Verify that clicking a button using Selenium simulates real user behavior

Preconditions (2)

Step 1: Open the web page URL 'https://example.com/testpage'

Step 2: Locate the button with id 'submitBtn'

Step 3: Click the button using Selenium's click() method

Step 4: Observe the page behavior after clicking

✅ Expected Result: The page should respond as if a real user clicked the button, for example, showing a confirmation message with id 'confirmationMsg'

Automation Requirements - Selenium WebDriver with Java

Assertions Needed:

Verify the confirmation message with id 'confirmationMsg' is displayed after clicking the button

Best Practices:

Use explicit waits to wait for elements to be clickable or visible

Use By.id locator for stable element identification

Use Page Object Model pattern for element interactions

Automated Solution

Selenium Java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;
import java.time.Duration;

public class UserBehaviorSimulationTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
        try {
            // Open the test page
            driver.get("https://example.com/testpage");

            // Wait until the button is clickable
            WebElement submitButton = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("submitBtn")));

            // Click the button to simulate user behavior
            submitButton.click();

            // Wait for confirmation message to appear
            WebElement confirmationMsg = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("confirmationMsg")));

            // Assert the confirmation message is displayed
            if (confirmationMsg.isDisplayed()) {
                System.out.println("Test Passed: Confirmation message is displayed after clicking the button.");
            } else {
                System.out.println("Test Failed: Confirmation message is not displayed.");
            }
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

This test script uses Selenium WebDriver with Java to automate the manual test case.

First, it opens the web page where the button is located.

It uses an explicit wait to ensure the button is clickable before clicking it. This simulates a real user waiting for the button to be ready.

Then, it clicks the button using Selenium's click() method, which simulates the actual user interaction.

After clicking, it waits for the confirmation message to appear, verifying that the page responded as expected.

The assertion checks if the confirmation message is visible, confirming that the interaction method simulates user behavior correctly.

Finally, the browser is closed to clean up.

Common Mistakes - 3 Pitfalls

Using Thread.sleep() instead of explicit waits

Using brittle locators like absolute XPath

Clicking elements before they are interactable

Bonus Challenge

Now add data-driven testing with 3 different buttons having ids 'submitBtn1', 'submitBtn2', 'submitBtn3' and verify each confirmation message.

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