Why reports communicate test results in Selenium Java - Test Execution Impact

Test Overview

This test opens a web page, clicks a button, and checks if a success message appears. It verifies that the test result is correctly reported as pass or fail.

Test Code - JUnit with Selenium WebDriver

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.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 ReportTest {
    WebDriver driver;

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

    @Test
    public void testButtonClickShowsSuccessMessage() {
        driver.get("https://example.com/testpage");
        WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.id("submit-btn"));
        button.click();
        WebElement message = driver.findElement(By.id("success-msg"));
        String actualText = message.getText();
        assertEquals("Success!", actualText);
    }

    @AfterEach
    public void tearDown() {
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Execution Trace - 9 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Test starts	Test framework initializes and prepares to run the test	-	PASS
2	Browser opens ChromeDriver	Chrome browser window opens, ready to navigate	-	PASS
3	Navigates to https://example.com/testpage	Page loads with a button having id 'submit-btn' and a hidden success message with id 'success-msg'	-	PASS
4	Finds element by id 'submit-btn'	Button element is located on the page	-	PASS
5	Clicks the button	Button click triggers success message to appear	-	PASS
6	Finds element by id 'success-msg'	Success message element is located and visible	-	PASS
7	Gets text from success message element	Text retrieved is 'Success!'	Check if text equals 'Success!'	PASS
8	Assertion checks if actual text equals expected 'Success!'	Assertion passes confirming the success message is correct	assertEquals("Success!", actualText)	PASS
9	Test ends and browser closes	Browser window closes, test resources cleaned up	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: The success message text is different or missing after clicking the button

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the test verify after clicking the button?

A That the page URL changes

B That the success message text is 'Success!'

C That the button is disabled

D That the browser closes automatically

Key Result

Clear and accurate test reports communicate whether the expected behavior occurred, helping teams quickly understand if the software works or needs fixing.