Does getWindowHandles() method return handles in the same order as windows launch?

Table of Contents

Introduction

As part of the Selenium WebDriver – Java series, let’s learn how does getWindowHandles() work.

If multiple child windows are launched in an application due to some actions then Selenium WebDriver provides the capability to handle multiple windows. We can switch to any open window and perform actions. Selenium provides a method getWindowHandles() to get handles of all open windows. Do getWindowHandles() method return the window handles in the same order it was launched? Let’s find the answer by executing sample programs.

Prerequisite

I have used the below dependency of Selenium WebDriver – Java.

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.seleniumhq.selenium/selenium-java -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
    <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
    <version>3.141.59</version>
</dependency>

<groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>

<artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>

</dependency>

Example HTML code

I have created a webpage that opens “Google”, “Facebook” and “Flipkart” websites in a new tab.

You can find the HTML code below:-

<html>
   <head>
      <title>HTML Elements Reference</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <h1>Welcome To MakeSeleniumEasy Learnings:</h1>
      <h2>Click below to open sites in a new window :</h2>
      <a href="http://www.google.com" id="google" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
      <button class="btn btn-info">Open Google</button>
      </a>
      <a href="http://www.facebook.com" id="facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
      <button class="btn btn-info">Open Facebook</button>
      </a>
      <a href="http://www.flipkart.com" id="flipkart" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
      <button class="btn btn-info">Open Flipkart</button>
      </a>
      <a id ="multi" onclick="window.open('http://snapdeal.com') 
         window.open('http://virtual-doctor.net');
         window.open('http://godaddy.com')
         return true;">multiopen</a>
</html>
</body>

<html>

<head>

<title>HTML Elements Reference</title>

</head>

<body>

<h1>Welcome To MakeSeleniumEasy Learnings:</h1>

<h2>Click below to open sites in a new window :</h2>

<button class="btn btn-info">Open Google</button>

</a>

<button class="btn btn-info">Open Facebook</button>

</a>

<button class="btn btn-info">Open Flipkart</button>

</a>

<a id ="multi" onclick="window.open('http://snapdeal.com')

window.open('http://virtual-doctor.net');

window.open('http://godaddy.com')

return true;">multiopen</a>

</html>

</body>

Sample program

Let’s open the webpage of “Google” followed by “Facebook” and “Flipkart” and get window handles in a program below:-

package HandlingWindows;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.Set;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class WorkingOfWindowHandles {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		// Browser initialization
		WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.home");
		driver.get(fileURL+ "/Desktop/MultipleWindows.html");
		// Clicking on Google
		driver.findElement(By.id("google")).click();
		// Clicking on Facebook
		driver.findElement(By.id("facebook")).click();
		// Clicking on Flipkart
		driver.findElement(By.id("flipkart")).click();
		// Wait till we have total 4 windows
		new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10)).until(ExpectedConditions.numberOfWindowsToBe(4));
		// Get all window handles
		Set<String> allHandles = driver.getWindowHandles();
		for (String s : allHandles) {
			driver.switchTo().window(s);
			System.out.println("Title is : " + driver.getTitle());
		}
	}
}

package HandlingWindows;

import java.time.Duration;

import java.util.Set;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;

import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class WorkingOfWindowHandles {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Browser initialization

WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

String fileURL = System.getProperty("user.home");

driver.get(fileURL+ "/Desktop/MultipleWindows.html");

// Clicking on Google

driver.findElement(By.id("google")).click();

// Clicking on Facebook

driver.findElement(By.id("facebook")).click();

// Clicking on Flipkart

driver.findElement(By.id("flipkart")).click();

// Wait till we have total 4 windows

new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10)).until(ExpectedConditions.numberOfWindowsToBe(4));

// Get all window handles

Set<String> allHandles = driver.getWindowHandles();

for (String s : allHandles) {

driver.switchTo().window(s);

System.out.println("Title is : " + driver.getTitle());

}

Output

If you observe output carefully you will find that returned windows handles are not in the same order it was opened. The return type of getWindowHandles() method is a Set that does not maintain insertion order. But if you see the implementation of this method you will find that it returns an instance of LinkedHashSet which maintains insertion order. Due to this, I have seen many places people claim that insertion order is the order in which windows were opened. But it does not seem to be correct that you can see in the above example.

I have tried the same code in Firefox and output is same as Chrome.

You can download/clone the above sample project from here.

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If you have any doubt, feel free to comment below.
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Find all Selenium related posts here, all API manual and automation related posts here, and find frequently asked Java Programs here.

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Author: Amod Mahajan

A software Tester who is paid to judge products developed by others. Currently getting paid in American Dollars. Writing technical posts and creating YouTube videos are my hobbies.

Does getWindowHandles() method return handles in the same order as windows launch?

Introduction

Prerequisite

Example HTML code

Sample program

Author: Amod Mahajan

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