Selenium Webdriver and Type constructors using Generics - How to do it

Question

What's the best way to use the PageFactory design with selenium 2 webdriver, but when a page doesn't always load an expected page how can I create the new unexpected page?

public class PassengerPage
{
      [FindsBy(How = How.Id, Using "submitId")
      IWebElement submitButton { get; set; }

      private readonly IWebDriver driver;


      public PassengerPage(IWebdriver driver)
      {
          if(!driver.url.Contains"Passengers.aspx")
          {
              throw new NotFoundException("Not the passenger page");
          }

          this.driver = driver;
          PageFactory.InitElements(driver, this);

      }

      public PassengerPage NewPassenger(Passenger p)
      {

           // fill out some forms
           // Example:
           // someInputField.sendKeys(p.Name);

           submitButton.Click(); // Ok, submit clicked, possibility of passenger page
           // not coming back, depending on how many passengers were filled out

           // But what if its not...
           return new PassengerPage(driver);

      }

}

// What if the page that is returned after the submitButton.Click(); is the Confirmation.aspx page? I can't be 100% sure, it depends on previous requirements such as the signing in and then saying how many passengers are required but this is not stored in this page.

Can i use some kind of Type constructor?

So could I do something like the following:

public class PassengerPage
{
      [FindsBy(How = How.Id, Using "submitId")
      IWebElement submitButton { get; set; }

      private readonly IWebDriver driver;

      public PassengerPage(IWebdriver driver)
      {
          if(!driver.url.Contains"Passengers.aspx")
          {
              throw new NotFoundException("Not the passenger page");
          }

          this.driver = driver;
          PageFactory.InitElements(driver, this);

      }

      public Page<T> NewPassenger(Passenger p)
      {

           // fill out some forms
           // Example:
           // someInputField.sendKeys(p.Name);

           submitButton.Click(); // Ok, submit clicked, possibility of passenger page
           // not coming back, depending on how many passengers were filled out

           var wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30));

           wait.Until(d => d.url.Contains("Passenger.aspx") || d => d.url.Contains("Confirmation.aspx");


          if(driver.Url.Contains("Passenger.aspx")
          {

              return Page.Create<PassengerPage>(driver);
          }

          if(driver.Url.Contains("Confirmation.aspx")
          {

             return Page.Create<ConfirmationPage>(driver);
          }

      }
}

In another class could I use something like this? I've never used Generics like so and I was considering using something like Java Class.forName(name);

// Some kind of Type Constructor

public class Page 
{

       public static T Create<T>(IWebDriver driver) where T : new()
       {
              return new T(driver);
       }

}

The main concern I have is I won't be able to chain my functions together in my Unit Tests like the following:

[Test(Description = "Some description about my unit test")
public void TestAddPassengerAndConfirm()
{

    new LoginPage(driver).Login("username", "password")
                         .NavigateToSearch()
                         .Search( /* input search criteria */ )
                         .SelectSearchResult(Result.First)
                         .AddPassenger(new Passenger()
                                           {
                                               FirstName = "first",
                                               LastName = "last",
                                           })
                         .AddPassenger(new Passenger()
                                           { 
                                              // More properties
                                           })

                         .ConfirmPassengers() // This would be a function on my ConfirmationPage
                                              // That would return the HomePage or something

}

Any recommendations on how I should I do this?

Answer 1

You're going to have to split that method chain into multiple statements. In C#, I'd do something like the following. It isn't as pretty (if you believe in method chaining), and it isn't as easy, but if programming were easy, we wouldn't get paid to do it.

public void TestAddPassengerAndConfirm()
{
    Page uncertainPage = new LoginPage(driver).Login("username", "password")
                                              .NavigateToSearch()
                                              .Search( /* input search criteria */ )
                                              .SelectSearchResult(Result.First);
    if (uncertainPage is PassengerPage)
    {
        PassengerPage passengerPage = (PassengerPage) uncertainPage;
        uncertainPage = passengerpage.AddPassenger(new Passenger()
                                                       {
                                                           FirstName = "first",
                                                           LastName = "last",
                                                       })
                                     .AddPassenger(new Passenger()
                                                       { 
                                                           // More properties
                                                       });
     }
    if (uncertainPage is ConfirmationPage)
    {
        ConfirmationPage confirmationPage = (ConfirmationPage) uncertainPage;
        confirmationPage.ConfirmPassengers();
    }
}