Selenium Faker class - Error Can not make static reference to non static field

Question

I am using Faker class to create random values in Selenium Webdriver automation. Below is the class for your reference.

public class NewUserFormAction {

    Faker faker = new Faker();
    public  String name = faker.name().firstName();
    public  String Surname = faker.name().lastName();

    public static void Execute(WebDriver driver,List<HashMap<String,String>> map) throws Exception{

        WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver,10);
        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(NewUserFormPage.gender));
        NewUserFormPage.gender.click();
        NewUserFormPage.customer_firstname.sendKeys(name);
        NewUserFormPage.customer_lastname.sendKeys(Surname);

    }
}

when I am executing this code I am getting exception at compilation at below steps with error can not make static method reference to non static data member.

NewUserFormPage.customer_firstname.sendKeys(name);
NewUserFormPage.customer_lastname.sendKeys(Surname);

Here I understand the faker instance is create on public class which is non static and it is being called in Execute method which is static. Can you please help me how to solve this issue ?

Answer 1

You are referencing non-static fields (name and surename) from a static context (execute method), which doesn't work. Have a look at e.g. this question on Stack Overflow.

To solve this problem, you can either make the fields static too or create a NewUserFormAction object. Personally, I would prefer the latter. Check out this code, where I also applied some conventions:

public class NewUserFormAction {

    private Faker faker = new Faker();
    private String firstName = faker.name().firstName();
    private String lastName = faker.name().lastName();

    public static void execute(WebDriver driver, List<Map<String,String>> map) throws Exception{
        WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);
        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(NewUserFormPage.gender));

        NewUserFormAction action = new NewUserFormAction();

        NewUserFormPage.gender.click();
        NewUserFormPage.customerFirstName.sendKeys(action.firstName);
        NewUserFormPage.customerLastName.sendKeys(action.lastName);
    }
}