Pass Webdriver instance from one method to another method(in same class) in Selenium

Question

I have totally four methods in my class

I have created a static WebDriver object

static WebDriver driver;

Method 1: Log-in to site ( Here I initialize the WebDriver driver=new new FirefoxDriver();)

Method 2: Click a link in site ( Using WebDriver driver) On click, the link gets opened in new tab in same browser

Method 3:

Now in Method 3, I switch to new tab and perform some actions with web element in the new tab

Below code is used to switch to new tab

ArrayList<String> tabss = new ArrayList<String> (driver.getWindowHandles());
driver.switchTo().window(tabss.get(1));

Method 4: Again I want to perform some more action in the new tab

Now I need the same driver instance (tab) used in Method 3 in Method 4.

How do I get that

If I use "driver" in Method 4, it's null.

public class download {
    static WebDriver driver;


    @Test
    public static void login() throws InterruptedException
    {
        driver = new FirefoxDriver();
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
        driver.get("__site__");
        driver.findElement(By.id("login-email")).sendKeys("__username__");
        driver.findElement(By.id("login-password")).sendKeys("__password__");
        driver.findElement(By.id("login-submit")).click();
        Thread.sleep(3000);
    }


    @Test
    public static void navigatetolearningpage() throws InterruptedException
    {

        driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='relative ember-view']")).click();
        Thread.sleep(3000);
    }

    @Test
    public static void search() throws InterruptedException, AWTException
    {

        ArrayList<String> tabss = new ArrayList<String> (driver.getWindowHandles());
        driver.switchTo().window(tabss.get(1));
        driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@type='text']")).sendKeys("__searchkeyword__");
        Thread.sleep(3000);
        driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@type='text']")).sendKeys(Keys.RETURN);
        Thread.sleep(3000);
        driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='search-facet__label']")).click();

    }

    @Test 
    public static void course_list() throws InterruptedException
    {
        //This driver will print as NULL
        System.out.println("last method:"+driver);

    }

}

user7294900 user7294900 · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-19T12:35:09

The order of the tests isn't guaranteed, so you need to initialize driver at start of the tests

Move the initialization code to the declaration of driver:

static WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

EDIT

Following @Laazo comment, I think it's better than add it to @BeforeClass Because if you switch to TestNG framework you will need to change or upgrade to JUnit5 to @BeforeAll

Pass Webdriver instance from one method to another method(in same class) in Selenium

1 Answers