You have a small test automation project with about 50 test scripts and 10 page object classes.

Each page object class uses approximately 10 web elements.

The project has around 100 web element locators.

Where should the elements’ locators be stored?

Should they be stored in the page object classes, in enumerations, classes with static members or property files?

The last option, property files, seems the best since every time more locators are needed, you just change a text file and not the project’s code.

So for each page object class, you create a property text file and save all element locators in it.

The page classes become smaller this way.

What can be wrong in this case?

The project grew from the initial size to

• 1000 test scripts
• 100 page object classes
• 3000 element locators

Lets say that we are working on a class such as the next one:

public class HomePage {

  WebDriver driver;
  Properties properties;

  public HomePage(WebDriver driver) {
    this.driver = driver;
    this.properties = new Properties();
    InputStream input = new FileInputStream("home.properties");
    this.properties.load(input);
  }

  public void search(String keyword) {

   By searchBoxXpath = By.xpath(properties.get("searchTextBox"));
   WebElement searchTextBox =  driver.findElement(searchBoxXpath);

   searchTextBox.clear();
   searchTextBox.sendKeys(keyword);

   String searchButtonXpath = By.xpath(properties.get("searchButton"))

   WebElement searchButton = driver.findElement(searchButtonXpath);

   searchButton.click();

  }
}

The constructor loads the content of the home.properties file in the properties variable.

The search() method uses the name of the element which is then searched in the properties file.

The home.properties file looks as follows:

searchTextBox = //input[@elementid = 'abc']
searchButton = //input[@elementid = 'def']

Now, we need to change the locators for both elements used in the HomePage class.

How do we do this?

1. Copy the element name (“searchTextBox”) from the HomePage class
2. Locate the home.properties file in the project
3. Open the home.properties file
4. Search for the element name (“searchTextBox”)
5. Modify the xpath expression
6. Save and close the property file

6 steps and a few minutes for changing the value of a locator!
Remember that the project has 3000 locators at this moment.

1st problem of using property files for locators:
it is very time consuming to change the value of a locator.

 

Lets look at the locators situation from a different perspective.

Lots of code has been added, changed and removed from the project in the last year.

How do you know which locators are no longer needed?

With the locators in property files, this is impossible to see immediately.

2nd problem of using property files for locators:
it is not possible to see which locators are no longer used by the page classes.

 

Finally, we are writing test automation code using a language such as Java or C#.

The code that implements the user interactions with each page is organized in classes.

A class should group data and methods together.

By having the locators in the property files, this rule is broken.

3rd problem of using property files for locators:
classes are used incorrectly as they have methods that do not work on class members.

What is the correct approach for saving locators?

Save the locators in the page classes together with the methods.

Doing this allows

• easy change of a locator in a minimum of steps
• easy identification of locators not used
• page classes include locators which are used by class methods