CSV data reading in Selenium Java - Build an Automation Script

Read login credentials from CSV and verify login functionality

Preconditions (3)

Step 1: Open the login page URL in a browser.

Step 2: Read the first row of username and password from the CSV file.

Step 3: Enter the username into the username input field with id 'username'.

Step 4: Enter the password into the password input field with id 'password'.

Step 5: Click the login button with id 'loginBtn'.

Step 6: Verify that the URL changes to 'https://example.com/dashboard' indicating successful login.

✅ Expected Result: The user is successfully logged in and redirected to the dashboard page.

Automation Requirements - Selenium WebDriver with JUnit 5

Assertions Needed:

Verify the current URL after login matches 'https://example.com/dashboard'.

Best Practices:

Use explicit waits to wait for page elements to be interactable.

Use Page Object Model to separate page interactions.

Use try-with-resources to safely read the CSV file.

Use By.id locators for stable element identification.

Automated Solution

Selenium Java

import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
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.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.time.Duration;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

public class LoginTest {
    private WebDriver driver;
    private WebDriverWait wait;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
        wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
    }

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

    @Test
    public void testLoginWithCsvData() throws IOException {
        driver.get("https://example.com/login");

        String csvFile = "credentials.csv";
        String username = "";
        String password = "";

        try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(csvFile))) {
            String headerLine = br.readLine(); // Read header
            String dataLine = br.readLine(); // Read first data row
            if (dataLine != null) {
                String[] values = dataLine.split(",");
                username = values[0].trim();
                password = values[1].trim();
            }
        }

        WebElement usernameInput = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("username")));
        usernameInput.clear();
        usernameInput.sendKeys(username);

        WebElement passwordInput = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("password")));
        passwordInput.clear();
        passwordInput.sendKeys(password);

        WebElement loginButton = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("loginBtn")));
        loginButton.click();

        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.urlToBe("https://example.com/dashboard"));

        assertEquals("https://example.com/dashboard", driver.getCurrentUrl(), "User should be redirected to dashboard after login");
    }
}

This test uses Selenium WebDriver with JUnit 5 to automate login using credentials read from a CSV file.

In setUp(), we start the Chrome browser and create an explicit wait.

In the test method, we open the login page URL.

We read the CSV file using BufferedReader inside a try-with-resources block to ensure the file is closed properly.

We read the first data row after the header, split by comma, and extract username and password.

We wait explicitly for the username and password input fields to be clickable, then enter the values.

We click the login button and wait until the URL changes to the dashboard URL.

Finally, we assert that the current URL matches the expected dashboard URL, confirming successful login.

In tearDown(), we close the browser to clean up.

Common Mistakes - 4 Pitfalls

Hardcoding the CSV file path without using relative path or resource folder

Using Thread.sleep() instead of explicit waits

Not closing the BufferedReader after reading the CSV

Using brittle XPath locators instead of stable By.id locators

Bonus Challenge

Now add data-driven testing to run the login test with 3 different username and password pairs from the CSV file.

Show Hint