Get Started With Selenium WebDriver Using Maven, IntelliJ and Java

“Start Using Selenium WebDriver” a short, free, online course to help you get started and install the tools you need to work with Selenium WebDriver and Java. By the end of this course you will have written your first test.

Getting Started with Selenium WebDriver can prove tricky.

That’s one reason why we created a set of introductory videos to help you get the tools you need installed to get up and running.

about the course

This course covers the basic setup steps required for anyone starting out with Selenium and Java.

You will learn how to install:

• Java
• Maven
• Firefox and the necessary Firefox plugins to support you automation.
• IntelliJ

We also take a few steps that take you through the creation of a simple project with your first test.

After following this course you should be setup to follow the various tutorials on the web, or buy and work through the Selenium Simplified book, or other books on Selenium available.

And if you want to go on a Selenium training course. Then the steps in this course should be the pre-requisite installations and checking instructions to make sure the course goes smoothly.

I produced this course to make it free and easy for people to get started, but also to act as a pre-requisite prior to coming on my WebDriver training courses. This way on the training, we don’t have to spend a morning getting the basic tools setup and working, you can do it prior to the course and we can spend more time learning WebDriver Automation.

You might also want to read the supporting notes and handouts post.

The videos are an introductory course, an replicate the initial setup and configuration lectures for our full online course.

install the tools

1.  Overview of Selenium
2.  What Tools Will We Install And Why
3.  Introduction to the IDEs
4.  Logistics for tool installs
5.  Install Firefox Browser
6.  Install Firefox Plugins
7.  Optionally Install Console 2
8.  Install Java SDK
   1. Install Java SDK (deprecated version)
9.  Install Maven
   1. older, deprecated Maven install videos
      1. Optionally Install Rapid Environment Editor
      2. Install Maven 
10.  Install IntelliJ version 13 and create your first test
    1. Install IntelliJ (deprecated version)

create a project and write a test

In the videos I use an older version of Selenium WebDriver (2.24) when you work through the videos, use a more recent version e.g. 2.35.0 (if you need help then see the video in the FAQ section).

1.  Intro First Project With Maven
2.  Intro To Maven
3.  Create a Maven Project
4.  Import Pom Into IDE
5.  Update JUnit
6.  Amend Generated JUnit
7.  Add Selenium As a Dependency
8.  Summary Of Why Maven
9.  How is Maven getting the dependencies
10.  My First WebDriver Test
11.  My First WebDriver Test Explored
12.  Exercise My First Test
13.  Use A Real Browser
14. Extra:  Create a simple WebDriver Test using IntelliJ
15. Extra:  Running Tests From Maven
16. Extra:  Running Tests From Command Line with Maven
17. Extra:  Running Maven Tests from IntelliJ IDE

After working through these videos you will be ready for our full WebDriver Course.

These videos have been added to a playlist so you can watch back to back:

next steps

1. What are my next steps after writing my first Selenium WebDriver test?

source

If you followed the above lectures then you should have a working project. If you get stuck then you can download the source code:

1.  Importing the source code from Git into IntelliJ 13
   1. Importing the source code into maven from Git (older)

The full course has every exercise illustrated and explained with sample source code to make it easy to learn the WebDriver API.

faqs

1. FAQ: What to do when things go wrong – first things first?
2. Read the FAQ posts on this blog
3. Maven Troubleshooting Hints Tips and FAQs
4.  Maven Troubleshooting Downloads
5.  Maven Troubleshooting Proxies and Cache issues
6.  FAQ: Why are my JUnit Asserts deprecated
7.  FAQ: Why is Firefox browser not closing?
8.  FAQ: How to Update the version of Selenium (shows 2.24 to 2.26)

To update the version of Selenium amend the dependency, e.g.

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
   <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
   <version>2.39.0</version>
</dependency>