Your first Selenium script

Write and run your first automated browser script with Selenium.

What You'll Learn

By the end of this lab, you will be able to:

• Create a basic Java class with a main method for Selenium.
• Launch Google Chrome using Selenium WebDriver.
• Maximize the browser window.
• Navigate to a URL (https://www.google.com).
• Close the browser cleanly using driver.quit().

Why This Lab Matters

This is your first real Selenium script.

Once you understand how to:

• Open a browser
• Navigate to a page
• Close the browser

…you unlock the ability to automate any web scenario step by step.

If this basic flow is not working, more complex tests will also fail. That's why this "Hello World" of Selenium is critical.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

• Java JDK installed and configured (JAVA_HOME set).
• Maven installed and working.
• IntelliJ IDEA installed.
• A Maven project already created (e.g., selenium-basics) with:
  • Selenium Java dependency added to pom.xml.
• Google Chrome installed and up to date.

Core Concepts

WebDriver

Java interface that allows your code to control the browser.

ChromeDriver

A specific WebDriver implementation that controls Google Chrome.

driver.get(url)

Tells the browser to open a specific web page.

driver.quit()

Closes all browser windows and ends the WebDriver session properly.

Step 1 – Open Your Existing Maven Project

1. Open IntelliJ IDEA.
2. From the Welcome screen, choose Open.
3. Browse to your Maven project from the previous lesson, for example:
   • selenium-basics
4. Wait for IntelliJ to finish indexing and Maven to load dependencies.

Step 2 – Create a Java Package

1. In the Project view, expand:
   • src/main/java
2. Right-click on java → New → Package.
3. Enter the package name:

com.dotlog.student

4. Press Enter.

Step 3 – Create the Java Class

1. Right-click on the com.dotlog.student package → New → Java Class.
2. Name the class:

FirstSeleniumGoogle

3. Press Enter.

IntelliJ will create a file:

src/main/java/com/dotlog/student/FirstSeleniumGoogle.java

with an empty class inside.

Step 4 – Write the Selenium Code

Replace the entire content of FirstSeleniumGoogle.java with this code:

package com.dotlog.student;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class FirstSeleniumGoogle {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // 1) Create a new Chrome browser window
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

        // 2) Maximize the browser window
        driver.manage().window().maximize();

        // 3) Navigate to Google
        driver.get("https://www.google.com");

        // 4) Close the browser and end the session
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Step 5 – Run the Class

1. In FirstSeleniumGoogle.java, locate the main method.
2. Click the green ▶ icon next to the main method.
3. Choose Run 'FirstSeleniumGoogle.main()'.
4. Observe what happens:
   • Chrome should open.
   • The window should maximize.
   • It should navigate to https://www.google.com.
   • After a short moment, the browser should close automatically.

Step 6 – Troubleshooting (If Something Goes Wrong)

If Chrome doesn't open or you see errors, check these common issues:

• Red import errors in the code?
  • Make sure Selenium is added in pom.xml under <dependencies>.
  • Click the Maven Reload icon in IntelliJ.
  • Confirm that your package line is exactly: package com.dotlog.student;
• Selenium classes not found?
  • Your pom.xml might be missing the Selenium dependency or it may not have been downloaded.
  • Ensure you have internet access and retry Maven reload.
• Chrome opens but immediately closes?
  • This is normal for this simple script because after navigating, driver.quit() is called.
  • To observe the page longer, temporarily add: Thread.sleep(3000); before driver.quit() (remember to handle InterruptedException).

Code Example

Here is the complete runnable example again:

package com.dotlog.student;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class FirstSeleniumGoogle {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // 1) Create a new Chrome browser window
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

        // 2) Maximize the browser window
        driver.manage().window().maximize();

        // 3) Navigate to Google
        driver.get("https://www.google.com");

        // 4) Close the browser and end the session
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Pro Tips (From Real Projects)

• Use meaningful class names like GoogleNavigationTest or HomePageSmokeTest so you can quickly see what each test does.
• Keep one main purpose per test class (e.g., navigation, search, login) to make failures easy to understand.
• Always log what your test is doing (later you will add logging or reporting libraries).
• Start simple. Once the basic navigation test is stable, you can:
  • Search for a term on Google.
  • Validate page titles.
  • Interact with elements.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using driver.close() instead of driver.quit()
close() only closes one window. quit() shuts down the entire session properly.
• Mismatch between file name and class name
  FirstSeleniumGoogle.java must contain public class FirstSeleniumGoogle exactly.
• Forgetting to add Selenium dependency to pom.xml
  Without it, imports like org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver will be red and the project won't compile.
• Running the class before Maven finishes reloading
  Always wait until Maven finishes indexing and dependencies are downloaded.
• Ignoring error messages
  Read the stack trace in the Run window. Often it tells you exactly what is wrong (missing driver, wrong package, missing class, etc.).