What is the difference between SearchContext and WebDriver interfaces in Selenium or what is the relationship between them?

Question

I have seen somewhere we can use both

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver()

or

SearchContext driver = new FirefoxDriver()

I am confused what is the difference between these two different interfaces?

Answer 1

SearchContext

SearchContext is an interface which is the runtime container for contextual information for applications search. It contains search related meta information and can hold the reference to an external context that might be useful for the purpose of search as well as security. When used for searching, it holds a reference to AppsWebContext and can be obtained by getAppsContext. This context is passed to most applications plug-in code where custom implemenation can obtain runtime context information.

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Interface SearchContext

SearchContext Interface have 2(two) subinterfaces:

• WebDriver
• WebElement

The implementing classes are:

• ChromeDriver
• EdgeDriver
• EventFiringWebDriver
• FirefoxDriver
• InternetExplorerDriver
• OperaDriver
• RemoteWebDriver
• RemoteWebElement
• SafariDriver

SearchContext has only two methods:

• findElement(By by)
• findElements(By by)

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Example

An example of using SearchContext is as follows:

@Override
public List<WebElement> findElements(SearchContext searchContext) {
    List<WebElement> elements = new ArrayList<>();
    try {
        elements.add(this.findElement(searchContext));
    } catch (Exception ex) {

    }
    return elements;
}

Answer 2

This is the best blog which clearly answers this question: http://makeseleniumeasy.com/2017/04/02/hierarchy-of-selenium-classes-and-interfaces/

To add more:

SearchContext driver = new ChromeDriver();

Now if you like to use the abstract methods available with WebDriver like get(String url), close(), quit() etc. you have to downcast the driver instance to WebDriver level:

((WebDriver) driver).close();

Answer 3

SearchContext is the superInterface of Webdriver and WebElement interfaces. As said in previous answers, searchContext have only two abstract methods.

findElement(By by)
findElements(By by)

If we create object using searchContext,only above specified method could be used.

WebDriver have many useful and required methods like get,getTitle,close,quit,switchTo,etc. These webdriver methods cannot be used directly unless you downcast to Webdriver. So, it is advisable to use

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver()

Answer 4

SearchContext is the super interface of WebDriver and WebElement interface.
So, SearchContext and WebDriver has parent child relationship between them.
SearchContext has only two abstract methods:

1. WebElement findElement(By by)
2. java.util.List findElements(By by) : Return list of WebElements
   On the other hand WebDriver interface also have many abstract methods.
   All abstract methods of SerachContext and Webdriver interface are implemented in the RemoteWebDriver class.
   These links will help you to understand: https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/docs/api/java/org/openqa/selenium/SearchContext.html https://www.javadoc.io/doc/org.seleniumhq.selenium/selenium-api/2.50.1/org/openqa/selenium/WebDriver.html