Nullpointer Exception in webdriver, driver is null - selenium-webdriver

Question

I am a newbie in selenium java and trying to run test case by calling methods from another class in a framework. Methods are defined in a different class. The issue is that for first instance, the driver is found (Firefox driver) but when a method from another class is called, the driver is null.
Below is the code snippet:
public class ActionDriver {
WebDriver driver;
public ActionDriver(WebDriver driver){
this.driver = driver;
}
public void type(By loc, String value) {
driver.findElement(loc).sendKeys(value);
}
}
NPE comes for the above line of code for driver for second instance when method is called from the WebAction class. driver.findElement(loc).sendKeys(value);
Second class is :
public class WebActions {
WebDriver driver;
ActionDriver ad = new ActionDriver(driver);
SizeChartTemplate sct = new SizeChartTemplate();
public void TypeTemplateName(){
ad.type(jsct.Template_Name, "Men's Vest");
}
}
NPE is for the above line of code at ad.
Test Case:
public class LoginToJcilory extends OpenAndCloseBrowser {
#Test
public void logintojcilory() throws BiffException, IOException, InterruptedException{
WebActions wa = new WebActions();
System.out.println("Entered login to jcilory block");
ActionDriver actdrvr = new ActionDriver(driver);
JciloryLoginPage jclp = new JciloryLoginPage();
JcilorySizeChartTemplate jsct = new JcilorySizeChartTemplate();
String username = actdrvr.readExcel(0, 1);
String password = actdrvr.readExcel(1, 1);
System.out.println(username);
System.out.println(password);
actdrvr.type(jclp.Username, username);
actdrvr.type(jclp.Password, password);
actdrvr.click(jclp.LoginButton);
Thread.sleep(2000);
driver.get("http://qacilory.dewsolutions.in/JCilory/createSizeChartTemplate.jc");
wa.TypeTemplateName();
}
NPE comes for wa element in the above code.
Below is the error:
FAILED: logintojcilory
java.lang.NullPointerException
at Config.ActionDriver.type(ActionDriver.java:40)
at Config.WebActions.TypeTemplateName(WebActions.java:17)
at Test.LoginToJcilory.logintojcilory(LoginToJcilory.java:55)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
at org.testng.internal.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethod(MethodInvocationHelper.java:84)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeMethod(Invoker.java:714)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethod(Invoker.java:901)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethods(Invoker.java:1231)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.invokeTestMethods(TestMethodWorker.java:127)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.run(TestMethodWorker.java:111)
at org.testng.TestRunner.privateRun(TestRunner.java:767)
at org.testng.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:617)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runTest(SuiteRunner.java:334)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.access$000(SuiteRunner.java:37)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner$SuiteWorker.run(SuiteRunner.java:368)
at org.testng.internal.thread.ThreadUtil$2.call(ThreadUtil.java:64)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
===============================================
Test run on FIREFOX
Tests run: 1, Failures: 1, Skips: 0
===============================================
OpenAndCloseBrowser:
public class OpenAndCloseBrowser {
protected WebDriver driver;
#Parameters({"browser","baseURL"})
#BeforeClass
public void openBrowser(String browser,String baseURL){
if(browser.equalsIgnoreCase("firefox")){
driver=new FirefoxDriver();
}
else if(browser.equalsIgnoreCase("chrome")){
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", System.getProperty("user.dir")+"\\driver\\chromedriver.exe");
driver=new ChromeDriver();
}
else if(browser.equalsIgnoreCase("ie")){
System.setProperty("webdriver.ie.driver", System.getProperty("user.dir")+"\\driver\\IEDriverServer.exe");
DesiredCapabilities caps=new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.IGNORE_ZOOM_SETTING, true);
caps.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.INTRODUCE_FLAKINESS_BY_IGNORING_SECURITY_DOMAINS, true);
driver=new InternetExplorerDriver(caps);
}
else{
driver=new FirefoxDriver();
}
driver.manage().window().maximize();
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(30,TimeUnit.SECONDS);
driver.get(baseURL);
}
#AfterClass
public void closeBrowser(){
//driver.quit();
}
}
I guess there is an issue with the way i am defining the driver in these classes. Any help is resolving the issue is appreciated.

Answer 1

Your driver is null in ActionDriver.type() because it was null when it was passed into the constructor from WebActions. OpenAndCloseBrowser is creating a WebDriver instance, but assigning to a DIFFERENT (local) driver variable. You should learn more about variable scoping in Java...this isn't a Selenium/Webdriver issue.

Answer 2

You probably don't need an answer anymore, but this issue has quite the views, so just for completeness.
I usually have a global driver variable in my test class and I instantiate it like this, so it's available for every test.
#Before
public void setUp() throws Exception {
System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver", "path/to/geckodriver");
DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
capabilities.setCapability("marionette", true);
driver = new FirefoxDriver(capabilities);
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
}
Just add this to your test class (adapt driver path) and the driver is instantiated before the test.