Selenium dependency configuration in Selenium Java - Build an Automation Script

Configure Selenium WebDriver dependencies in a Java Maven project

Preconditions (3)

Step 1: Create a new Maven project in your IDE

Step 2: Open the pom.xml file

Step 3: Add the Selenium Java dependency with the latest stable version inside the <dependencies> tag

Step 4: Add the WebDriverManager dependency to manage browser drivers automatically

Step 5: Save the pom.xml file and let Maven download the dependencies

Step 6: Create a simple Java class to verify Selenium WebDriver can be instantiated

Step 7: Write code to open a browser and navigate to https://example.com

Step 8: Run the Java class and observe the browser opening

✅ Expected Result: Maven downloads Selenium and WebDriverManager dependencies successfully. The Java program launches a browser window and navigates to https://example.com without errors.

Automation Requirements - JUnit 5 with Selenium WebDriver

Assertions Needed:

Verify that the WebDriver instance is not null

Verify the current URL is https://example.com after navigation

Best Practices:

Use WebDriverManager to handle browser driver binaries automatically

Use explicit waits if needed (not required here as navigation is simple)

Close the browser after test execution

Use JUnit 5 annotations for setup and teardown

Automated Solution

Selenium Java

import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class SeleniumDependencyConfigTest {
    private WebDriver driver;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
    }

    @Test
    public void testOpenExampleDotCom() {
        assertNotNull(driver, "WebDriver should be initialized");
        driver.get("https://example.com");
        String currentUrl = driver.getCurrentUrl();
        assertEquals("https://example.com/", currentUrl, "URL should be https://example.com/");
    }

    @AfterEach
    public void tearDown() {
        if (driver != null) {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

The @BeforeEach method sets up the WebDriver using WebDriverManager, which downloads and configures the ChromeDriver automatically. This avoids manual driver setup.

The test method testOpenExampleDotCom verifies the WebDriver instance is created and navigates to https://example.com. It asserts the current URL matches the expected URL with a trailing slash, which browsers add automatically.

The @AfterEach method closes the browser to clean up resources after the test.

This setup ensures dependencies are correctly configured and Selenium WebDriver works as expected in a Maven Java project.

Common Mistakes - 4 Pitfalls

Manually downloading and setting the ChromeDriver executable path

Not adding Selenium dependencies in pom.xml, causing compilation errors

Not closing the browser after test execution

Using outdated Selenium or WebDriverManager versions

Bonus Challenge

Now add data-driven testing to open three different URLs and verify each loads correctly

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