Keyword Driven Framework Tutorial – Selenium

This tutorial will create a detailed tutorial on creating a keyword-driven framework in Selenium using excel.

Table of Contents

What is a Keyword Driven Framework?

A keyword-driven framework is a software testing framework that separates the test script logic from the test data through a set of keywords or actions.

1. Keywords: Keywords or actions represent the basic building blocks of the test script. Examples of keywords can include “click,” “sendKeys,” “verifyText,” etc. These keywords are defined in a central repository or spreadsheet, along with the associated test data and expected results.

2. Test Data: Test data is the input or parameters required to perform a specific keyword action. It can be stored in a separate data source such as an Excel spreadsheet or XML file. Test data includes information like usernames, passwords, URLs, input values, and expected outcomes.

3. Test Scripts: Test scripts are developed to execute the keywords. Each test script consists of a series of actions driven by the keywords. The test script fetches the keyword from the central repository and performs the associated action using the test data. It also captures and verifies the results against the expected outcome.

4. Central Repository: The central repository contains all the keywords, associated test data, and expected results. It acts as a bridge between test scripts and test data, allowing for easy maintenance and modification.

Project Structure

Here is the final snapshot of our project.

Dependency List

Selenium – 4.21.0
TestNG – 7.10.2
Apache POI – 5.2.5
Commons – 2.16.1
Maven Surefire – 3.2.5
Maven Compiler – 3.13.0
Java 17
Maven – 3.9.6

Implementation Steps

Step 1- Download and Install Java

Selenium needs Java to be installed on the system to run the tests. Click here to learn How to install Java.

Step 2 – Download and setup Eclipse IDE on the system

The Eclipse IDE (integrated development environment) provides strong support for Java developers, which is needed to write Java code. Click here to learn How to install Eclipse.

Step 3 – Setup Maven

To build a test framework, we need to add many dependencies to the project. It is a very tedious and cumbersome process to add each dependency manually. So, to overcome this problem, we use a build management tool. Maven is a build management tool that is used to define project structure, dependencies, build, and test management. Click here to learn How to install Maven.

Step 4 – Create a new Maven Project

Click here to learn How to create a Maven project

Below is the Maven project structure. Here,

Group Id – com.example
Artifact Id – KeywordDrivenFramework
Version – 0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
Package – com. example. KeywordDrivenFramework

Step 5 – Add Selenium, TestNG, and Apache POI dependencies to the project

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>com.example</groupId>
  <artifactId>KeywordDrivenFramework</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>

  <name>KeywordDrivenFramework</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <selenium.version>4.21.0</selenium.version>
    <testng.version>7.10.2</testng.version>
    <poi.version>5.2.5</poi.version>
    <poi.ooxml.version>5.2.5</poi.ooxml.version>
    <commons.version>2.16.1</commons.version>
    <maven.surefire.plugin.version>3.2.5</maven.surefire.plugin.version>
    <maven.compiler.plugin.version>3.13.0</maven.compiler.plugin.version>
    <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
  </properties>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
      <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
      <version>${selenium.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
      <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
      <version>${testng.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
      <artifactId>poi</artifactId>
      <version>${poi.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
      <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
      <version>${poi.ooxml.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
      <version>${commons.version}</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>${maven.compiler.plugin.version}</version>
        <configuration>
          <source>${maven.compiler.source}</source>
          <target>${maven.compiler.target}</target>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>${maven.surefire.plugin.version}</version>
        <configuration>
          <suiteXmlFiles>
            <suiteXmlFile>testng.xml</suiteXmlFile>
          </suiteXmlFiles>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>

Step 6 – Create a Java Keyword Class for each page

In this example, we will access 2 web pages, “Login” and “Home” pages.

Hence, we will create 2 Java classes for keywords – LoginPageKeywords.java and HomePageKeywords.java and a BasePage class to initialize the driver using PageFactory.

BasePage

package com.example.pages;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.PageFactory;

public class BasePage {
    public WebDriver driver;

    public BasePage(WebDriver driver) {
        this.driver = driver;
        PageFactory.initElements(driver,this);
    }

}

LoginPageKeywords

package com.example.keywords;

import com.example.utils.ExcelUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.FindBy;

public class LoginPageKeywords extends BasePage{

    public LoginPageKeywords(WebDriver driver) {
        super(driver);

    }

    @FindBy(name = "username")
    public WebElement userName;

    @FindBy(name = "password")
    public WebElement password;

    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@class='oxd-form']/div[1]/div/span")
    public WebElement missingUsernameErrorMessage;

    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@class='oxd-form']/div[2]/div/span")
    public WebElement missingPasswordErrorMessage;

    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@class='oxd-form']/div[3]/button")
    public WebElement loginBtn;

    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@id='app']/div[1]/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div[1]/div[1]/p")
    public  WebElement errorMessage;


    public void enterUsername(String strUserName) {
        userName.sendKeys(strUserName);
    }

    public void enterPassword(String strPassword) {
        password.sendKeys(strPassword);
    }

    public void login() {
        loginBtn.click();
    }

    public void login(String strUserName, String strPassword) {

        userName.sendKeys(strUserName);
        password.sendKeys(strPassword);
    }

    public String getMissingUsernameText() {
        return missingUsernameErrorMessage.getText();
    }

    public String getMissingPasswordText() {
        return missingPasswordErrorMessage.getText();
    }

    public String getErrorMessage() {
        return errorMessage.getText();
    }

    public LoginPageKeywords saveTestResults(int row, int column) {
        ExcelUtils.rowNumber = row ;
        ExcelUtils.columnNumber = column;
        return this;
    }

}

HomePageKeywords

package com.example.keywords;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.FindBy;

public class HomePageKeywords extends BasePage {

    public HomePageKeywords(WebDriver driver) {
        super(driver);

    }

    @FindBy(xpath = "//*[@id='app']/div[1]/div[1]/header/div[1]/div[1]/span/h6")
    public  WebElement homePageUserName;

    public String verifyHomePage() {
        return homePageUserName.getText();
    }
}

Step 7 – Create an ExcelUtils Class

To manipulate Excel files and do Excel operations, we should create an Excel file and call it “ExcelUtils” under the utils package as shown below.

package com.example.utils;

import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.DataFormatter;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFCell;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFRow;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFSheet;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFWorkbook;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

public class ExcelUtils {


    public static String testDataExcelPath = null; //Location of Test data excel file
    private static XSSFWorkbook excelWorkBook; //Excel WorkBook
    private static XSSFSheet excelWorkSheet; //Excel Sheet
    private static XSSFCell cell; //Excel cell
    private static XSSFRow row; //Excel row
    public static int rowNumber; //Row Number
    public static int columnNumber; //Column Number
    public static FileInputStream ExcelFile;

    public static DataFormatter formatter;
    public static FileOutputStream fileOut;


    // This method has two parameters: "Test data excel file name" and "Excel sheet name"
    // It creates FileInputStream and set excel file and excel sheet to excelWBook and excelWSheet variables.
    public static void setExcelFileSheet(String sheetName) throws IOException {

        testDataExcelPath = Constants.currentDir + Constants.resourcePath;

        // Open the Excel file
        ExcelFile = new FileInputStream(testDataExcelPath + Constants.testDataExcelFileName);
        excelWorkBook = new XSSFWorkbook(ExcelFile);
        excelWorkSheet = excelWorkBook.getSheet(sheetName);

    }

    //This method reads the test data from the Excel cell.
    public static String getCellData(int rowNum, int colNum) {
        cell = excelWorkSheet.getRow(rowNum).getCell(colNum);
        formatter = new DataFormatter();
        return formatter.formatCellValue(cell);
    }

    //This method takes row number as a parameter and returns the data of given row number.
    public static XSSFRow getRowData(int rowNum) {
        row = excelWorkSheet.getRow(rowNum);
        return row;
    }

    //This method gets excel file, row and column number and set a value to the that cell.
    public static void setCellData(String value, int rowNum, int colNum) throws IOException {
        row = excelWorkSheet.getRow(rowNum);
        cell = row.getCell(colNum);
        if (cell == null) {
            cell = row.createCell(colNum);
            cell.setCellValue(value);
        } else {
            cell.setCellValue(value);
        }

        // Write to the workbook
        fileOut = new FileOutputStream(testDataExcelPath + Constants.testDataExcelFileName);
        excelWorkBook.write(fileOut);
        fileOut.flush();
        fileOut.close();
    }
}

In this file, I wrote all Excel operation methods.

setExcelFileSheet: This method has two parameters: “testdata.xlsx” and “LoginData”. It creates FileInputStream and sets Excel file and Excel sheet to excelWorkBook and excelWorkSheet variables.

getCellData: This method reads the test data from the Excel cell. We are passing row numbers and column numbers as parameters.

getRowData: This method takes the row number as a parameter and returns the data of the given row number.

setCellData: This method gets an Excel file, row, and column number and sets a value to that cell.

Step 8 – Create a Listener Class

We need to create a TestNG Listener class to check the status of each of the tests.

import com.example.tests.BaseTests;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.testng.ITestContext;
import org.testng.ITestListener;
import org.testng.ITestResult;
import java.io.IOException;

public class TestListener implements ITestListener {

    private static String getTestMethodName(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        return iTestResult.getMethod().getConstructorOrMethod().getName();
    }

    @Override
    public void onStart(ITestContext iTestContext) {
        System.out.println("I am in onStart method :" + iTestContext.getName());
    }

    @Override
    public void onFinish(ITestContext iTestContext) {
        System.out.println("I am in onFinish method :" + iTestContext.getName());
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestStart(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        System.out.println("I am in onTestStart method :" + getTestMethodName(iTestResult) + ": start");
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestSuccess(ITestResult iTestResult)  {
        System.out.println("I am in onTestSuccess method :" + getTestMethodName(iTestResult) + ": succeed");
        try {
            ExcelUtils.setCellData("PASSED", ExcelUtils.rowNumber, ExcelUtils.columnNumber);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestFailure(ITestResult iTestResult)  {
        System.out.println("I am in onTestFailure method :" + getTestMethodName(iTestResult) + " failed");
        try {
            ExcelUtils.setCellData("FAILED", ExcelUtils.rowNumber, ExcelUtils.columnNumber);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestSkipped(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        System.out.println("I am in onTestSkipped method :" + getTestMethodName(iTestResult) + ": skipped");
        try {
            ExcelUtils.setCellData("SKIPPED", ExcelUtils.rowNumber, ExcelUtils.columnNumber);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestFailedButWithinSuccessPercentage(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        System.out.println("Test failed but it is in defined success ratio " + getTestMethodName(iTestResult));
    }
}

Step 9 – Create a Constant Class

Create a new class file named “Constants” in the utils package in which the tester will define constants like URL, filePath, and excelData. The source code looks as below:

package com.example.utils;

public class Constants {

    public static final String testDataExcelFileName = "Test_Cases.xlsx"; //Global test data excel file
    public static final String currentDir = System.getProperty("user.dir");  //Main Directory of the project
    public static final String resourcePath = "\\src\\test\\resources\\";  //Main Directory of the project
    public static final String excelTestDataName = "LoginData";
}

Step 10 – Create a BaseTests Class

This BaseTests class contains the setup and tearDown methods to initialize the driver at the start of the test and exit the driver at the end of the test.

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;

import java.time.Duration;

public class BaseTests {

    public static WebDriver driver;
    public final static int TIMEOUT = 10;

    @BeforeMethod
    public void setup() {

        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.addArguments("--remote-allow-origins=*");
        options.addArguments("--no-sandbox");
        options.addArguments("--disable-dev-shm-usage");
        options.addArguments("--headless");
        driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
        driver.get("https://opensource-demo.orangehrmlive.com/");
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(TIMEOUT));

    }

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

}

Step 11 – Create a Test Excel File

Create a test file – testdata.xlsx and place it in src/test/resources. I have stored the following data in the file.

Sno – Numbering of the test cases
Name – Name of the test case
Step_ID – Number of each step of a test case
Description – Detail of each keyword
Keyword – Keyword defined for each step
InputData – This is an optional field. We need this field to provide the input data like username, password, error message, and other validations.
ExpectedResponse – This is the response we expect to get from the execution for the particular test.
ActualResponse – This is the response we get after the execution of the particular test
Status – This could be pass, fail, skip

Step 12 – Create the Tests in src/test/java

In the below LoginPageTests class, we have 2 different tests and the test result will be saved in testdata.xlsx file for both the tests.

package com.example.tests;

import com.example.keywords.HomePageKeywords;
import com.example.keywords.LoginPageKeywords;
import com.example.utils.Constants;
import com.example.utils.ExcelUtils;
import com.example.utils.TestListener;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeTest;
import org.testng.annotations.Listeners;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import java.io.IOException;

@Listeners({TestListener.class })
public class LoginPageTests extends BaseTests {

    String username;
    String password;
    String actualResponse;
    String expectedResponse;


    @BeforeTest
    public void setupTestData() throws IOException {

        System.out.println("Setup Test Data");
        ExcelUtils.setExcelFileSheet(Constants.excelTestDataName);
    }

    @Test
    public void validCredentials() throws IOException {

        username = ExcelUtils.getCellData(2,5);
        password = ExcelUtils.getCellData(3,5);
        expectedResponse = ExcelUtils.getCellData(5,6);

        LoginPageKeywords loginPage = new LoginPageKeywords(driver);

        loginPage.enterUsername(username);
        loginPage.enterPassword(password);
        loginPage.login();

        HomePageKeywords homePage = new HomePageKeywords(driver);
        actualResponse = homePage.verifyHomePage();

        ExcelUtils.setCellData(actualResponse,5,7);
        saveTestResults(5,8);
        Assert.assertEquals(actualResponse,expectedResponse);

    }

    @Test
    public void invalidCredentials() throws IOException {

        username = ExcelUtils.getCellData(9,5);
        password = ExcelUtils.getCellData(10,5);
        expectedResponse = ExcelUtils.getCellData(12,6);

        LoginPageKeywords loginPage = new LoginPageKeywords(driver);

        loginPage.enterUsername(username);
        loginPage.enterPassword(password);
        loginPage.login();

        actualResponse = loginPage.getErrorMessage();

        ExcelUtils.setCellData(actualResponse,12,7);
        saveTestResults(12,8);
        Assert.assertEquals(actualResponse,expectedResponse);

    }

}

Step 13 – Create testng.xml at the root of the project

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM "https://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd">
<suite name="Keyword Driven Framework">
    <test name="Login Test">
        <classes>
            <class name="com.example.tests.LoginPageTests"/>
        </classes>
    </test> <!-- Test -->
</suite> <!-- Suite -->

Step 14 – Run the tests through testng.xml

Right-click on the testng.xml and select “Run ..testng.xml”.

The output of the above execution is

The testdata.xlsx file will be updated with the actual response and the test execution status as shown in the below image.

Note – Make sure to close the excel workbook before starting the test execution, otherwise the test execution will be in the hung state.

Step 15 – View TestNG Reports

If you are using IntelliJ, the HTML Reports do not generate automatically. Go to the Configuration -> Listeners -> select Use default Reporters.

The TestNG Reports will be generated in test-output folder.

We are concerned about 2 reports – index.html and emailable-report.html.

index.html

emailable-report.html

Step 16 – Run the tests from command line

Use the below command to run the tests through the command line

mvn clean test

The output of the above programs is

Advantages of the Keyword-Driven Framework:

Separation of test data from test scripts allows for easier maintenance and updates.
Test cases can be designed by non-technical team members using keywords.
Reusability of test scripts and modular approach reduce duplication and improve efficiency.
Clear and concise reporting due to the separation of test data and expected results.

That’s it! Congratulations on making it through this tutorial and hope you found it useful! Happy Learning!!

QA Automation Expert

Automation solutions to build Test Framework

Keyword Driven Framework Tutorial – Selenium

What is a Keyword Driven Framework?

Project Structure

Dependency List

Implementation Steps

Step 1- Download and Install Java

Step 2 – Download and setup Eclipse IDE on the system

Step 3 – Setup Maven

Step 4 – Create a new Maven Project

Step 5 – Add Selenium, TestNG, and Apache POI dependencies to the project

Step 6 – Create a Java Keyword Class for each page

Step 7 – Create an ExcelUtils Class

Step 8 – Create a Listener Class

Step 9 – Create a Constant Class

Step 10 – Create a BaseTests Class

Step 11 – Create a Test Excel File

Step 12 – Create the Tests in src/test/java

Step 13 – Create testng.xml at the root of the project

Step 14 – Run the tests through testng.xml

Step 15 – View TestNG Reports

Step 16 – Run the tests from command line

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What is a Keyword Driven Framework?

Project Structure

Dependency List

Implementation Steps

Step 1- Download and Install Java

Step 2 – Download and setup Eclipse IDE on the system

Step 3 – Setup Maven

Step 4 – Create a new Maven Project

Step 5 – Add Selenium, TestNG, and Apache POI dependencies to the project

Step 6 – Create a Java Keyword Class for each page

Step 7 – Create an ExcelUtils Class

Step 8 – Create a Listener Class

Step 9 – Create a Constant Class

Step 10 – Create a BaseTests Class

Step 11 – Create a Test Excel File

Step 12 – Create the Tests in src/test/java

Step 13 – Create testng.xml at the root of the project

Step 14 – Run the tests through testng.xml

Step 15 – View TestNG Reports

Step 16 – Run the tests from command line

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