Automate PDF File Validation using Selenium Java & Limitations

There are two main ways to automate PDF file validation using Selenium Java:

1. Using the Apache PDFBox library: This library provides a set of APIs that can be used to read, write, and manipulate PDF files. With Apache PDFBox, you can validate the content of a PDF file, extract specific text or images from the file, and even create new PDF files.
2. Using the Selenium WebDriver API: This API can be used to interact with web pages, including PDF files that are hosted on a web server. With Selenium WebDriver, you can navigate to a PDF file, verify that the file is loaded correctly, and even scroll through the file to check the content.

Here are some of the steps involved in automating PDF file validation using Selenium Java:

1. Download and install the Apache PDFBox library.
2. In your Selenium Java project, add the Apache PDFBox JAR files to the project’s build path.
3. Write code to read the PDF file using Apache PDFBox.
4. Validate the content of the PDF file.
5. Extract specific text or images from the PDF file.
6. Create a new PDF file.

Here is an example of code that can be used to validate the content of a PDF file using Apache PDFBox:

Java

import org.apache.pdfbox.pdmodel.PDDocument;
import org.apache.pdfbox.pdmodel.PDPage;
import org.apache.pdfbox.text.PDFTextStripper;

public class PDFValidation {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    
        // Navigate to the page containing the link to download the PDF
         driver.get("https://www.example.com");
    
        // Click on the link to download the PDF
         driver.findElement(By.linkText("Download PDF)).click();
        // Open the downloaded PDF file and verify its contents
        String filePath = "/home/username/file_name.pdf";
        URL url = new URL("file:///" + filePath);
        //Create Input Stream Object to save the Stream of pdf file using OpenStream 
        InputStream iStream = url.OpenStream();
        //Create Buffered Input Stream object to pass InputStream class object reference 
        BufferedInputStream bfStream = new BufferedInputStream(iStream);
        // Create a PDF document object.
        PDDocument document = PDDocument.load(bfStream);
        // Get the first page of the document.
        PDFPage page = document.getPage(0);
        // Create a PDFTextStripper object.
        PDFTextStripper stripper = new PDFTextStripper();
        // Strip the text from the page.
        String text = stripper.getText(page);
        System.out.println(text);
        // Validate the text.
       
        Assert.assertTrue(text.contains("First Name"));
        Assert.assertTrue(text.contains("Account Type"));
        Assert.assertTrue(text.contains("Location"));
    }
}

Use code with caution.

The text can then be validated using any suitable method.

Here are some of the limitations of automating PDF file validation using Selenium Java:

• PDF files can be complex: PDF files can contain a variety of elements, including text, images, forms, and tables. This can make it difficult to automate the validation of PDF files, as you need to be able to interact with all of the different elements in the file.
• Selenium Java is not a PDF-specific tool: Selenium Java is a general-purpose automation tool that can be used to interact with web pages. This means that it is not specifically designed for PDF files, and there are some limitations in terms of what it can do with PDF files.
• PDF files can be password-protected: PDF files can be password-protected, which means that you cannot interact with them unless you know the password. This can make it difficult to automate the validation of password-protected PDF files.

Here are some additional limitations:

• Selenium Java can be slow: Selenium Java can be slow when automating PDF file validation, especially if the PDF file is large or complex.
• Selenium Java can be difficult to debug: Selenium Java can be difficult to debug, especially if the PDF file is complex or if there are errors in the automation code.

Overall, automating PDF file validation using Selenium Java can be a challenging task. However, it is possible to overcome the limitations of Selenium Java by using a combination of different techniques.

For more information on automating PDF file validation using Selenium Java, you can refer to the following resources:

• How To Test PDF Files Using Selenium Automation: https://www.lambdatest.com/blog/selenium-testing-pdf-files/
• How To Validate Text in PDF Files Using Selenium Automation: https://www.browserstack.com/guide/validate-text-in-pdf-files-using-selenium
• https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/51290/how-to-open-downloaded-pdf-file-in-chrome-and-verify-its-content-in-selenium
• Apache PDFBox Documentation: https://pdfbox.apache.org/

I hope this helps!