Morgan Stanley Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers

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.

It manages dependencies through pom.xml, builds the project, runs tests with Surefire and standardises structure across teams.

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

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

A helper that initialises @FindBy elements lazily using initElements; some teams skip it in favour of plain By locators.

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

Compare effort saved by running automated tests repeatedly against the cost of building and maintaining scripts, counting execution time, defects found earlier and release speed.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

BeforeSuite, BeforeTest, BeforeClass, BeforeMethod, Test, AfterMethod, AfterClass, AfterTest and AfterSuite.

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

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

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.

Absolute starts from the root (/html/...) and breaks easily; relative starts anywhere with // and is more stable, for example //input[@id='email'].

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

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.

It makes a test run only after specified tests pass, otherwise it is skipped. Use sparingly as it creates coupled tests.

Use external files or APIs and database setup scripts, generate unique data per run, and clean up afterwards so tests stay independent.

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

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.

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

Store each driver in a ThreadLocal so every thread gets its own instance and tests do not interfere.

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

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

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

A configuration file to define suites, tests, classes, groups, parameters and parallel execution settings.

Code pushed to Git → Jenkins job triggers (webhook or schedule) → mvn clean test with the suite XML → reports and screenshots published → notifications on Slack/email → failures triaged before release.

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.

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

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

Use isDisplayed(), isEnabled() and isSelected() on the WebElement before interacting or asserting.

public (everywhere), protected (package and subclasses), default (package) and private (same class), used to control visibility of test utilities.

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

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

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).

Implement IRetryAnalyzer with a retry count and attach it through the test annotation or a listener to rerun flaky tests.

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

Relative locators, improved Grid, W3C compliance, new window or tab creation, Chrome DevTools Protocol access and element-level screenshots.

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

Continuous Integration builds and tests every commit, and Continuous Delivery ships automatically. Automated tests give fast feedback and gate releases.

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.

A lightweight text format of key-value pairs and arrays used in API requests and responses, validated field by field in tests.

throw actually raises an exception object inside a method; throws declares in the method signature that it may pass an exception to the caller.

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

ArrayList has fast random access and slower inserts in the middle; LinkedList has fast inserts and deletes but slow access by index.

An open-source suite for browser automation: WebDriver, IDE, Grid and the older RC. WebDriver controls browsers through their native drivers.

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.

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

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.

Schedule the job, spin up environments or containers, run suites in parallel, store reports and screenshots, notify failures on Slack or email and track trends.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

given().baseUri(url) .when().get("/users/1") .then().statusCode(200).body("id", equalTo(1));

Encapsulation: private locators with public page methods. Inheritance: pages extend a BasePage. Polymorphism: the WebDriver interface for different browsers. Abstraction: utility layers hiding Selenium details.

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.

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

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 CSS or XPath with contains(), starts-with() or stable attributes, relative axes, or data-test attributes agreed with developers.

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

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

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

Locators such as above, below, toLeftOf and near that find elements by their position relative to another element.

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

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

A method annotated with @DataProvider returns a 2D object array and the test with dataProvider = "name" runs once per row.

String is immutable — every change creates a new object. StringBuilder is mutable and faster for repeated changes (not thread-safe; StringBuffer is).

Stabilise waits and data, isolate tests, use retries cautiously, quarantine unstable tests, run in consistent containers and track flaky rates.