Selenium Page Object Model

Writing locators directly inside every test method creates duplicate code. When a website changes one button's ID, a tester must fix that locator in twenty different test files. Page Object Model, known as POM, stores each page's locators and actions in one dedicated class, so updates happen in a single place.

Diagram: Test Files Versus Page Classes

Without POM:
Test1 -> [locator A][locator B]
Test2 -> [locator A][locator B]
Test3 -> [locator A][locator B]
   (locator A repeated everywhere)

With POM:
LoginPage class -> [locator A][locator B]
Test1 -> uses LoginPage
Test2 -> uses LoginPage
Test3 -> uses LoginPage
   (locator A defined once)

Creating A Page Class

public class LoginPage {
    WebDriver driver;

    By emailField = By.id("email");
    By passwordField = By.id("password");
    By loginButton = By.id("login-btn");

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

    public void enterEmail(String email) {
        driver.findElement(emailField).sendKeys(email);
    }

    public void enterPassword(String password) {
        driver.findElement(passwordField).sendKeys(password);
    }

    public void clickLogin() {
        driver.findElement(loginButton).click();
    }
}

This class holds every locator and action related to the login page in one organized file.

Using The Page Class Inside A Test

@Test
public void testLogin() {
    driver.get("https://www.estudy247.com/login");
    LoginPage loginPage = new LoginPage(driver);
    loginPage.enterEmail("student@estudy247.com");
    loginPage.enterPassword("mypassword");
    loginPage.clickLogin();
}

The test method reads like plain instructions, hiding the technical locator details inside the LoginPage class.

PageFactory And @FindBy

Selenium offers PageFactory, an alternate way to build page classes using annotations instead of manual findElement() calls.

public class LoginPage {
    WebDriver driver;

    @FindBy(id = "email")
    WebElement emailField;

    @FindBy(id = "password")
    WebElement passwordField;

    @FindBy(id = "login-btn")
    WebElement loginButton;

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

    public void login(String email, String password) {
        emailField.sendKeys(email);
        passwordField.sendKeys(password);
        loginButton.click();
    }
}

PageFactory.initElements() connects each @FindBy annotation to its matching WebElement automatically when the class loads.

Benefits Of Page Object Model

• One locator change fixes every test that touches that page.
• Test methods stay short and read like plain business steps.
• New team members understand test logic faster since technical details stay separate.

Practical Example

A course website has Login, Checkout, and Dashboard pages. Building three page classes, one per page, lets a team write CheckoutPage.addCourseToCart() and DashboardPage.verifyEnrollment() as simple method calls, keeping the actual test scripts focused purely on business flow.