Headless execution in Selenium Java - Test Execution Trace

Test Overview

This test opens a browser in headless mode, navigates to a webpage, finds a heading element, and verifies its text content.

Test Code - JUnit

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.chrome.ChromeOptions;
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.assertEquals;

public class HeadlessTest {
    private WebDriver driver;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.addArguments("--headless=new");
        driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    }

    @Test
    public void testHeadingText() {
        driver.get("https://example.com");
        WebElement heading = driver.findElement(By.tagName("h1"));
        assertEquals("Example Domain", heading.getText());
    }

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

Execution Trace - 5 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Initialize ChromeDriver with headless option '--headless=new'	Chrome browser is configured to run without UI (headless mode)	-	PASS
2	Navigate to 'https://example.com'	Browser loads the Example Domain webpage in headless mode	-	PASS
3	Find the <h1> element on the page	The <h1> element with text 'Example Domain' is located	-	PASS
4	Assert that the heading text equals 'Example Domain'	Heading text is retrieved from the element	Verify heading.getText() == 'Example Domain'	PASS
5	Close the browser and quit the driver	Browser session ends cleanly	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: The <h1> element is not found or its text does not match 'Example Domain'

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the '--headless=new' option do in this test?

A Enables debugging mode in Chrome

B Runs Chrome browser without opening a visible window

C Runs Chrome browser with a new UI theme

D Disables JavaScript on the page

Key Result

Using headless mode allows tests to run faster and without opening a browser window, which is useful for automated test environments like CI pipelines.