How can I create my own driver class in Selenium?
When learning test automation, you will want your test methods to be executed in multiple browsers such as Firefox and Chrome.

A Firefox driver is created with the FirefoxDriver class:

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

A Chrome driver is created with the ChromeDriver class:

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

Both driver objects use the WebDriver type but are instantiated by different classes.

Now, you dont want to change the class from FirefoxDriver to ChromeDriver and back every time you want to run the tests in another browser.

Instead, you would like to create the driver based on the browser name:

WebDriver driver = new BrowserDriver(browserName);

How do we do this?

We create a custom driver class that implements the WebDriver interface and overrides its methods.

public final class BrowserDriver implements WebDriver {  

   private WebDriver driver;
   private final String browserName;
   private final int timeout = 30; 
   private final String chromeDriverPath = "./src/chromedriver.exe";  

   public BrowserDriver(String browserName) { 
      this.browserName = browserName; 
      this.driver = createDriver(browserName); 
   }  

   private WebDriver createDriver(String browserName) { 
      if (browserName.toUpperCase().equals("FIREFOX") 
         return firefoxDriver(); 

      if (browserName.toUpperCase().equals("CHROME") 
         return chromeDriver();  

      throw new RuntimeException ("invalid browser name"); 
   } 

   private WebDriver chromeDriver() { 
      if (!new File(chromeDriverPath).exists()) 
        throw new RuntimeException
                    ("chromedriver.exe does not exist!"); 

      try { 
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", 
                           chromeDriverPath); 
        return new ChromeDriver(); 
      } 

      catch (Exception ex) { 
        throw new RuntimeException
              ("couldnt create chrome driver"); 
      } 
   } 

   private WebDriver firefoxDriver() { 
      try { 
         return new FirefoxDriver(); 
      } 
      catch (Exception ex) {         
         throw new RuntimeException
              ("could not create the firefox driver"); 
     } 
   } 

   @Override 
   public String toString() { 
      return this.browserName; 
   } 

   public WebDriver driver() { 
      return this.driver; 
   }  

   @Override 
   public void close() { 
      driver().close();   
   }  

   @Override 
   public WebElement findElement(By locator) { 
      return driver().findElement(locator); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public List findElements(By arg0) { 
      return driver().findElements(arg0); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public void get(String arg0) { 
      driver().get(arg0); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public String getCurrentUrl() { 
      return driver().getCurrentUrl(); 
   }  

   @Override 

   public String getPageSource() { 
      return driver().getPageSource(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public String getTitle() { 
      return driver().getTitle(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public String getWindowHandle() { 
      return driver().getWindowHandle(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public Set getWindowHandles() { 
     return driver().getWindowHandles(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public Options manage() { 
      return driver().manage(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public Navigation navigate() { 
      return driver().navigate(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public void quit() { 
     driver().quit(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public TargetLocator switchTo() { 
      return driver().switchTo(); 
   }  

   @Override 
   public  X getScreenshotAs(OutputType target)  
   throws WebDriverException { 
      return ((TakesScreenshot) driver())
                    .getScreenshotAs(target);
   } 

}

 

The only method that is not defined in the WebDriver interface is createDriver().
createDriver() creates a driver object based on the browser name and stores it in the driver variable.

All other methods just override the WebDriver interface methods.

In the test method, you can now use the new BrowserDriver class instead of FirefoxDriver and ChromeDriver:

WebDriver driver = new BrowserDriver(“CHROME”);

driver.get(“http://www.bestbuy.com”);

WebElement searchBox = driver.findElement(searchBoxLocator);

 

The custom driver class can add as well new methods.

 

Lets say that you want to have find element methods that use the WebDriverWait and ExpectedConditions classes:

public WebElement findVisibleElement(By locator) {
   WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout)
                .until( visibilityOfElementLocated (locator));
   return element;
}

public WebElement findClickableElement(By locator) {
   WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout)
               .until( elementToBeClickable (locator));
   return element;
}

public WebElement findHiddenElement(By locator) {
   WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout)
              .until( presenceOfElementLocated (locator));
   return element;
}

You may be tempted to create a utility class, move these methods there and then use the utility class as a parent for the page classes.

Resist this temptation as it leads to bad things 🙂

Avoid utility classes in your automation projects.

More about utility classes very soon on this blog.

Instead of the utility class, you can move these methods to your custom driver class.

public final class BrowserDriver implements WebDriver {  

   private WebDriver driver; 
   private final String browserName; 
   private final int timeout = 30; 
   private final String chromeDriverPath = "./src/chromedriver.exe"; 

   public BrowserDriver(String browserName) { 
      this.browserName = browserName; 
      this.driver = createDriver(browserName); 
   }  

......................................................................

   @Override 
   public WebElement findElement(By locator) { 
     WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout) 
                        .until( visibilityOfElementLocated(locator)); 
     return element; 
   }  

   @Override 
   public List findElements(By arg0) { 
     return driver().findElements(arg0); 
   }

   public WebElement findClickableElement(By locator) { 
      WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout) 
                       .until( elementToBeClickable(locator)); 
      return element; 
   } 

   public WebElement findHiddenElement(By locator) { 
      WebElement element = new WebDriverWait(driver(), timeout) 
                      .until( presenceOfElementLocated(locator)); 
      return element; 
 }

}