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bala d kaveri
bala d kaveri

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🚀 Day 27 of My Automation Journey – Introduction to Selenium & Maven Setup

#selenium #java #automation #beginners


Today marks a big milestone in my automation journey 🎯

Till now, I was learning core Java logic
👉 Today, I stepped into real automation using Selenium

This is where things get exciting 🔥

🔹 1. What is Selenium?

👉 Selenium is a tool used for automating web browsers

That means:

  • Opening a browser 🌐
  • Navigating websites
  • Clicking buttons
  • Filling forms
  • Validating UI

💡 In simple terms:

👉 If you can do it manually in a browser, Selenium can automate it.

🔹 2. Why Selenium?

✔ Saves time ⏱
✔ Reduces manual effort
✔ Useful for testing & automation
✔ Industry standard tool

🔹 3. Setting Up Selenium using Maven

Instead of downloading jars manually, we use Maven 📦

👉 Maven helps manage:

  • Dependencies
  • Versions
  • Project structure

🔹 4. Understanding pom.xml File

This is the heart of a Maven project ❤️

💻 Sample pom.xml: 

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>Selenium1</groupId>
    <artifactId>Selenium1</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
            <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
            <version>4.18.1</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

</project>
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🔍 Explanation (Important 🔥)

🧠 Project Info:

  • groupId → Project/company name
  • artifactId → Project name
  • version → Current version

⚙️ Properties: 

<maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
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👉 Defines Java version

📦 Dependencies: 

<dependency>
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👉 This is where we add external libraries

🔹 5. How to Add Dependency from Maven Repository

👉 Go to: mvnrepository.com

Steps:

  1. Search → selenium-java
  2. Select latest version
  3. Copy dependency
  4. Paste inside <dependencies>

💡 Why this is important?

👉 Instead of manual setup, Maven automatically:

  • Downloads jars
  • Manages versions
  • Handles conflicts

🔹 6. Creating Selenium Setup

Once dependency is added ✅

👉 Maven will download everything automatically

Now we are ready to write our first automation program 🚀

🔹 7. First Selenium Program 

package first;

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

public class First {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("https://google.com");

    }
}
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🔍 Logic Explained:

  • ChromeDriver → launches Chrome browser
  • driver.get() → opens website

👉 That’s it! Your first automation script 🎉

⚠️ Important Notes:

✔ ChromeDriver should match browser version
✔ Browser will open automatically
✔ Close using driver.quit()

🔹8. 🌐 Browsers Supported by Selenium

Selenium supports multiple browsers using specific drivers 👇

✅ Browser / Driver Mapping

Browser Driver
Google Chrome ChromeDriver
Mozilla Firefox GeckoDriver
Microsoft Edge EdgeDriver
Safari SafariDriver
Internet Explorer IEDriverServer
Opera OperaDriver
Chromium ChromeDriver
Brave ChromeDriver
Vivaldi ChromeDriver

💡 Key Insight:

👉 Most modern browsers are Chromium-based

👉 So they work using ChromeDriver

🔹9. 💻 Operating Systems Supported by Selenium

Selenium is cross-platform and works across multiple environments 👇

✅ OS / Support Type

Operating System Support
Windows Supported
macOS Supported
Linux Supported
Unix Supported

🔧 Extended Environment Support

Environment Support
Docker Supported
Jenkins (CI/CD) Supported
GitHub Actions Supported
AWS / Azure / GCP Supported

💡 Key Insight:

👉 Selenium scripts can run on any OS where browser + driver is available

👉 This enables:
✔ Cross-browser testing

✔ Cross-platform automation

✔ Scalable test execution 🚀

🔹 10. Real-World Use Cases

👉 Login automation
👉 Form submissions
👉 Testing UI flows
👉 Web scraping (basic level)

🔚 Final Takeaways

✔ Selenium = Browser Automation
✔ Maven = Dependency Management
✔ pom.xml = Project configuration
✔ Easy setup using Maven repository
✔ First step into real automation 🚀

🤖 A Small Note
I used ChatGPT to help structure and refine this blog while keeping the concepts aligned with my learning.

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