Understanding PageFactory vs. Page Object Model in Selenium

Understanding the distinction between PageFactory and Page Object Model (POM) is crucial in automated testing. Here’s a brief comparison.

Page Object Model (POM)

• POM is a design pattern creating an Object Repository for web UI elements, aiming to reduce code duplication and improve test maintenance.
• Each web page has a corresponding Page Class containing methods that perform operations on WebElements.
• POM separates operations and flows in the UI from verification, making the code cleaner and more understandable.
• It supports the reuse of page methods and gives methods realistic names for easy mapping with UI operations.

PageFactory in Selenium

• PageFactory is an inbuilt POM concept in Selenium WebDriver, used for initializing Page objects or instantiating the Page object itself without using “FindElement/s”.
• It uses annotations @FindBy to find WebElement, with attributes like tagName, partialLinkText, name, linkText, id, css, className, xpath.

Why Not to Use PageFactory?

• PageFactory, while a common Page Object implementation in Java, is not recommended by Selenium contributors due to various limitations.
• It does not store the result when the driver locates the element, causing it to relocate the element for each operation, leading to inefficiency and performance issues.
• The @CacheLookup annotation in PageFactory, intended for caching elements, can lead to StaleElementException If the DOM changes, it makes the element stale.
• PageFactory is considered a “cumbersome and problematic implementation” with no significant benefits over direct runtime code element finding.

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Code Examples

Page Object Model Example

   public class LoginPage {
       private WebDriver driver;

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

       // Locators
       private By username = By.id("username");
       private By password = By.id("password");
       private By loginButton = By.id("login");

       // Methods
       public void enterUsername(String user) {
           driver.findElement(username).sendKeys(user);
       }

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

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

PageFactory Example (Not Recommended)

   public class LoginPage {
       @FindBy(id = "username")
       WebElement username;

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

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

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

       // Methods
       public void enterUsername(String user) {
           username.sendKeys(user);
       }

       public void enterPassword(String pass) {
           password.sendKeys(pass);
       }

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

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Conclusion

While PageFactory offers a structured approach, its inefficiencies and limitations make it less favorable than the direct implementation of the Page Object Model. POM provides a more efficient, understandable, and maintainable framework for web UI testing in Selenium.

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For further reading and detailed explanations, please refer to the articles from Guru99, UltimateQA, and Titus Fortner’s blog.