When starting out with test automation one of the first things that is required will be to install various software components. This software will allow for us to create some automated tests.
For our first setup will be using the Java implementation of the Selenium API. The main parts of software that will be required are as follows:
Java – Java is a programming language and computing platform first released in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that use Java.
Maven -Maven is a dependency management and build automation tool used primarily for Java projects.
IntelliJ IDE – IntelliJ is an Integrated Development Environment used for computer software development.This is tool in which developers and QA can write code.
The software components mentioned above will be main pieces that we shall be using to get started. As we progress with getting started with Selenium and Java their usages will become more apparent.
When it comes to installing Java and Maven on a Windows or Mac machine this can prove very tricky. In the past this would require changes to things like the system variables and add various changes to the paths in the system. This could easily lead to human error and cause lots of setup issue. I have had first hand experience of this.
Fortunately for both Windows and Mac users there are package managers that can do all of the labour intensive work of downloading what we require and performing all of the setup tasks.
The two package managers that I have used are Chocolatey (Windows based) and Homebrew(Mac OS based).
I shall start off with how to install Chocolatey for Windows. Window typically tends to be the most widely used operating system for business and users. I will in future put up a post about getting started with Homebrew.
You first want to open up the Windows PowerShell command line (you can search for this in the windows search bar) please ensure you open this as the window administrator you may face installation privileges issues when we start installing the software components we require. You should see the following window below:
With PowerShell, you must ensure Get-ExecutionPolicy is not restricted as mentioned on the chocolatey website.
Run Get-ExecutionPolicy. If it returns Restricted, then run Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned or Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process.
The the next thing you want to is to copy the below command in the PowerShell window:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1’))
The PowerShell screen should display as below. In the case of my setup I had to changed the execution policies as mentioned and this will be evident in the screenshot.
Now if you don’t see any errors close down the PowerShell window reopen the window and type the following command ‘choco’ you should see the version number of Chocolatey and you have successfully installed Chocolatey on your Windows machine.
In the next post we will be actually using Chocolatey to install Maven, Java and Intellij.
See you in the next post!
Automation Odyssey 
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