HOW TO UPLOAD FILE USING JAVA ROBOT CLASS AND SELENIUM WEBDRIVER?

In this blog, I am going to explain about "How to upload file using Java Robot Class and Selenium WebDriver?". To perform same I will use below HTML form which contains a file type input to choose a file from system.

File to upload:

Below is the example Java program to upload file using Java Robot Class and Selenium Webdriver. This example program is written for the above HTML form.
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Java Source code:

package com.helloselenium.selenium.test;

import java.awt.AWTException;
import java.awt.Robot;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.datatransfer.StringSelection;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class UploadFileUsingJavaRobot{
 
 public static void setClipboardData(String string) {
    StringSelection stringSelection = new StringSelection(string);
    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard()
             .setContents(stringSelection, null);
 }

 public static void main(String[] args) { 
  
  String filepath = "path of the file to upload";  
  setClipboardData(filepath);

  WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

  driver.manage().window().maximize();        
  driver.get("http://www.helloselenium.com/2015/03/how-to-upload-file-using-java-robot.html");

  WebElement fileInput = driver.findElement(By.name("uploadFileInput"));
  fileInput.click();

  try {
 Robot robot = new Robot();
 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_V); 
 robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_V); 
 robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL); 
 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER); 
 robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER); 

      } catch (AWTException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
      }
  
  driver.quit();
 }

}

Below are the line by line code explanation for above Java program:

package com.helloselenium.selenium.test;

Above code is package structure for current program file.
Following code is the required packages to handle Java AWTException.

import java.awt.AWTException;

Following code is the required packages for Java AWT Robot class.

import java.awt.Robot;

Following code is the required packages for Java AWT Toolkit class.

import java.awt.Toolkit;

Following code is the required packages for string selection.

import java.awt.datatransfer.StringSelection;

Following code is the required packages to Java AWT KeyEvent class.

import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;

Following code is the required packages for Selenium Webdriver to define the element locator type.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

Following code is the required packages for Selenium Webdriver.

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

Following code is the required packages for Selenium Webelement.

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

Following code is the required packages for Firefox browser.

import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

Above both required packages are available in downloaded selenium server jar file.
Following code is to select the defined string.

StringSelection stringSelection = new StringSelection(string);

Following code is to set clipboard data for selected string.

Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard().setContents(stringSelection, null);

Following code is to set the filepath, you can replace this with your test filepath.

String filepath = "path of the file to upload"; 

Following code is to use the above created method.

setClipboardData(filepath); 

Following code is to initialize the Firefox driver.

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

Following code is to open the hello selenium blog page in browser.

driver.get("http://www.helloselenium.com/2015/03/how-to-upload-file-using-java-robot.html");

You can also use the following code is to open the hello selenium blog page in browser.

driver.navigate().to("http://www.helloselenium.com/2015/03/how-to-upload-file-using-java-robot.html");

Following code is to find the file input type webelement on the page.

WebElement fileInput = driver.findElement(By.name("uploadFileInput"));

Following code is to click on the file input.

fileInput.click();

Following code is to define new robot object.

Robot robot = new Robot();

Following code is to press CTRL key.

robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);

Following code is to press V key.

robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_V); 

Following code is to release CTRL key.

robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_V);

Following code is to release V key.

robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL); 

Following code is to quit the webdriver instance.

driver.quit();

You can also use the following code is to close the webdriver instance.

driver.close();