Property Files in Selenium

What is a Property File in Selenium?

Property files are simple text files used to store configuration data in key-value pairs. In Selenium, property files are commonly used to manage environment settings like URLs, login credentials, and other reusable data that may change based on the environment.

Dependencies Needed for Property Files

In most cases, no external dependencies are needed to work with property files in Selenium, as Java has built-in support through the `java.util.Properties` class.

Creating and Using Property Files in Selenium

You can create a property file (e.g., `config.properties`) to store configurations like URLs, usernames, passwords, and more. Below is an example of a property file and how to read from it in Selenium.

Example Property File (`config.properties`)

                # Application URL
                url=https://shariqsp.com/login

                # User credentials
                username=user1
                password=password123
            

Reading from a Property File in Selenium

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

                public class PropertyFileReader {
                    public static Properties loadProperties(String filePath) {
                        Properties properties = new Properties();
                        try (FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(filePath)) {
                            properties.load(fileInputStream);
                        } catch (IOException e) {
                            e.printStackTrace();
                        }
                        return properties;
                    }
                }
            

The `loadProperties()` method reads the property file and returns a `Properties` object containing the key-value pairs.

Example: Automating a Login Test with a Property File

Here is an example that uses the `config.properties` file to automate a login test in Selenium.

                import org.openqa.selenium.By;
                import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
                import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
                import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

                import java.util.Properties;

                public class LoginWithPropertyFile {
                    public static void main(String[] args) {
                        // Load properties from the file
                        Properties properties = PropertyFileReader.loadProperties("./config.properties");

                        // Get values from the property file
                        String url = properties.getProperty("url");
                        String username = properties.getProperty("username");
                        String password = properties.getProperty("password");

                        // Setup WebDriver
                        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "./drivers/chromedriver.exe");
                        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
                        driver.get(url);

                        // Locate and input login credentials
                        WebElement userField = driver.findElement(By.id("username"));
                        WebElement passField = driver.findElement(By.id("password"));
                        WebElement loginButton = driver.findElement(By.id("loginButton"));

                        userField.sendKeys(username);
                        passField.sendKeys(password);
                        loginButton.click();

                        driver.quit();
                    }
                }
            

This example loads the application URL, username, and password from the property file and automates the login process using Selenium.