Cisco Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers

200 OK, 201 Created, 400 bad request, 401 unauthenticated, 403 forbidden, 404 not found and 500 server error.

ArrayList and LinkedList for lists, HashSet for unique values, HashMap for key-value test data, and Iterator for traversing them, for example collecting web elements in a list.

An interface for systems to talk to each other. GET reads, POST creates, PUT replaces, PATCH updates partially and DELETE removes.

== compares references (or primitive values); equals() compares content when overridden, as in String.

Define parameter name and value in the XML and read them with @Parameters in the test or configuration method.

Hard assert stops the test at the first failure; SoftAssert collects failures and reports them together when assertAll() is called.

A design pattern where each page is a class holding its locators and actions, so tests stay readable and a locator change is fixed in one place.

Maven project → POM with a BasePage → driver factory with ThreadLocal → config files → data-driven utilities (Excel/JSON) → TestNG or Cucumber runner → logging → Extent reports with screenshots on failure → Jenkins pipeline.

Static members belong to the class and are shared by all instances; non-static members belong to each object.

Use the Select class with selectByVisibleText, selectByValue or selectByIndex; for custom dropdowns click and choose from the list of elements.

A try block that automatically closes resources such as file readers or streams, preventing leaks without a finally block.

Behaviour-driven development writes scenarios in Given-When-Then Gherkin that map to step definitions in code, so business and QA share one language.

A test framework offering annotations, grouping, prioritisation, parallel runs, data providers and reports, which structure and scale Selenium tests.

200 OK, 201 Created, 204 No Content, 400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, 500 Internal Server Error.

Implicit, explicit (WebDriverWait with ExpectedConditions) and fluent waits; avoid mixing implicit and explicit waits and never rely on Thread.sleep.

An authorisation framework where a client obtains an access token from an auth server and sends it as a Bearer token; tests fetch and reuse the token in setup.

It runs tests in parallel across multiple machines and browsers using a hub and nodes, cutting execution time and increasing browser coverage.

Use then().time(lessThan(2000L)) and then().header("Content-Type", containsString("json")) along with body assertions.

Cast the driver to JavascriptExecutor and use executeScript, for example to scroll into view or click hidden elements.

Overloading: same method name, different parameters, in the same class (compile time). Overriding: a subclass redefines a parent method with the same signature (runtime polymorphism). WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver() is runtime polymorphism.

A special method that initialises an object. It can be overloaded with different parameters, and testers use it to pass the WebDriver into page classes.

@BeforeTest runs once before all methods in a test tag of testng.xml; @BeforeMethod runs before every test method.

driver.switchTo().alert() lets you accept, dismiss, read text or send keys. Browser windows are handled with window handles.

Classes like ITestListener that react to events such as test start, success or failure, commonly used for screenshots and reporting.

Get getWindowHandles(), loop to find the target, and call driver.switchTo().window(handle); switch back using the stored parent handle.

Use mocks or stubs such as WireMock to simulate the dependency and test your service in isolation.

One interface, many forms. WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver() lets the same test code run on any browser class that implements WebDriver.

Lambdas are short anonymous functions; streams process collections declaratively with filter, map and collect, for example filtering link text from a list of elements.

//button[normalize-space()='Login'] //button[contains(text(),'Login')]

Git tracks changes, enables code review, branching and rollback and lets teams collaborate on the framework safely.

Tag tests with groups = {"smoke","regression"} and include or exclude them in testng.xml to run chosen sets.

close() closes the current window; quit() closes all windows and ends the driver session.

final makes a variable, method or class unchangeable; finally is a block that always runs after try-catch; finalize is a deprecated method called before garbage collection.

Set window size explicitly, use proper waits, check animations and viewport differences, and capture screenshots and logs to find timing issues.

Docker packages tools in containers so tests run identically everywhere; Selenium Grid and browsers can be started quickly in containers.

SOAP is a strict XML protocol with WSDL and WS-Security; REST is a lighter architectural style using HTTP and usually JSON.

Click to open the dropdown, then locate the option by its text, e.g. //li[text()='India'], and click it. Add an explicit wait for the animation.

A Java library that makes API tests readable using given-when-then, with easy request building, response validation and JSON path support.

id, name, className, tagName, linkText, partialLinkText, CSS selector and XPath. Prefer stable ids or CSS, using XPath when needed.

Implicit wait applies globally to element lookups. Explicit wait waits for a specific condition (WebDriverWait + ExpectedConditions). Fluent wait is an explicit wait with custom polling and ignored exceptions.

ArrayList stores an ordered list (e.g. all product names on a page). HashMap stores key–value pairs (e.g. test data or config properties).

A framework combining data-driven, keyword-driven and POM approaches with reporting and utilities, giving flexibility and reuse.

Verifying that a provider and consumer agree on request and response formats, using tools like Pact, to catch breaking changes early.

A callback where one system sends an HTTP request to another when an event occurs. Test with a mock receiver or tools such as webhook.site and verify the payload.

Locate rows and columns with XPath such as //table//tr and //td, loop through them to read or click cells, or build the XPath dynamically from the row text.

WebDriver sends commands over HTTP (W3C protocol) to a browser-specific driver such as chromedriver, which controls the actual browser.

Use TestNG parallel="methods | classes | tests" with thread-count, keep WebDriver in a ThreadLocal, and use Selenium Grid or a cloud grid for multiple browsers.

Keep credentials in external data, parameterise the test with a data provider, reuse a login method in a page class, and clear sessions between roles.

Use Apache POI for Excel and the Properties class for config files, loaded in a utility class so tests read data instead of hard-coding it.

Use headers such as Bearer tokens, basic auth, API keys or OAuth flows; fetch a token in a setup step and reuse it.

Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and abstraction. Testers use them to build reusable page classes, base tests and utility libraries.

Classes such as Integer and Double that wrap primitive types as objects, needed for collections and for parsing text from web elements.

If the element is <input type="file">, use element.sendKeys("C:/path/file.pdf"). Use the Robot class or AutoIt only as a last resort for OS dialogs.

Use JavascriptExecutor with window.scrollTo or scrollIntoView, or the Actions class scroll methods in Selenium 4.

Create a job or pipeline that checks out code, runs mvn test, publishes reports and triggers on commits or schedules.

Comparable defines the natural order inside the class (compareTo); Comparator defines custom orders externally (compare), useful for sorting test data in several ways.

Headless mode or screen resolution, timing issues, environment data, missing dependencies, browser–driver version mismatch or parallel conflicts. Check logs and failure screenshots and make waits robust.

Mouse and keyboard actions such as hover, drag and drop, double click, right click and key combinations, built with moveToElement(...).perform().

A scripted or declarative Jenkinsfile that defines stages such as build, test and deploy as code stored with the project.

String r = new StringBuilder(s).reverse().toString(); // or loop from the last index and append each character

Re-locate the element after the DOM refreshes, use explicit waits for the refreshed element, don't keep element references for long, or wrap the action in retry logic.

this refers to the current object; super refers to the parent class, used to call parent constructors and methods.

Keep URLs and credentials in per-environment config files or variables, choose with a command-line parameter and never hard-code secrets.

An abstract class can hold state and concrete methods; an interface defines a contract (with default methods since Java 8). A class extends one abstract class but can implement many interfaces.

findElement returns the first match and throws NoSuchElementException if nothing is found. findElements returns a List (empty if nothing is found) — handy to check whether an element exists.

Implement ITestListener.onTestFailure(): File src = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE); then copy it into the reports folder.

Arrays have a fixed size and can hold primitives; ArrayList grows dynamically, holds objects and offers helper methods.

switchTo().frame(index, name or element) enters the frame, and switchTo().defaultContent() returns to the main page.

getText returns visible inner text; getAttribute returns an HTML attribute or property such as value, href or class.

POST creates a resource, PUT replaces the whole resource (idempotent) and PATCH updates part of it.

Runtime events that disrupt flow. Use try-catch-finally, throw, throws, and custom exceptions; checked exceptions must be handled while unchecked ones need not be.