How To Minimize Browsers In Selenium WebDriver Using JUnit

How to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using JUnit?

Until Selenium 3, we had some limitations while handling the browsers; i.e., we were only able to maximize the window and not able to minimize directly. Though it allowed using setPosition() to minimize the browser window, it was of no use as you couldn’t maximize whenever you wanted.

However, with Selenium4, you have a minimize() method that reduces browser windows to a taskbar icon, just like a user normally does. Like the “SwitchTo().window(id)” method, the minimize window is also accessible with the window.minimize() method in Selenium WebDriver 4.

Selenium 4 brings out the immense potential offered by the Selenium framework. Selenium 4 is built to work better with technology stacks native to the browser, including modern JavaScript frameworks. If you want to know more about Selenium 4, you can further deep-dive into our blog on what is new in Selenium 4.

Also, you can follow the TestMu AI YouTube Channel and stay updated with the latest tutorials around Selenium testing, Cypress testing, CI/CD, and more.

Also read – What is Selenium?

Also read: WebDriver Tutorial

In order to minimize the browser window in our Selenium automation script, we can use the below-mentioned command.

driver.manage().window().minimize();

For using the minimize function, we just need the corresponding Selenium WebDriver package. In our use case, it is RemoteWebDriver since we are running the cases on an online Selenium Grid.

New to the framework? Start with this Selenium WebDriver tutorial before continuing.

Now that we have seen the syntax for minimizing the browser let’s deep dive into how we can use the same in our Selenium automation framework. We would do the same by demonstrating through a Minimize Browser Window example.

Check here to know more about- What is Selenium?

We will make use of the TestMu AI cloud Selenium Grid to automate our test cases.

TestMu AI is a cloud-based cross browser testing tool that provides a solution to every obstacle you face while performing automation testing using your local machine. Selenium testing tools like TestMu AI offer a Selenium Grid consisting of 3000+ virtual browsers for you to perform Selenium automation testing effortlessly.

In the next section of this Selenium JUnit tutorial on how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver, we will demonstrate how you could easily perform automation testing by making use of the cloud Selenium Grid.

How to minimize browser window in Selenium WebDriver

Log into the Selenium Playground offered by TestMu AI by launching the browser, followed by minimizing it and then getting the Page Title.

We will cover the below-mentioned steps in our test case:

• Launch the web browser.
• Open https://www.testmuai.com/selenium-playground/.
• Minimize browser.
• Get the web page title and print the same.

Below is the test class file and the pom.xml, which will be needed to install all the necessary dependencies.

package LambdaTest;
 
import org.junit.AfterClass;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
 
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
 
class MinimizeBrowserWindow {
   public String username = "YOUR USERNAME";
   public String accesskey = "YOUR ACCESSKEY";
   public static RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
   public String gridURL = "@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub";
 
   @BeforeClass
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
       DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
       capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "chrome");
       capabilities.setCapability("version", "95.0");
       capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
       capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeBrowserWindow");
       capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeBrowserWindowUsingSelenium");
       try {
           driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
       } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
           System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
       } catch (Exception e) {
           System.out.println(e.getMessage());
       }
 
   }
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeBrowserWindow() {
       try {
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           driver.manage().window().minimize();
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
 
   @AfterClass
   public void closeBrowser() {
       driver.close();
       System.out.println("Closing the browser");
 
   }
 
}

Below pom.xml will be needed for installing all the necessary dependencies.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
   <groupId>org.example</groupId>
   <artifactId>LambdaTest</artifactId>
   <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <dependencies>
       <dependency>
           <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
           <artifactId>selenium-api</artifactId>
           <version>4.0.0-alpha-7</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
           <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
           <artifactId>selenium-remote-driver</artifactId>
           <version>4.0.0-alpha-7</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
           <groupId>junit</groupId>
           <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
           <version>4.10</version>
       </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <properties>
       <maven.compiler.source>8</maven.compiler.source>
       <maven.compiler.target>8</maven.compiler.target>
   </properties>
 
</project>

Code Walkthrough

In this section of this Selenium JUnit tutorial on how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriverNow, let’s try to understand the test case using the TestNG Reporter Log, which we automated.

• Import Dependencies: Here, we have imported all the necessary classes of JUnit, Desired Capabilities, and RemoteWebDriver to set the respective browser capabilities and run the test cases on the grid. If you need multiple data-driven runs, see parameterized tests in JUnit.

• Global Variables: As we have used a Selenium Grid Cloud like LamdaTest to perform our test execution, we are using the below-shown variables.

  Here, you can populate the values for your corresponding username and access key, which can be collected by logging into your LamdaTest Profile Section. You can copy the Username and the Access Token to be used in the code. However, the grid URL will remain the same, as shown below.



Also read: Selenium Grid Setup Tutorial: Basics & Examples For Parallel Testing

• @BeforeClass(Setup Method): Here, we have used the TestMu AI Desired Capabilities Generator and have set the necessary capabilities of browser name, version, platform, etc., for our Selenium Remote WebDriver. In case you are new to JUnit annotations, do check out Annotations in JUnit blog that deep dives into the important annotations in JUnit.
• @Test(minimizeBrowserWindow): Here, we are simply logging into Selenium Playground, and then we are minimizing the browser using the driver.manage.window.minimize() command.

After minimizing the browser window, we get the title of the web page and print the same.

Also read – How To Run JUnit Selenium Tests using TestNG

Console Output

Once you run the test case, your console output will look like below.

So as you can see, the test case runs seamlessly even when you minimize the actual browser window. Isn’t it cool?

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How to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using JUnit by setting its position?

In the above example of this Selenium JUnit tutorial, we saw how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using the minimize() function, which is one of the most widely used methods to do the same. However, wouldn’t it be interesting to explore a few more alternatives to do it? Let’s check them.

Also read: Selenium JUnit tutorial

In order to minimize the browser window, we can also use the below command.

driver.manage().window().setPosition(new Point(int x,int y));

Here, x and y refer to the respective x and y coordinates of the window position. Since the window position and dimensions differ from one machine to another, we will use a generic method of finding out the corresponding x & y coordinates relevant to the browser window. In the end, we will use them for setting the minimized position.

The below test case demonstrates the same use case that was demonstrated earlier. The only change is the usage of setPosition method to minimize the corresponding browser window.

package LambdaTest;
 
import org.openqa.selenium.Dimension;
import org.openqa.selenium.Point;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import org.junit.AfterClass;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;
 
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
 
class MinimizeBrowserWindowUsingPosition {
 
   public String username = "YOUR USERNAME";
   public String accesskey = "YOUR ACCESSKEY";
   public static RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
   public String gridURL = "@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub";
 
   @BeforeClass
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
       DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
       capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "chrome");
       capabilities.setCapability("version", "95.0");
       capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
       capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeBrowserWindowBySettingPosition");
       capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeBrowserWindowBySettingPositionUsingSelenium");
       try {
           driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
       } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
           System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
       } catch (Exception e) {
           System.out.println(e.getMessage());
       }
 
   }
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeBrowserWindowBySettingPosition() {
       try {
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           Point p = driver.manage().window().getPosition();
           System.out.println("The Position of the window is:"+p);
           Dimension d = driver.manage().window().getSize();
           System.out.println("The Size of the window is:"+d);
           driver.manage().window().setPosition(new Point((d.getHeight()-p.getX()), (d.getWidth()-p.getY())));
           System.out.println("The New X Coordinate After Minimizing Is:"+(d.getHeight()-p.getX()));
           System.out.println("The New Y Coordinate After Minimizing Is:"+(d.getWidth()-p.getY()));
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window by setting its position");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
 
   @AfterClass
   public void closeBrowser() {
       driver.close();
       System.out.println("Closing the browser");
   }
}

Code Walkthrough

Window position means the distance of the window from the left side(X Coordinates) of the screen and topside(Y Coordinates) of the screen.

We are first determining the Position of the window followed by the Dimension. Later, by using the setPosition method, we set the corresponding x and y coordinates of the window as shown below, which will minimize the window.

driver.manage().window().setPosition(new Point((d.getHeight()-p.getX()), (d.getWidth()-p.getY())));

The below-highlighted package imports are necessary to use the Dimension and Point methods.

Console Output

Once you run the test case, your console output will look like below.

How to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using keyboard shortcuts?

In the above two sections of this Selenium JUnit tutorial, we looked at how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using the driver.manage.window() commands.

However, when it comes to minimizing the windows manually, we always fall back on keyboard shortcuts. The most widely used keyboard shortcut for doing the same is Windows + D.

Let’s see how we can replicate the keyboard shortcuts using our Selenium automation script. In this use case of replicating the keyboard shortcuts, we will make use of the Robot Class. Robot Class in Selenium generates native system input events for test automation and other applications where you need control over the mouse and keyboard. The major benefit of Robot Class is that it helps to handle keyboard actions in Selenium WebDriver.

However, one thing important to note is that the below use case of minimizing the browser using keyboard shortcuts holds only for a Windows Machine.

The below test case demonstrates the same use case for how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver and getting the web page title with minimized browser window using the keyboard shortcut.

package LambdaTest;
 
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import org.junit.AfterClass;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;
 
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
 
class MinimizeBrowserWindowUsingRobotClass {
 
 
   public String username = "YOUR USERNAME";
   public String accesskey = "YOUR ACCESSKEY";
   public static RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
   public String gridURL = "@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub";
 
   @BeforeClass
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
       DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
       capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "chrome");
       capabilities.setCapability("version", "95.0");
       capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
       capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeBrowserWindow");
       capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeBrowserWindowUsingRobotClass");
       try {
           driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
       } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
           System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
       } catch (Exception e) {
           System.out.println(e.getMessage());
       }
 
   }
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeBrowserWindowUsingRobotClass() {
       try {
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           Robot robot = new Robot();
           robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_WINDOWS);
           robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_D);
           System.out.println("Minimizing the window");
           robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_WINDOWS);
           robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_D);
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
 
   @AfterClass
   public void closeBrowser() {
       driver.close();
       System.out.println("Closing the browser");
 
   }
 
}

Code Walkthrough

To emulate the keyboard shortcut(Windows + D), we have used Robot Class. Here, we have made use of keyPress and keyRelease functions of Robot Class.

keyPress(int keycode): This method is used to press a given key. The parameter keycode is an integer value for the key pressed. For example, to press a key for alphabet A, the value that has to pass is KeyEvent.VK_A i.e., keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_A).

keyRelease(int keycode): This method releases the given key. The keycode parameter is the integer value for the pressed key. For example, to release the already pressed key for alphabet A, the value that has to pass is KeyEvent.VK_A i.e., keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_A).

Here, KeyEvent is a low-level event. In Java AWT, low-level events are events that indicate direct communication from the user like a keypress, key release, etc.

In order to use the above-specified methods, you will need the below package imports.

As a result, by using the Robot class and its keyPress and KeyRelease methods, we would easily emulate the keyboard actions of pressing Windows+D buttons together and releasing them once the browser window gets minimized.

How to minimize multiple browser windows in Selenium WebDriver using JUnit?

In the above sections of this Selenium JUnit tutorial, we saw how to minimize browsers in Selenium WebDriver using different ways like using the minimize method, setPosition method, and the keyboard actions in Selenium WebDriver.

We would be demonstrating the same usecase in this section as well. However, we cover it through three different test methods in this example and perform it in three different browsers. Also, here is the list of all browsers on TestMu AI automation testing platform that can be leveraged to run online JUnit tests

package LambdaTest;
 
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import org.junit.AfterClass;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;
 
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
 
class MinimizeMultipleBrowserWindow {
 
 
   public String username = "YOUR USERNAME";
   public String accesskey = "YOUR ACCESSKEY";
   public String gridURL = "@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub";
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeWindowInChromeBrowser() {
       try {
           RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
           DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
           capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "Chrome");
           capabilities.setCapability("version", "latest");
           capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
           capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeChromeBrowserWindow");
           capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeChromeBrowserWindowUsingChromeBrowser");
           try {
               driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
           } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
               System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
           } catch (Exception e) {
               System.out.println(e.getMessage());
           }
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           driver.manage().window().minimize();
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
           driver.close();
           System.out.println("Closing the browser");
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeWindowInFirefoxBrowser() {
       try {
           RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
           DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
           capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "Firefox");
           capabilities.setCapability("version", "94.0");
           capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
           capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeFirefoxBrowserWindow");
           capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeFirefoxBrowserWindowUsingFireFoxBrowser");
           try {
               driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
           } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
               System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
           } catch (Exception e) {
               System.out.println(e.getMessage());
           }
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           driver.manage().window().minimize();
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
           driver.close();
           System.out.println("Closing the browser");
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
   @Test
   public void minimizeWindowInMicrosoftEdgeBrowser() {
       try {
           RemoteWebDriver driver = null;
           DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
           capabilities.setCapability("browserName", "MicrosoftEdge");
           capabilities.setCapability("version", "95.0");
           capabilities.setCapability("platform", "win10"); // If this cap isn't specified, it will just get the any available one
           capabilities.setCapability("build", "MinimizeEdgeBrowserWindow");
           capabilities.setCapability("name", "MinimizeEdgeBrowserWindowUsingEdgeBrowser");
           try {
               driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("https://" + username + ":" + accesskey + gridURL), capabilities);
           } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
               System.out.println("Invalid grid URL");
           } catch (Exception e) {
               System.out.println(e.getMessage());
           }
           System.out.println("Logging into Selenium Playground");
           driver.get("http://labs.lambdatest.com/selenium-playground/");
           driver.manage().window().minimize();
           System.out.println("Minimized the browser window");
           String title=driver.getTitle();
           System.out.println("The title of web page is:"+title);
           driver.close();
           System.out.println("Closing the browser");
       } catch (Exception e) {
 
       }
 
   }
 
 
}

Code Walkthrough

In this test case, we cover the minimized window functionality in three different browsers, i.e., Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Here, we are using the TestMu AI grid to set up the corresponding browser name and versions.

Once the corresponding browsers are launched, we log into Selenium Playground, minimize the corresponding windows, and get the web page title.

As a result, by using the TestMu AI grid, we covered the same test case in 3 different browser flavors. We then ran the three different test cases simultaneously by making use of parallel testing with JUnit 5 and Selenium.

Life is easier, isn’t it?

This Selenium JUnit testing tutorial for beginners and professionals will help you perform parallel test execution with JUnit and Selenium on TestMu AI cloud-based Selenium Grid.

Once the tests are completed, you can view the test results, logs, and the test recording as well at your TestMu AI Automation Dashboard.

Note: Now you can perform online cross browser testing on Brave Browsers to make sure your websites and web apps are compatible with all versions.