Creating new windows/tabs in Selenium Java - Test Execution Walkthrough

Test Overview

This test opens a new browser tab, switches to it, navigates to a URL, and verifies the page title to confirm the new tab loaded correctly.

Test Code - JUnit

Selenium Java

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WindowType;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.*;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

public class NewTabTest {
    WebDriver driver;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
    }

    @Test
    public void testOpenNewTab() {
        driver.get("https://example.com");
        String originalHandle = driver.getWindowHandle();

        // Open new tab
        driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.TAB);
        driver.get("https://www.wikipedia.org");

        // Verify new tab title
        String title = driver.getTitle();
        assertEquals("Wikipedia", title);

        // Switch back to original tab
        driver.switchTo().window(originalHandle);
        assertEquals("Example Domain", driver.getTitle());
    }

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

Execution Trace - 7 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Test starts and Chrome browser opens	Browser window is open with no page loaded	-	PASS
2	Navigate to https://example.com	Browser displays Example Domain page	Page title is 'Example Domain'	PASS
3	Store original window handle	Original tab handle saved for later	-	PASS
4	Open a new browser tab and switch to it	New tab is active, original tab still open	-	PASS
5	Navigate new tab to https://www.wikipedia.org	New tab displays Wikipedia homepage	Page title is 'Wikipedia'	PASS
6	Switch back to original tab	Original tab is active showing Example Domain	Page title is 'Example Domain'	PASS
7	Test ends and browser closes	All browser windows closed	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: New tab fails to open or navigation to Wikipedia fails

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the test do after opening a new tab?

A Switches back to the original tab without navigation

B Closes the new tab immediately

C Navigates the new tab to Wikipedia homepage

D Refreshes the original tab

Key Result

Always store the original window handle before opening new tabs or windows so you can switch back reliably during tests.