Using Configuration (Config File) While Test Automation.

It is always advised to use a config file in your test automation. The purpose of having a config file is to have few variables outside of code so that if you can change variables' values without changing your code.

To use a config file in Java, Apache's common configuration jar is very popular and easy to use.

Download the latest version of these jar and add them to Project's Build Path.

commons-lang-2.6.jar
commons-configuration-1.10.jar

Here is the sample code to read config:

public static void InitializeConfiguration()  

{

        PropertiesConfiguration propertyConfigFile;

try

{

propertyConfigFile = new PropertiesConfiguration();

String config = "/config/config.txt"; //Location of config file

propertyConfigFile.load(config);

        //Read variable from config 

        String url = propertyConfigFile.getProperty("qaURL").toString();

}

catch(ConfigurationException e)

{

System.out.println("Error Occured While Reading Config File");

}

}

Copy the below line in a notepad and save it with some valid extension. qaURL is the variable being called in above program. This will serve the purpose of a config file.
## is used to comment the line.

Sample:

## Please provide the URL here:
qaURL = https://www.google.com