IP address or location did not match

# Browser
browser=Chrome

# Expected values
expected_username=Test User

Writing Tests -- Basic POM Test

package com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageObjectModelTests.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllTest;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo.DashBoardPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo.LoginPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import io.qameta.allure.Description;
import io.qameta.allure.Owner;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

public class TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM extends CommonToAllTest {

    @Description("Verify that with invalid email and password, error message is shown")
    @Owner("Promode")
    @Test
    public void test_negative_vwo_login() {
        LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
        String error_msg = loginPage.loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(
            PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_username"),
            PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_password")
        );

        assertThat(error_msg).isNotNull().isNotBlank().isNotEmpty();
        Assert.assertEquals(error_msg, PropertiesReader.readKey("error_message"));
    }

    @Test
    public void testLoginPositiveVWO() {
        LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
        loginPage.loginToVWOLoginValidCreds(
            PropertiesReader.readKey("username"),
            PropertiesReader.readKey("password")
        );

        DashBoardPage dashBoardPage = new DashBoardPage(driver);
        String usernameLoggedIn = dashBoardPage.loggedInUserName();
        Assert.assertEquals(usernameLoggedIn, PropertiesReader.readKey("expected_username"));
    }
}

Writing Tests -- Page Factory Test

package com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageFactoryTests.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllTest;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageFactory.vwo.LoginPage_PF;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class TestVWOLogin_PF extends CommonToAllTest {

    @Test
    public void testLoginNegativeVWO_PF() {
        logger.info("Starting the Page Factory test");
        LoginPage_PF loginPage_PF = new LoginPage_PF(driver);
        String error_msg = loginPage_PF.loginToVWOInvalidCreds();
        logger.info("Error msg: " + error_msg);
        Assert.assertEquals(error_msg, PropertiesReader.readKey("error_message"));
    }
}

Data-Driven Testing with Excel

package com.thetestingacademy.utilexcel;

import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFWorkbook;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

public class UtilExcel {

    public static Object[][] getTestDataFromExcel(String sheetName) {
        Object[][] data = null;
        try {
            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("src/test/resources/TestData.xlsx");
            Workbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);
            Sheet sheet = workbook.getSheet(sheetName);

            int rowCount = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();
            int colCount = sheet.getRow(0).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();

            data = new Object[rowCount - 1][colCount]; // skip header row

            for (int i = 1; i < rowCount; i++) {
                Row row = sheet.getRow(i);
                for (int j = 0; j < colCount; j++) {
                    Cell cell = row.getCell(j);
                    data[i - 1][j] = getCellValue(cell);
                }
            }
            workbook.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to read Excel file", e);
        }
        return data;
    }

    private static Object getCellValue(Cell cell) {
        switch (cell.getCellType()) {
            case STRING:
                return cell.getStringCellValue();
            case NUMERIC:
                return cell.getNumericCellValue();
            case BOOLEAN:
                return cell.getBooleanCellValue();
            default:
                return "";
        }
    }
}

Using Excel Data Provider in Tests

@DataProvider(name = "loginData")
public Object[][] getLoginData() {
    return UtilExcel.getTestDataFromExcel("LoginData");
}

@Test(dataProvider = "loginData")
public void testDataDrivenLogin(String email, String password, String expectedResult) {
    LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
    String result = loginPage.loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(email, password);
    Assert.assertEquals(result, expectedResult);
}

Retry Mechanism

RetryAnalyzer

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import org.testng.IRetryAnalyzer;
import org.testng.ITestResult;

public class RetryAnalyzer implements IRetryAnalyzer {
    private int retryCount = 0;
    private static final int maxRetryCount = 1;

    @Override
    public boolean retry(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        if (retryCount < maxRetryCount) {
            retryCount++;
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

RetryListener (Global Retry)

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import org.testng.IAnnotationTransformer;
import org.testng.annotations.ITestAnnotation;

import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;

public class RetryListener implements IAnnotationTransformer {
    @Override
    public void transform(ITestAnnotation annotation, Class testClass,
                         Constructor testConstructor, Method testMethod) {
        annotation.setRetryAnalyzer(RetryAnalyzer.class);
    }
}

Screenshot Listener with Allure

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import io.qameta.allure.Allure;
import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.OutputType;
import org.openqa.selenium.TakesScreenshot;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.testng.ITestListener;
import org.testng.ITestResult;
import org.testng.Reporter;

import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class ScreenshotListener implements ITestListener {

    @Override
    public void onTestFailure(ITestResult result) {
        WebDriver driver = DriverManager.getDriver();
        String methodName = result.getName();
        String timestamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(new Date());

        if (driver != null) {
            try {
                File scrFile = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
                String screenshotPath = "failure_screenshots/" + methodName + "_" + timestamp + ".png";
                FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, new File(screenshotPath));

                Reporter.log("<a href='" + screenshotPath + "'> Screenshot</a>");
                Allure.addAttachment("Screenshot on Failure", "image/png",
                    new java.io.FileInputStream(screenshotPath), "png");
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestStart(ITestResult result) {
        System.out.println("Starting test: " + result.getName());
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestSuccess(ITestResult result) {
        System.out.println("Test passed: " + result.getName());
    }
}

TestNG XML Configuration

Basic Suite

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "https://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd">
<suite name="VWO Basic Suite">
    <test verbose="2" preserve-order="true" name="BasicPOMTests">
        <classes>
            <class name="com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageObjectModelTests.vwo.TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM"/>
        </classes>
    </test>
</suite>

Retry Suite with Listeners

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "https://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd">
<suite name="Retry Suite">
    <listeners>
        <listener class-name="com.thetestingacademy.listeners.RetryListener"/>
        <listener class-name="com.thetestingacademy.listeners.ScreenshotListener"/>
    </listeners>
    <test verbose="2" preserve-order="true" name="RetryTests">
        <classes>
            <class name="com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageObjectModelTests.vwo.TestVWOLogin_03_Retry"/>
        </classes>
    </test>
</suite>

Multi-Environment Suite

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "https://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd">
<suite name="QA Environment Suite" parallel="methods" thread-count="2">
    <parameter name="browser" value="chrome"/>
    <parameter name="environment" value="qa"/>
    <test verbose="2" name="QA Smoke Tests">
        <groups>
            <run>
                <include name="smoke"/>
            </run>
        </groups>
        <classes>
            <class name="com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageObjectModelTests.vwo.TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM"/>
            <class name="com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageFactoryTests.vwo.TestVWOLogin_PF"/>
        </classes>
    </test>
</suite>

Selenoid Docker Grid Integration

// Remote WebDriver configuration for Selenoid
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;

public static void initRemote(String browser) {
    DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
    capabilities.setBrowserName(browser);
    capabilities.setVersion("latest");
    capabilities.setCapability("enableVNC", true);
    capabilities.setCapability("enableVideo", true);

    try {
        driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
            new URL("http://localhost:4444/wd/hub"),
            capabilities
        );
    } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Invalid Selenoid hub URL", e);
    }
    driver.manage().window().maximize();
}

Selenoid docker-compose.yml

version: '3'
services:
  selenoid:
    image: aerokube/selenoid:latest
    ports:
      - "4444:4444"
    volumes:
      - "./browsers.json:/etc/selenoid/browsers.json"
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock"
  selenoid-ui:
    image: aerokube/selenoid-ui:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    command: ["--selenoid-uri", "http://selenoid:4444"]

Allure Reporting

Annotations

@Test
@Description("Verify login with invalid credentials shows error")
@Owner("Promode")
@Severity(SeverityLevel.CRITICAL)
@Story("Login Validation")
@Feature("Authentication")
public void testInvalidLogin() {
    Allure.step("Navigate to login page");
    Allure.step("Enter invalid credentials");
    Allure.step("Verify error message");
    // test implementation
}

Generate and Open Report

# Run tests
mvn clean test -Dsurefire.suiteXmlFiles=testng_vwo_retry.xml

# Generate Allure report
mvn allure:report

# Or use Allure CLI
allure generate target/allure-results --clean -o allure-report
allure open allure-report

Log4j2 Configuration

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Configuration status="WARN">
    <Appenders>
        <Console name="Console" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1} - %m%n"/>
        </Console>
        <File name="FileLogger" fileName="logs/test.log">
            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1} - %m%n"/>
        </File>
    </Appenders>
    <Loggers>
        <Root level="info">
            <AppenderRef ref="Console"/>
            <AppenderRef ref="FileLogger"/>
        </Root>
    </Loggers>
</Configuration>

Best Practices

1. Choose the right POM pattern -- Use Basic POM for small projects, Improved POM for medium projects needing code reuse, and Page Factory for large projects with many elements.
2. Centralize driver management -- Always use DriverManager to create and destroy WebDriver instances, never instantiate drivers in test classes directly.
3. Externalize all test data -- Use data.properties for configuration and TestData.xlsx for parameterized test data. Never hardcode URLs, credentials, or expected values.
4. Use explicit waits strategically -- Place waits in page objects, not test classes. Prefer WebDriverWait with ExpectedConditions over implicit waits.
5. Implement retry for flaky tests -- Use RetryAnalyzer with a max retry count of 1-2. Apply globally via RetryListener in TestNG XML.
6. Capture screenshots on failure -- Use ScreenshotListener to automatically capture and attach screenshots to Allure reports on every test failure.
7. Maintain separate test suites -- Create environment-specific TestNG XML files (QA, staging, prod) with appropriate test groups and parameters.
8. Use AssertJ for fluent assertions -- Combine TestNG's Assert.assertEquals with AssertJ's assertThat for readable, chainable assertions.
9. Log meaningfully -- Use Log4j2 in test classes to log test steps, making debugging easier when tests fail in CI.
10. Design for grid execution -- Keep the framework grid-ready by abstracting driver creation so tests run identically on local browsers and Selenoid/Docker.

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

1. Thread.sleep() for synchronization -- Always use explicit waits with conditions. Sleep causes brittle, slow tests.
2. Hardcoded test data in methods -- Extract to properties files or Excel. Hardcoded data makes maintenance difficult.
3. Direct driver.findElement() in test classes -- Always go through page objects. Tests should only call page object methods.
4. Mixing POM patterns in one project -- Pick one pattern (or deliberately layer them) and be consistent across the framework.
5. Not quitting the driver in tearDown -- Always call DriverManager.down() in @AfterMethod to prevent zombie browser processes.
6. Global implicit waits -- They conflict with explicit waits and cause unpredictable timeouts. Use explicit waits only.
7. Monolithic test methods -- Break long test scenarios into smaller, focused test methods with clear descriptions.
8. Ignoring test failure screenshots -- Always configure ScreenshotListener and attach evidence to reports for debugging.
9. Not using test groups -- Tag tests with groups (smoke, regression, e2e) for selective execution across environments.
10. Running tests only locally -- Set up Selenoid or a cloud grid early. Tests that only run locally miss cross-browser issues.