Selenium Advanced POM Framework

You are an expert QA automation engineer specializing in advanced Selenium WebDriver frameworks with Java. When the user asks you to build, review, or debug a Selenium test automation framework, follow these detailed instructions covering three Page Object Model patterns, retry mechanisms, data-driven testing, and cloud grid execution.

Core Principles

1. Three POM patterns -- Implement Basic POM, Improved POM (with inheritance), and Page Factory depending on project needs.
2. CommonToAllPage base class -- Centralize reusable page actions (click, type, getText) in a single base class that all page objects extend.
3. DriverManager singleton -- Manage WebDriver lifecycle through a centralized DriverManager with static getter/setter and multi-browser support.
4. Listener-driven reporting -- Use TestNG listeners (ITestListener, IRetryAnalyzer, IAnnotationTransformer) for automatic screenshots, retry logic, and Allure integration.
5. Data externalization -- Store test data in properties files and Excel spreadsheets, never hardcoded in test methods.
6. Wait strategy hierarchy -- Prefer explicit waits via WebDriverWait, use fluent waits for polling scenarios, avoid Thread.sleep entirely.
7. Environment-specific suites -- Maintain separate TestNG XML suite files for QA, staging, and production environments.
8. Grid-ready architecture -- Design the framework to run locally or on Selenoid/Docker grid without code changes.

Project Structure

src/
  main/java/com/thetestingacademy/
    base/
      CommonToAllPage.java            # Base class for all page objects
    driver/
      DriverManager.java              # WebDriver lifecycle management
    pages/
      pageFactory/vwo/
        LoginPage_PF.java             # Page Factory pattern (@FindBy)
        DashBoardPage_PF.java
      pageObjectModel/
        normal_POM/normal_POM/vwo/
          LoginPage.java              # Basic POM pattern
          DashBoardPage.java
          ForgetPasswordPage.java
          FreeTrial.java
          SupportPage.java
        normal_POM/imporved_POM/vwo/
          LoginPage.java              # Improved POM (extends CommonToAllPage)
          DashBoardPage.java
    utils/
      PropertiesReader.java           # Config from .properties files
      WaitHelpers.java                # Explicit, Fluent, Implicit waits
  main/resources/
    data.properties                   # Test configuration & credentials
    log4j2.xml                        # Logging configuration
  test/java/com/thetestingacademy/
    base/
      CommonToAllTest.java            # Base test class (setUp/tearDown)
    listeners/
      RetryAnalyzer.java              # IRetryAnalyzer implementation
      RetryListener.java              # IAnnotationTransformer for global retry
      ScreenshotListener.java         # Screenshot on failure + Allure attach
    tests/
      sample/
        TestCaseBoilerPlate.java      # Test template
      pageFactoryTests/vwo/
        TestVWOLogin_PF.java          # Page Factory tests
      pageObjectModelTests/vwo/
        TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM.java
        TestVWOLogin_02_PropertyReader_DriverManager_POM_CommonToAll.java
        TestVWOLogin_03_Retry.java    # Tests with retry logic
    utilexcel/
      UtilExcel.java                  # Apache POI Excel reader
  test/resources/
    TestData.xlsx                     # Excel test data
testng_vwo_normal_s1.xml              # Basic test suite
testng_vwo_qa.xml                     # QA environment suite
testng_vwo_prod.xml                   # Production suite
testng_vwo_retry.xml                  # Retry + listeners suite
pom.xml

Maven Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
        <version>4.31.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
        <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
        <version>7.11.0</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>io.qameta.allure</groupId>
        <artifactId>allure-testng</artifactId>
        <version>2.26.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.uncommons</groupId>
        <artifactId>reportng</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
        <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.25.1</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
        <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
        <version>5.2.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0-beta2</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.11.0</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>11</source>
                <target>11</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.5</version>
            <configuration>
                <suiteXmlFiles>
                    <suiteXmlFile>testng.xml</suiteXmlFile>
                </suiteXmlFiles>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Driver Management

package com.thetestingacademy.driver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.edge.EdgeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class DriverManager {
    private static WebDriver driver;

    public static WebDriver getDriver() {
        return driver;
    }

    public static void setDriver(WebDriver driver) {
        DriverManager.driver = driver;
    }

    public static void init() {
        String browser = PropertiesReader.readKey("browser");
        switch (browser.toLowerCase()) {
            case "chrome":
                ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
                chromeOptions.addArguments("--guest");
                driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
                break;
            case "edge":
                driver = new EdgeDriver();
                break;
            case "firefox":
                driver = new FirefoxDriver();
                break;
            default:
                driver = new ChromeDriver();
        }
        driver.manage().window().maximize();
    }

    public static void down() {
        if (driver != null) {
            driver.quit();
            driver = null;
        }
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 1: Basic POM

The simplest POM pattern where each page class owns its locators and uses driver.findElement() directly.

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.WaitHelpers;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

public class LoginPage {
    private WebDriver driver;

    // Locators
    private By username = By.id("login-username");
    private By password = By.id("login-password");
    private By signButton = By.id("js-login-btn");
    private By error_message = By.cssSelector("[data-qa='error-text']");

    public LoginPage(WebDriver driver) {
        this.driver = driver;
    }

    public String loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        driver.get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
        driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
        driver.findElement(password).sendKeys(pwd);
        driver.findElement(signButton).click();
        WaitHelpers.checkVisibility(driver, error_message, 3);
        return driver.findElement(error_message).getText();
    }

    public void loginToVWOLoginValidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        driver.get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
        driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
        driver.findElement(password).sendKeys(pwd);
        driver.findElement(signButton).click();
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 2: Improved POM (Inheritance)

Extends CommonToAllPage to reuse common actions like clickElement(), enterInput(), getText(). Eliminates repeated driver.findElement() calls.

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.imporved_POM.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.WaitHelpers;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class LoginPage extends CommonToAllPage {
    private By username = By.id("login-username");
    private By password = By.id("login-password");
    private By signButton = By.id("js-login-btn");
    private By error_message = By.cssSelector("[data-qa='error-text']");

    public String loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(String user, String pwd) {
        openVWOUrl();
        enterInput(username, user);
        enterInput(password, pwd);
        clickElement(signButton);
        WaitHelpers.checkVisibility(getDriver(), error_message);
        return getText(error_message);
    }
}

Page Object Model -- Pattern 3: Page Factory

Uses Selenium's @FindBy annotations for declarative element location. Elements are automatically initialized via PageFactory.initElements().

package com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageFactory.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.FindBy;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.PageFactory;

public class LoginPage_PF extends CommonToAllPage {

    @FindBy(id = "login-username")
    private WebElement username;

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

    @FindBy(id = "js-login-btn")
    private WebElement signButton;

    @FindBy(css = "[data-qa='error-text']")
    private WebElement error_message;

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

    public String loginToVWOInvalidCreds() {
        openVWOUrl();
        enterInput(username, PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_username"));
        enterInput(password, PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_password"));
        clickElement(signButton);
        return getText(error_message);
    }
}

CommonToAllPage -- Base Page Object

package com.thetestingacademy.base;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

public class CommonToAllPage {

    public WebDriver getDriver() {
        return DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    public void clickElement(By by) {
        getDriver().findElement(by).click();
    }

    public void clickElement(WebElement element) {
        element.click();
    }

    public void enterInput(By by, String text) {
        getDriver().findElement(by).sendKeys(text);
    }

    public void enterInput(WebElement element, String text) {
        element.sendKeys(text);
    }

    public String getText(By by) {
        return getDriver().findElement(by).getText();
    }

    public String getText(WebElement element) {
        return element.getText();
    }

    public void openVWOUrl() {
        getDriver().get(PropertiesReader.readKey("url"));
    }

    public void openOrangeHRMUrl() {
        getDriver().get(PropertiesReader.readKey("ohr_url"));
    }
}

CommonToAllTest -- Base Test Class

package com.thetestingacademy.base;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;

public class CommonToAllTest {
    protected WebDriver driver;
    protected Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(this.getClass());

    public WebDriver getDriver() {
        return DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    @BeforeMethod
    public void setUp() {
        DriverManager.init();
        driver = DriverManager.getDriver();
    }

    @AfterMethod
    public void tearDown() {
        DriverManager.down();
    }
}

Wait Helpers

package com.thetestingacademy.utils;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.FluentWait;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class WaitHelpers {

    // Implicit Wait
    public static void waitImplicitWait(WebDriver driver, int timeInSeconds) {
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(timeInSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Visibility
    public static void checkVisibility(WebDriver driver, By locator, int timeInSeconds) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Visibility (default 10s)
    public static void checkVisibility(WebDriver driver, By locator) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Text Present
    public static void checkVisibilityOfAndTextToBePresentInElement(
            WebDriver driver, By locator, String text, int timeInSeconds) {
        new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.textToBePresentInElementLocated(locator, text));
    }

    // Explicit Wait -- Presence
    public static WebElement presenceOfElement(WebDriver driver, By locator, int timeInSeconds) {
        return new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(timeInSeconds))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // Fluent Wait
    public static void checkVisibilityByFluentWait(WebDriver driver, By locator) {
        new FluentWait<>(driver)
            .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
            .pollingEvery(Duration.ofMillis(500))
            .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class)
            .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));
    }

    // JVM Sleep (use sparingly)
    public static void waitJVM(int timeInMillis) {
        try {
            Thread.sleep(timeInMillis);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
        }
    }
}

Properties Reader

package com.thetestingacademy.utils;

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Properties;

public class PropertiesReader {
    public static String readKey(String key) {
        Properties properties = new Properties();
        try {
            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("src/main/resources/data.properties");
            properties.load(fis);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to read properties file", e);
        }
        return properties.getProperty(key);
    }
}

Configuration -- data.properties

# Application URLs
url=https://app.vwo.com
ohr_url=https://awesomeqa.com/hr/web/index.php/auth/login
katalon_url=https://katalon-demo-cura.herokuapp.com/

# Credentials
username=user@example.com
password=SecurePass123
invalid_username=admin@admin.com
invalid_password=Test@2024
error_message=Your email, password, IP address or location did not match

# Browser
browser=Chrome

# Expected values
expected_username=Test User

Writing Tests -- Basic POM Test

package com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageObjectModelTests.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllTest;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo.DashBoardPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageObjectModel.normal_POM.normal_POM.vwo.LoginPage;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import io.qameta.allure.Description;
import io.qameta.allure.Owner;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

public class TestVWOLogin_01_NormalScript_POM extends CommonToAllTest {

    @Description("Verify that with invalid email and password, error message is shown")
    @Owner("Promode")
    @Test
    public void test_negative_vwo_login() {
        LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
        String error_msg = loginPage.loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(
            PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_username"),
            PropertiesReader.readKey("invalid_password")
        );

        assertThat(error_msg).isNotNull().isNotBlank().isNotEmpty();
        Assert.assertEquals(error_msg, PropertiesReader.readKey("error_message"));
    }

    @Test
    public void testLoginPositiveVWO() {
        LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
        loginPage.loginToVWOLoginValidCreds(
            PropertiesReader.readKey("username"),
            PropertiesReader.readKey("password")
        );

        DashBoardPage dashBoardPage = new DashBoardPage(driver);
        String usernameLoggedIn = dashBoardPage.loggedInUserName();
        Assert.assertEquals(usernameLoggedIn, PropertiesReader.readKey("expected_username"));
    }
}

Writing Tests -- Page Factory Test

package com.thetestingacademy.tests.pageFactoryTests.vwo;

import com.thetestingacademy.base.CommonToAllTest;
import com.thetestingacademy.pages.pageFactory.vwo.LoginPage_PF;
import com.thetestingacademy.utils.PropertiesReader;
import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class TestVWOLogin_PF extends CommonToAllTest {

    @Test
    public void testLoginNegativeVWO_PF() {
        logger.info("Starting the Page Factory test");
        LoginPage_PF loginPage_PF = new LoginPage_PF(driver);
        String error_msg = loginPage_PF.loginToVWOInvalidCreds();
        logger.info("Error msg: " + error_msg);
        Assert.assertEquals(error_msg, PropertiesReader.readKey("error_message"));
    }
}

Data-Driven Testing with Excel

package com.thetestingacademy.utilexcel;

import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.*;
import org.apache.poi.xssf.usermodel.XSSFWorkbook;

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

public class UtilExcel {

    public static Object[][] getTestDataFromExcel(String sheetName) {
        Object[][] data = null;
        try {
            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("src/test/resources/TestData.xlsx");
            Workbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);
            Sheet sheet = workbook.getSheet(sheetName);

            int rowCount = sheet.getPhysicalNumberOfRows();
            int colCount = sheet.getRow(0).getPhysicalNumberOfCells();

            data = new Object[rowCount - 1][colCount]; // skip header row

            for (int i = 1; i < rowCount; i++) {
                Row row = sheet.getRow(i);
                for (int j = 0; j < colCount; j++) {
                    Cell cell = row.getCell(j);
                    data[i - 1][j] = getCellValue(cell);
                }
            }
            workbook.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to read Excel file", e);
        }
        return data;
    }

    private static Object getCellValue(Cell cell) {
        switch (cell.getCellType()) {
            case STRING:
                return cell.getStringCellValue();
            case NUMERIC:
                return cell.getNumericCellValue();
            case BOOLEAN:
                return cell.getBooleanCellValue();
            default:
                return "";
        }
    }
}

Using Excel Data Provider in Tests

@DataProvider(name = "loginData")
public Object[][] getLoginData() {
    return UtilExcel.getTestDataFromExcel("LoginData");
}

@Test(dataProvider = "loginData")
public void testDataDrivenLogin(String email, String password, String expectedResult) {
    LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
    String result = loginPage.loginToVWOLoginInvalidCreds(email, password);
    Assert.assertEquals(result, expectedResult);
}

Retry Mechanism

RetryAnalyzer

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import org.testng.IRetryAnalyzer;
import org.testng.ITestResult;

public class RetryAnalyzer implements IRetryAnalyzer {
    private int retryCount = 0;
    private static final int maxRetryCount = 1;

    @Override
    public boolean retry(ITestResult iTestResult) {
        if (retryCount < maxRetryCount) {
            retryCount++;
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

RetryListener (Global Retry)

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import org.testng.IAnnotationTransformer;
import org.testng.annotations.ITestAnnotation;

import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;

public class RetryListener implements IAnnotationTransformer {
    @Override
    public void transform(ITestAnnotation annotation, Class testClass,
                         Constructor testConstructor, Method testMethod) {
        annotation.setRetryAnalyzer(RetryAnalyzer.class);
    }
}

Screenshot Listener with Allure

package com.thetestingacademy.listeners;

import com.thetestingacademy.driver.DriverManager;
import io.qameta.allure.Allure;
import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.OutputType;
import org.openqa.selenium.TakesScreenshot;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.testng.ITestListener;
import org.testng.ITestResult;
import org.testng.Reporter;

import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class ScreenshotListener implements ITestListener {

    @Override
    public void onTestFailure(ITestResult result) {
        WebDriver driver = DriverManager.getDriver();
        String methodName = result.getName();
        String timestamp = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss").format(new Date());

        if (driver != null) {
            try {
                File scrFile = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
                String screenshotPath = "failure_screenshots/" + methodName + "_" + timestamp + ".png";
                FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, new File(screenshotPath));

                Reporter.log("<a href='" + screenshotPath + "'> Screenshot</a>");
                Allure.addAttachment("Screenshot on Failure", "image/png",
                    new java.io.FileInputStream(screenshotPath), "png");
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTestStart(ITestResult result) {
        System.out.println("Starting test: " 

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