Selenium WebDriver -Tests that use other tests - automated-tests

Question

As an example, I have:
#Test
public void login(*Code ommitted*){
That tests logging into a site.
Then I want to do other tests that start with logging in, so I've got:
#Test
public void sendUserInvite(){
login();
*Other code omitted*
}
Something is intuitively telling me this is really bad practise, but at the same time if the login test does what I need it to, so why not re-use it in this way? Can anyone clarify this. After a while I end up doing several tests at the start of another test because they are the pre-conditions in order to carry out a particular test.

Answer 1

If you're using TestNG, you can use #BeforeClass, #BeforeSuite, #BeforeTest, #BeforeMethod etc. in order to launch your preconditions on some step before your #Test method
E.g. you have 2 tests in xml:
<suite name="Suite0" verbose="1" >
<test name="name0" >
<classes>
<class name="Test0" />
</classes>
</test>
<test name="name1">
<classes>
<class name="Test1"/>
</classes>
</test>
</suite>
Let's assume Test0 and Test1 both extend class BaseTest
Then in BaseTest:
public class BaseTest {
#BeforeTest
public void login() {
// smth w/ login
}
}
So, when the suite is launched, login method will be invoked. Just note that #BeforeTest will work for every test from a suite, not for every method with #Test, this sometimes confuses.
UPD
If you're using JUnit, you can use #Before, and method with it will be run before every #Test in a class. So to say, it is the same as #BeforeMethod in TestNG
#Before
public void pre() {
// your login here
}
#Test
public void testA() {
// prints A
}
#Test
public void testB() {
// prints B
}
#After
public void end() {
// logout
}
Order of execution:
login
A
logout
login
B
logout

Answer 2

According to the following links, JUnit test cases are designed to be run in isolation and each test should be independent of one other. I believe you have to reconsider your design and go for test framework like TestNG which perfectly suites your requirements.
Choose order to execute JUnit tests
running a subset of JUnit #Test methods
How to run test methods in specific order in JUnit4?

Answer 3

If you feel the need to call one test method from another test method, that's a good sign that you need to extract a class.
I suggest moving login to a PageObject class:
public class HomePage {
private final WebDriver driver;
public HomePage(WebDriver driver) {
this.driver = driver;
}
public WelcomePage login(String userName, String password) {
signIn(userName, password);
Assert.assertEquals("sign in failed", userName, getSignedInUser());
return new WelcomePage(driver, userName);
}
private void signIn(String userName, String password) {
// Add code to perform the sign in
}
public String getSignedInUser() {
// Add code to check the current page to see who is reported
// as the signed in user
}
}
Then your test looks like this:
#Test
public void login() {
HomePage page = new HomePage(driver);
page.login(TEST_USER_NAME, TEST_PASSWORD);
}
#Test
public void sendUserInvite() {
WelcomePage page = new HomePage(driver)
.login(TEST_USER_NAME, TEST_PASSWORD);
page.sendUserInvite(NON_USER_EMAIL_ADDRESS);
}
Of course, your page objects may also have some code duplication (for instance, getting the signed in user may be a common concern). When this happens, you can either extract a base class for all of our page objects or a helper class for common logic.