ServiceNow Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers

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

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

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

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

A subclass redefines a parent method. Frameworks use it to customise base behaviour, such as overriding a wait or click method in a base page class.

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.

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

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.

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

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

TestNG reports, ExtentReports and Allure give charts, screenshots and logs that are easy to share with the team.

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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.

It uses the key's hashCode to find a bucket and equals to resolve collisions, giving O(1) average lookups; Java 8 converts long buckets into trees.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

An API client. Add tests in JavaScript, use environments and collections, and run them with Newman in a CI pipeline.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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