TCS Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use then().statusCode(200).body("data.id", equalTo(5)), or extract() the response and assert fields with JsonPath.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Running the same test logic with multiple data sets from Excel, CSV, JSON or a database, so coverage increases without duplicating code.

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

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

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

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

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).