Web Features

The Web module provides activities for two areas: browser automation and HTTP REST API testing. Both follow the Screenplay Pattern — an actor is given an ability that wraps the underlying client library, and then performs activities through that ability.

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Browser Automation

The browser sub-module lets actors interact with web applications through a real or headless browser. The actor requires the BrowseTheWeb ability backed by a Selenium client.

Key capabilities:

• Navigate to URLs with Navigate.to("https://...")
• Interact with elements: Click.on(element), Enter.text("...").into(element), Hover.over(element)
• Read page data: Title.ofPage(), Text.of(element), Attribute.of(element).called("href")
• Define elements with Element.found(By.id("btn")).called("Submit Button") for readable error messages
• Drag-and-drop, keyboard and mouse actions

Actor actor = Actor.named("Test User")
    .whoCan(BrowseTheWeb.with(Selenium.browser().build()));

Element searchField = Element.found(By.name("q")).called("Search Field");
Element searchButton = Element.found(By.name("btnK")).called("Search Button");

actor.attemptsTo(
    Navigate.to("https://www.google.com"),
    Enter.text("thekla4j").into(searchField),
    Click.on(searchButton),
    Title.ofPage()
        .is(Expected.to.pass(title -> title.contains("thekla4j"), "title contains search term")));

➡ Browser Documentation

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HTTP REST API Testing

The HTTP sub-module lets actors send REST requests and validate responses. The actor requires the UseTheRestApi ability backed by either HcHttpClient (HttpURLConnection) or JavaNetHttpClient (Java 11+ HttpClient).

Key capabilities:

• HTTP methods: Get.from(...), Post.to(...), Put.to(...), Delete.from(...)
• All activities return Either<ActivityError, HttpResponse> for functional error handling
• Configure requests with HttpOptions: base URL, headers, body, cookies, query parameters
• Validate status codes, response bodies, and headers with .is()

HttpClient client = HcHttpClient.using(
    HttpOptions.empty().baseUrl("https://api.example.com"));

Actor actor = Actor.named("API User")
    .whoCan(UseTheRestApi.with(client));

actor.attemptsTo(
    Get.from(Request.of("/users/1"))
        .is(Expected.to.pass(r -> r.statusCode() == 200, "status is 200")));

➡ HTTP Documentation

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Quick Reference

Sub-module	Ability	Client(s)
Browser	BrowseTheWeb	Selenium
HTTP	UseTheRestApi	HcHttpClient, JavaNetHttpClient

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Table of contents

• Browser
• Http