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WebDriver

WebDriver drives a browser natively, learn more about it.

WebDriver drives a browser natively, as a user would, either locally or on a remote machine using the Selenium server, marks a leap forward in terms of browser automation.

Selenium WebDriver refers to both the language bindings and the implementations of the individual browser controlling code. This is commonly referred to as just WebDriver.

Selenium WebDriver is a W3C Recommendation

  • WebDriver is designed as a simple and more concise programming interface.

  • WebDriver is a compact object-oriented API.

  • It drives the browser effectively.

1 - Getting started

If you are new to Selenium, we have a few resources that can help you get up to speed right away.

Selenium supports automation of all the major browsers in the market through the use of WebDriver. WebDriver is an API and protocol that defines a language-neutral interface for controlling the behaviour of web browsers. Each browser is backed by a specific WebDriver implementation, called a driver. The driver is the component responsible for delegating down to the browser, and handles communication to and from Selenium and the browser.

This separation is part of a conscious effort to have browser vendors take responsibility for the implementation for their browsers. Selenium makes use of these third party drivers where possible, but also provides its own drivers maintained by the project for the cases when this is not a reality.

The Selenium framework ties all of these pieces together through a user-facing interface that enables the different browser backends to be used transparently, enabling cross-browser and cross-platform automation.

Selenium setup is quite different from the setup of other commercial tools. Before you can start writing Selenium code, you have to install the language bindings libraries for your language of choice, the browser you want to use, and the driver for that browser.

Follow the links below to get up and going with Selenium WebDriver.

If you wish to start with a low-code/record and playback tool, please check Selenium IDE

Once you get things working, if you want to scale up your tests, check out the Selenium Grid.

1.1 - Install a Selenium library

Setting up the Selenium library for your favourite programming language.

First you need to install the Selenium bindings for your automation project. The installation process for libraries depends on the language you choose to use. Make sure you check the Selenium downloads page to make sure you are using the latest version.

Requirements by language

View the minimum supported Java version here.

Installation of Selenium libraries for Java is accomplished using a build tool.

Maven

Specify the dependency in the project’s pom.xml file:

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.36</version>
        </dependency>

Gradle

Specify the dependency in the project build.gradle file as testImplementation:

    testImplementation 'org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:4.8.0'

The minimum supported Python version for each Selenium version can be found in Supported Python Versions on PyPi

There are a couple different ways to install Selenium.

Pip

pip install selenium

Download

Alternatively you can download the PyPI source archive (selenium-x.x.x.tar.gz) and install it using setup.py:

python setup.py install

Require in project

To use it in a project, add it to the requirements.txt file:

selenium==4.8.2

A list of all supported frameworks for each version of Selenium is available on Nuget

There are a few options for installing Selenium.

Packet Manager

Install-Package Selenium.WebDriver

.NET CLI

dotnet add package Selenium.WebDriver

CSProj

in the project’s csproj file, specify the dependency as a PackageReference in ItemGroup:

      <PackageReference Include="Selenium.WebDriver" Version="4.8.1" />

Additional considerations

Further items of note for using Visual Studio Code (vscode) and C#

Install the compatible .NET SDK as per the section above. Also install the vscode extensions (Ctrl-Shift-X) for C# and NuGet. Follow the instruction here to create and run the “Hello World” console project using C#. You may also create a NUnit starter project using the command line dotnet new NUnit. Make sure the file %appdata%\NuGet\nuget.config is configured properly as some developers reported that it will be empty due to some issues. If nuget.config is empty, or not configured properly, then .NET builds will fail for Selenium Projects. Add the following section to the file nuget.config if it is empty:

<configuration>
  <packageSources>
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" protocolVersion="3" />
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/" />   
  </packageSources>
...

For more info about nuget.config click here. You may have to customize nuget.config to meet you needs.

Now, go back to vscode, press Ctrl-Shift-P, and type “NuGet Add Package”, and enter the required Selenium packages such as Selenium.WebDriver. Press Enter and select the version. Now you can use the examples in the documentation related to C# with vscode.

You can see the minimum required version of Ruby for any given Selenium version on rubygems.org

Selenium can be installed two different ways.

Install manually

gem install selenium-webdriver

Add to project’s gemfile

gem 'selenium-webdriver', '= 4.8.0'

You can find the minimum required version of Node for any given version of Selenium in the Node Support Policy section on npmjs

Selenium is typically installed using npm.

Install locally

npm install selenium-webdriver

Add to project

In your project’s package.json, add requirement to dependencies:

        "selenium-webdriver": "^4.8.1"
Use the Java bindings for Kotlin.

Next Step

Install the browser drivers

1.2 - Install browser drivers

Setting up your system to allow a browser to be automated.

Through WebDriver, Selenium supports all major browsers on the market such as Chrome/Chromium, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, and Safari. Where possible, WebDriver drives the browser using the browser’s built-in support for automation.

Since all the driver implementations except for Internet Explorer are provided by the browser vendors themselves, they are not included in the standard Selenium distribution. This section explains the basic requirements for getting started with the different browsers.

Read about more advanced options for starting a driver in our driver configuration documentation.

Four Ways to Use Drivers

1. Selenium Manager (Beta)

Selenium v4.6

Selenium Manager helps you to get a working environment to run Selenium out of the box (no additional downloads! no additional configurations!). Selenium Manager attempts to obtain the most correct driver for any browser supported by Selenium in a performant way. Selenium Manager is currently “opt-in,” which means that it is only used if code would otherwise fail. That means if you manage drivers by one of the approaches below, Selenium Manager will not be used.

2. Driver Management Software

Before Selenium Manager was created, many users turned to other projects to automatically manage their drivers. Most of the functionality of these libraries exists natively in the latest version of Selenium.

If you can’t use Selenium Manager because you are using an older version of Selenium (please upgrade), or need an advanced feature not yet implemented by Selenium Manager, you might try one of these tools:

3. The PATH Environment Variable

Note: we highly recommend removing drivers from PATH and using Selenium Manager if possible.

This option first requires manually downloading the driver (See Quick Reference Section for links).

This is a flexible option to change location of drivers without having to update your code, and will work on multiple machines without requiring that each machine put the drivers in the same place.

You can either place the drivers in a directory that is already listed in PATH, or you can place them in a directory and add it to PATH.

To see what directories are already on PATH, open a Terminal and execute:

echo $PATH

If the location to your driver is not already in a directory listed, you can add a new directory to PATH:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/driver' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile

You can test if it has been added correctly by checking the version of the driver:

chromedriver --version

To see what directories are already on PATH, open a Terminal and execute:

echo $PATH

If the location to your driver is not already in a directory listed, you can add a new directory to PATH:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/driver' >> ~/.zshenv
source ~/.zshenv

You can test if it has been added correctly by checking the version of the driver:

chromedriver --version

To see what directories are already on PATH, open a Command Prompt and execute:

echo %PATH%

If the location to your driver is not already in a directory listed, you can add a new directory to PATH:

setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\WebDriver\bin"

You can test if it has been added correctly by checking the version of the driver:

chromedriver.exe --version

If your PATH is configured correctly above, you will see the version printed like:

ChromeDriver 111.0.5563.64 (c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995})

If it is not found, you’ll see:

chromedriver.exe : The term 'chromedriver.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program

or

chromedriver: command not found

4. Hard Coded Location

Note: we highly recommend not directly referencing the drivers and using Selenium Manager if possible.

Similar to Option 3 above, you need to manually download the driver (See Quick Reference Section for links). Specifying the location in the code itself has the advantage of not needing to figure out Environment Variables on your system, but has the drawback of making the code much less flexible.

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver","/path/to/chromedriver");
ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium import webdriver

service = Service(executable_path="/path/to/chromedriver")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)
var driver = new ChromeDriver(@"C:\WebDriver\bin");
service = Selenium::WebDriver::Service.chrome(path: '/path/to/chromedriver')
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, service: service
const {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const chrome = require('selenium-webdriver/chrome');

const service = new chrome.ServiceBuilder('/path/to/chromedriver');
const driver = new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').setChromeService(service).build();
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "/path/to/chromedriver")
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
}

Quick Reference

Browser Supported OS Maintained by Download Issue Tracker
Chromium/Chrome Windows/macOS/Linux Google Downloads Issues
Firefox Windows/macOS/Linux Mozilla Downloads Issues
Edge Windows/macOS/Linux Microsoft Downloads Issues
Internet Explorer Windows Selenium Project Downloads Issues
Safari macOS High Sierra and newer Apple Built in Issues

Note: The Opera driver no longer works with the latest functionality of Selenium and is currently officially unsupported.

Next Step

Create your first Selenium script

1.3 - Write your first Selenium script

Step-by-step instructions for constructing a Selenium script

Once you have Selenium installed and Drivers installed, you’re ready to write Selenium code.

Eight Basic Components

Everything Selenium does is send the browser commands to do something or send requests for information. Most of what you’ll do with Selenium is a combination of these basic commands:

1. Start the session

For more details on starting a session read our documentation on driver sessions

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
            IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
      driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
    fun setupAll() {

2. Take action on browser

In this example we are navigating to a web page.

        driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html");
    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html")
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html");
    driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html')
      await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html');

3. Request browser information

There are a bunch of types of information about the browser you can request, including window handles, browser size / position, cookies, alerts, etc.

        String title = driver.getTitle();
    title = driver.title
            var title = driver.Title;
    title = driver.title
      let title = await driver.getTitle();

4. Establish Waiting Strategy

Synchronizing the code with the current state of the browser is one of the biggest challenges with Selenium, and doing it well is an advanced topic.

Essentially you want to make sure that the element is on the page before you attempt to locate it and the element is in an interactable state before you attempt to interact with it.

An implicit wait is rarely the best solution, but it’s the easiest to demonstrate here, so we’ll use it as a placeholder.

Read more about Waiting strategies.

        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofMillis(500));
    driver.implicitly_wait(0.5)
            driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitWait = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(500);
    driver.manage.timeouts.implicit_wait = 500
      await driver.manage().setTimeouts({implicit: 500});

5. Find an element

The majority of commands in most Selenium sessions are element related, and you can’t interact with one without first finding an element

        WebElement textBox = driver.findElement(By.name("my-text"));
        WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("button"));
    text_box = driver.find_element(by=By.NAME, value="my-text")
    submit_button = driver.find_element(by=By.CSS_SELECTOR, value="button")
            var textBox = driver.FindElement(By.Name("my-text"));
            var submitButton = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("button"));
    text_box = driver.find_element(name: 'my-text')
    submit_button = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'button')
      let textBox = await driver.findElement(By.name('my-text'));
      let submitButton = await driver.findElement(By.css('button'));
    @AfterEach
    fun teardown() {

6. Take action on element

There are only a handful of actions to take on an element, but you will use them frequently.

        textBox.sendKeys("Selenium");
        submitButton.click();
    text_box.send_keys("Selenium")
    submit_button.click()
            textBox.SendKeys("Selenium");
            submitButton.Click();
    text_box.send_keys('Selenium')
    submit_button.click
      await textBox.sendKeys('Selenium');
      await submitButton.click();

7. Request element information

Elements store a lot of information that can be requested.

        String value = message.getText();
    value = message.text
            var value = message.Text;
    value = message.text
      let value = await message.getText();

8. End the session

This ends the driver process, which by default closes the browser as well. No more commands can be sent to this driver instance.

        driver.quit();
            driver.Quit();
    after(async () => await driver.quit());
        assertEquals("Web form", title)

Putting everything together

Let’s combine these 8 things into a complete script with assertions that can be executed by a test runner.

package dev.selenium.getting_started;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

import java.time.Duration;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

public class FirstScriptTest {

    @Test
    public void eightComponents() {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html");

        String title = driver.getTitle();
        assertEquals("Web form", title);

        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofMillis(500));

        WebElement textBox = driver.findElement(By.name("my-text"));
        WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("button"));

        textBox.sendKeys("Selenium");
        submitButton.click();

        WebElement message = driver.findElement(By.id("message"));
        String value = message.getText();
        assertEquals("Received!", value);

        driver.quit();
    }

}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By


def test_eight_components():
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()

    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html")

    title = driver.title
    assert title == "Web form"

    driver.implicitly_wait(0.5)

    text_box = driver.find_element(by=By.NAME, value="my-text")
    submit_button = driver.find_element(by=By.CSS_SELECTOR, value="button")

    text_box.send_keys("Selenium")
    submit_button.click()

    message = driver.find_element(by=By.ID, value="message")
    value = message.text
    assert value == "Received!"

    driver.quit()
using System;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace SeleniumDocs.GettingStarted
{
    [TestClass]
    public class FirstScriptTest
    {

        [TestMethod]
        public void ChromeSession()
        {
            IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html");

            var title = driver.Title;
            Assert.AreEqual("Web form", title);

            driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitWait = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(500);

            var textBox = driver.FindElement(By.Name("my-text"));
            var submitButton = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("button"));
            
            textBox.SendKeys("Selenium");
            submitButton.Click();
            
            var message = driver.FindElement(By.Id("message"));
            var value = message.Text;
            Assert.AreEqual("Received!", value);
            
            driver.Quit();
        }
    }
}
# frozen_string_literal: true

require 'spec_helper'

RSpec.describe 'First Script' do
  it 'uses eight components' do
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

    driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html')

    title = driver.title
    expect(title).to eq('Web form')

    driver.manage.timeouts.implicit_wait = 500

    text_box = driver.find_element(name: 'my-text')
    submit_button = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'button')

    text_box.send_keys('Selenium')
    submit_button.click

    message = driver.find_element(id: 'message')
    value = message.text
    expect(value).to eq('Received!')

    driver.quit
  end
end
const {By, Builder, Browser} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const {suite} = require('selenium-webdriver/testing');
const assert = require("assert");

suite(function (env) {
  describe('First script', function () {
    let driver;

    before(async function () {
      driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
    });

    after(async () => await driver.quit());

    it('First Selenium script', async function () {
      await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html');

      let title = await driver.getTitle();
      assert.equal("Web form", title);

      await driver.manage().setTimeouts({implicit: 500});

      let textBox = await driver.findElement(By.name('my-text'));
      let submitButton = await driver.findElement(By.css('button'));

      await textBox.sendKeys('Selenium');
      await submitButton.click();

      let message = await driver.findElement(By.id('message'));
      let value = await message.getText();
      assert.equal("Received!", value);
    });
  });
}, { browsers: [Browser.CHROME, Browser.FIREFOX]});
package dev.selenium.getting_started

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager
import org.junit.jupiter.api.*
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import java.time.Duration

@TestInstance(TestInstance.Lifecycle.PER_CLASS)
class FirstScriptTest {
    private lateinit var driver: WebDriver

    @BeforeAll
    fun setupAll() {
        WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup()
    }

    @BeforeEach
    fun setup() {
        driver = ChromeDriver()
    }

    @AfterEach
    fun teardown() {
        driver.quit()
    }

    @Test
    fun eightComponents() {
        driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html")

        val title = driver.title
        assertEquals("Web form", title)

        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofMillis(500))

        var textBox = driver.findElement(By.name("my-text"))
        val submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("button"))

        textBox.sendKeys("Selenium")
        submitButton.click()

        val message = driver.findElement(By.id("message"))
        val value = message.getText()
        assertEquals("Received!", value)
    }

}

Test Runners

If you are using Selenium for testing, you will want to execute your Selenium code using test runner tools.

Many of the code examples in this documentation can be found in our example repositories. There are multiple options in each language, but here is what we are using in our examples:

// Add instructions
// Add instructions
// Add instructions
// Add instructions

Install Mocha Test runner using below command in your terminal

npm install mocha

and run your tests using below command

mocha firstScript.spec.js
// Add instructions

Next Steps

Take what you’ve learned and build out your Selenium code.

As you find more functionality that you need, read up on the rest of our WebDriver documentation.

1.4 - Upgrade to Selenium 4

Are you still using Selenium 3? This guide will help you upgrade to the latest release!

Upgrading to Selenium 4 should be a painless process if you are using one of the officially supported languages (Ruby, JavaScript, C#, Python, and Java). There might be some cases where a few issues can happen, and this guide will help you to sort them out. We will go through the steps to upgrade your project dependencies and understand the major deprecations and changes the version upgrade brings.

These are the steps we will follow to upgrade to Selenium 4:

  • Preparing our test code
  • Upgrading dependencies
  • Potential errors and deprecation messages

Note: while Selenium 3.x versions were being developed, support for the W3C WebDriver standard was implemented. Both this new protocol and the legacy JSON Wire Protocol were supported. Around version 3.11, Selenium code became compliant with the level W3C 1 specification. The W3C compliant code in the latest version of Selenium 3 will work as expected in Selenium 4.

Preparing our test code

Selenium 4 removes support for the legacy protocol and uses the W3C WebDriver standard by default under the hood. For most things, this implementation will not affect end users. The major exceptions are Capabilities and the Actions class.

Capabilities

If the test capabilities are not structured to be W3C compliant, may cause a session to not be started. Here is the list of W3C WebDriver standard capabilities:

  • browserName
  • browserVersion (replaces version)
  • platformName (replaces platform)
  • acceptInsecureCerts
  • pageLoadStrategy
  • proxy
  • timeouts
  • unhandledPromptBehavior

An up-to-date list of standard capabilities can be found at W3C WebDriver.

Any capability that is not contained in the list above, needs to include a vendor prefix. This applies to browser specific capabilities as well as cloud vendor specific capabilities. For example, if your cloud vendor uses build and name capabilities for your tests, you need to wrap them in a cloud:options block (check with your cloud vendor for the appropriate prefix).

Before

DesiredCapabilities caps = DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
caps.setCapability("platform", "Windows 10");
caps.setCapability("version", "92");
caps.setCapability("build", myTestBuild);
caps.setCapability("name", myTestName);
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(cloudUrl), caps);
caps = {};
caps['browserName'] = 'Firefox';
caps['platform'] = 'Windows 10';
caps['version'] = '92';
caps['build'] = myTestBuild;
caps['name'] = myTestName;
DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.SetCapability("browserName", "firefox");
caps.SetCapability("platform", "Windows 10");
caps.SetCapability("version", "92");
caps.SetCapability("build", myTestBuild);
caps.SetCapability("name", myTestName);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(CloudURL), caps);
caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.firefox
caps[:platform] = 'Windows 10'
caps[:version] = '92'
caps[:build] = my_test_build
caps[:name] = my_test_name
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: cloud_url, desired_capabilities: caps
caps = {}
caps['browserName'] = 'firefox'
caps['platform'] = 'Windows 10'
caps['version'] = '92'
caps['build'] = my_test_build
caps['name'] = my_test_name
driver = webdriver.Remote(cloud_url, desired_capabilities=caps)

After

FirefoxOptions browserOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
browserOptions.setPlatformName("Windows 10");
browserOptions.setBrowserVersion("92");
Map<String, Object> cloudOptions = new HashMap<>();
cloudOptions.put("build", myTestBuild);
cloudOptions.put("name", myTestName);
browserOptions.setCapability("cloud:options", cloudOptions);
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(cloudUrl), browserOptions);
capabilities = {
  browserName: 'firefox',
  browserVersion: '92',
  platformName: 'Windows 10',
  'cloud:options': {
     build: myTestBuild,
     name: myTestName,
  }
}
var browserOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
browserOptions.PlatformName = "Windows 10";
browserOptions.BrowserVersion = "92";
var cloudOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
cloudOptions.Add("build", myTestBuild);
cloudOptions.Add("name", myTestName);
browserOptions.AddAdditionalOption("cloud:options", cloudOptions);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(CloudURL), browserOptions);
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.firefox
options.browser_version = 'latest'
options.platform_name = 'Windows 10'
cloud_options = {}
cloud_options[:build] = my_test_build
cloud_options[:name] = my_test_name
options.add_option('cloud:options', cloud_options)
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: cloud_url, capabilities: options
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options as FirefoxOptions
options = FirefoxOptions()
options.browser_version = '92'
options.platform_name = 'Windows 10'
cloud_options = {}
cloud_options['build'] = my_test_build
cloud_options['name'] = my_test_name
options.set_capability('cloud:options', cloud_options)
driver = webdriver.Remote(cloud_url, options=options)

Find element(s) utility methods in Java

The utility methods to find elements in the Java bindings (FindsBy interfaces) have been removed as they were meant for internal use only. The following code samples explain this better.

Finding a single element with findElement*

Before

driver.findElementByClassName("className");
driver.findElementByCssSelector(".className");
driver.findElementById("elementId");
driver.findElementByLinkText("linkText");
driver.findElementByName("elementName");
driver.findElementByPartialLinkText("partialText");
driver.findElementByTagName("elementTagName");
driver.findElementByXPath("xPath");

After

driver.findElement(By.className("className"));
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".className"));
driver.findElement(By.id("elementId"));
driver.findElement(By.linkText("linkText"));
driver.findElement(By.name("elementName"));
driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("partialText"));
driver.findElement(By.tagName("elementTagName"));
driver.findElement(By.xpath("xPath"));

Finding a multiple elements with findElements*

Before

driver.findElementsByClassName("className");
driver.findElementsByCssSelector(".className");
driver.findElementsById("elementId");
driver.findElementsByLinkText("linkText");
driver.findElementsByName("elementName");
driver.findElementsByPartialLinkText("partialText");
driver.findElementsByTagName("elementTagName");
driver.findElementsByXPath("xPath");

After

driver.findElements(By.className("className"));
driver.findElements(By.cssSelector(".className"));
driver.findElements(By.id("elementId"));
driver.findElements(By.linkText("linkText"));
driver.findElements(By.name("elementName"));
driver.findElements(By.partialLinkText("partialText"));
driver.findElements(By.tagName("elementTagName"));
driver.findElements(By.xpath("xPath"));

Upgrading dependencies

Check the subsections below to install Selenium 4 and have your project dependencies upgraded.

Java

The process of upgrading Selenium depends on which build tool is being used. We will cover the most common ones for Java, which are Maven and Gradle. The minimum Java version required is still 8.

Maven

Before

<dependencies>
  <!-- more dependencies ... -->
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
    <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
    <version>3.141.59</version>
  </dependency>
  <!-- more dependencies ... -->
</dependencies>

After

<dependencies>
    <!-- more dependencies ... -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
        <version>4.4.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- more dependencies ... -->
</dependencies>

After making the change, you could execute mvn clean compile on the same directory where the pom.xml file is.

Gradle

Before

plugins {
    id 'java'
}
group 'org.example'
version '1.0-SNAPSHOT'
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.7.0'
    testRuntimeOnly 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:5.7.0'
    implementation group: 'org.seleniumhq.selenium', name: 'selenium-java', version: '3.141.59'
}
test {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

After

plugins {
    id 'java'
}
group 'org.example'
version '1.0-SNAPSHOT'
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.7.0'
    testRuntimeOnly 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:5.7.0'
    implementation group: 'org.seleniumhq.selenium', name: 'selenium-java', version: '4.4.0'
}
test {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

After making the change, you could execute ./gradlew clean build on the same directory where the build.gradle file is.

To check all the Java releases, you can head to MVNRepository.

C#

The place to get updates for Selenium 4 in C# is NuGet. Under the Selenium.WebDriver package you can get the instructions to update to the latest version. Inside of Visual Studio, through the NuGet Package Manager you can execute:

PM> Install-Package Selenium.WebDriver -Version 4.4.0

Python

The most important change to use Python is the minimum required version. Selenium 4 will require a minimum Python 3.7 or higher. More details can be found at the Python Package Index. To upgrade from the command line, you can execute:

pip install selenium==4.4.3

Ruby

The update details for Selenium 4 can be seen at the selenium-webdriver gem in RubyGems. To install the latest version, you can execute:

gem install selenium-webdriver

To add it to your Gemfile:

gem 'selenium-webdriver', '~> 4.4.0'

JavaScript

The selenium-webdriver package can be found at the Node package manager, npmjs. Selenium 4 can be found here. To install it, you could either execute:

npm install selenium-webdriver

Or, update your package.json and run npm install:

{
  "name": "selenium-tests",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "selenium-webdriver": "^4.4.0"
  }
}

Potential errors and deprecation messages

Here is a set of code examples that will help to overcome the deprecation messages you might encounter after upgrading to Selenium 4.

Java

Waits and Timeout

The parameters received in Timeout have switched from expecting (long time, TimeUnit unit) to expect (Duration duration).

Before

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
driver.manage().timeouts().setScriptTimeout(2, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

After

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
driver.manage().timeouts().scriptTimeout(Duration.ofMinutes(2));
driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10));

Waits are also expecting different parameters now. WebDriverWait is now expecting a Duration instead of a long for timeout in seconds and milliseconds. The withTimeout and pollingEvery utility methods from FluentWait have switched from expecting (long time, TimeUnit unit) to expect (Duration duration).

Before

new WebDriverWait(driver, 3)
.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("#id")));

Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
  .withTimeout(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
  .pollingEvery(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
  .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);

After

new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(3))
  .until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("#id")));

  Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
  .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
  .pollingEvery(Duration.ofSeconds(5))
  .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);

Merging capabilities is no longer changing the calling object

It was possible to merge a different set of capabilities into another set, and it was mutating the calling object. Now, the result of the merge operation needs to be assigned.

Before

MutableCapabilities capabilities = new MutableCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "Windows 10");
FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
options.setHeadless(true);
options.merge(capabilities);

As a result, the options object was getting modified.

After

MutableCapabilities capabilities = new MutableCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "Windows 10");
FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
options.setHeadless(true);
options = options.merge(capabilities);

The result of the merge call needs to be assigned to an object.

Firefox Legacy

Before GeckoDriver was around, the Selenium project had a driver implementation to automate Firefox (version <48). However, this implementation is not needed anymore as it does not work in recent versions of Firefox. To avoid major issues when upgrading to Selenium 4, the setLegacy option will be shown as deprecated. The recommendation is to stop using the old implementation and rely only on GeckoDriver. The following code will show the setLegacy line deprecated after upgrading.

FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
options.setLegacy(true);

BrowserType

The BrowserType interface has been around for a long time, however it is getting deprecated in favour of the new Browser interface.

Before

MutableCapabilities capabilities = new MutableCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("browserVersion", "92");
capabilities.setCapability("browserName", BrowserType.FIREFOX);

After

MutableCapabilities capabilities = new MutableCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("browserVersion", "92");
capabilities.setCapability("browserName", Browser.FIREFOX);

C#

AddAdditionalCapability is deprecated

Instead of it, AddAdditionalOption is recommended. Here is an example showing this:

Before

var browserOptions = new ChromeOptions();
browserOptions.PlatformName = "Windows 10";
browserOptions.BrowserVersion = "latest";
var cloudOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
browserOptions.AddAdditionalCapability("cloud:options", cloudOptions, true);

After

var browserOptions = new ChromeOptions();
browserOptions.PlatformName = "Windows 10";
browserOptions.BrowserVersion = "latest";
var cloudOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
browserOptions.AddAdditionalOption("cloud:options", cloudOptions);

Python

executable_path has been deprecated, please pass in a Service object

In Selenium 4, you’ll need to set the driver’s executable_path from a Service object to prevent deprecation warnings. (Or don’t set the path and instead make sure that the driver you need is on the System PATH.)

Before

from selenium import webdriver
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_experimental_option("excludeSwitches", ["enable-automation"])
options.add_experimental_option("useAutomationExtension", False)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=CHROMEDRIVER_PATH, options=options)

After

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromeService
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_experimental_option("excludeSwitches", ["enable-automation"])
options.add_experimental_option("useAutomationExtension", False)
service = ChromeService(executable_path=CHROMEDRIVER_PATH)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service, options=options)

Summary

We went through the major changes to be taken into consideration when upgrading to Selenium 4. Covering the different aspects to cover when test code is prepared for the upgrade, including suggestions on how to prevent potential issues that can show up when using the new version of Selenium. To finalize, we also covered a set of possible issues that you can bump into after upgrading, and we shared potential fixes for those issues.

This was originally posted at https://saucelabs.com/resources/articles/how-to-upgrade-to-selenium-4

2 - Driver Sessions

Starting and stopping a session is for opening and closing a browser.

Creating Sessions

Creating a new session corresponds with the W3C command for New session

The session is created automatically by initializing a new Driver class object.

Each language allows a session to be created with arguments from one of these classes (or equivalent):

  • Options to describe the kind of session you want; default values are used for local, but this is required for remote
  • Some form of CommandExecutor (the implementation varies between languages)
  • Listeners

Local Driver

The primary unique argument for starting a local driver includes information about starting the required driver service on the local machine.

  • Service object applies only to local drivers and provides information about the browser driver

Remote Driver

The primary unique argument for starting a remote driver includes information about where to execute the code. Read the details in the Remote Driver Section

Quitting Sessions

Quitting a session corresponds to W3C command for Deleting a Session.

Important note: the quit method is different from the close method, and it is recommended to always use quit to end the session

2.1 - Browser Options

These capabilities are shared by all browsers.

In Selenium 3, capabilities were defined in a session by using Desired Capabilities classes. As of Selenium 4, you must use the browser options classes. For remote driver sessions, a browser options instance is required as it determines which browser will be used.

These options are described in the w3c specification for Capabilities.

Each browser has custom options that may be defined in addition to the ones defined in the specification.

browserName

This capability is used to set the browserName for a given session. If the specified browser is not installed at the remote end, the session creation will fail.

browserVersion

This capability is optional, this is used to set the available browser version at remote end. For Example, if ask for Chrome version 75 on a system that only has 80 installed, the session creation will fail.

pageLoadStrategy

Three types of page load strategies are available.

The page load strategy queries the document.readyState as described in the table below:

Strategy Ready State Notes
normal complete Used by default, waits for all resources to download
eager interactive DOM access is ready, but other resources like images may still be loading
none Any Does not block WebDriver at all

The document.readyState property of a document describes the loading state of the current document.

When navigating to a new page via URL, by default, WebDriver will hold off on completing a navigation method (e.g., driver.navigate().get()) until the document ready state is complete. This does not necessarily mean that the page has finished loading, especially for sites like Single Page Applications that use JavaScript to dynamically load content after the Ready State returns complete. Note also that this behavior does not apply to navigation that is a result of clicking an element or submitting a form.

If a page takes a long time to load as a result of downloading assets (e.g., images, css, js) that aren’t important to the automation, you can change from the default parameter of normal to eager or none to speed up the session. This value applies to the entire session, so make sure that your waiting strategy is sufficient to minimize flakiness.

normal (default)

WebDriver waits until the load event fire is returned.

import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class pageLoadStrategy {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NORMAL);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://google.com");
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
options = Options()
options.page_load_strategy = 'normal'
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace pageLoadStrategy {
  class pageLoadStrategy {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
      var chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
      chromeOptions.PageLoadStrategy = PageLoadStrategy.Normal;
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
      try {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
      } finally {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
options.page_load_strategy = :normal

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, options: options
driver.get('https://www.google.com')
    it('Navigate using normal page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('normal'))
        .build();

      await driver.get('https://www.google.com');
import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions

fun main() {
  val chromeOptions = ChromeOptions()
  chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NORMAL)
  val driver = ChromeDriver(chromeOptions)
  try {
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  }
  finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}

eager

WebDriver waits until DOMContentLoaded event fire is returned.

import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class pageLoadStrategy {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.EAGER);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://google.com");
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
options = Options()
options.page_load_strategy = 'eager'
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace pageLoadStrategy {
  class pageLoadStrategy {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
      var chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
      chromeOptions.PageLoadStrategy = PageLoadStrategy.Eager;
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
      try {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
      } finally {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
options.page_load_strategy = :eager

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, options: options
driver.get('https://www.google.com')
    it('Navigate using eager page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('eager'))
        .build();

      await driver.get('https://www.google.com');
import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions

fun main() {
  val chromeOptions = ChromeOptions()
  chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.EAGER)
  val driver = ChromeDriver(chromeOptions)
  try {
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  }
  finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}

none

WebDriver only waits until the initial page is downloaded.

import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class pageLoadStrategy {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NONE);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://google.com");
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
options = Options()
options.page_load_strategy = 'none'
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace pageLoadStrategy {
  class pageLoadStrategy {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
      var chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
      chromeOptions.PageLoadStrategy = PageLoadStrategy.None;
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
      try {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
      } finally {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
options.page_load_strategy = :none

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, options: options
driver.get('https://www.google.com')
    it('Navigate using none page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('none'))
        .build();

      await driver.get('https://www.google.com');
import org.openqa.selenium.PageLoadStrategy
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions

fun main() {
  val chromeOptions = ChromeOptions()
  chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NONE)
  val driver = ChromeDriver(chromeOptions)
  try {
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  }
  finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}

platformName

This identifies the operating system at the remote-end, fetching the platformName returns the OS name.

In cloud-based providers, setting platformName sets the OS at the remote-end.

acceptInsecureCerts

This capability checks whether an expired (or) invalid TLS Certificate is used while navigating during a session.

If the capability is set to false, an insecure certificate error will be returned as navigation encounters any domain certificate problems. If set to true, invalid certificate will be trusted by the browser.

All self-signed certificates will be trusted by this capability by default. Once set, acceptInsecureCerts capability will have an effect for the entire session.

timeouts

A WebDriver session is imposed with a certain session timeout interval, during which the user can control the behaviour of executing scripts or retrieving information from the browser.

Each session timeout is configured with combination of different timeouts as described below:

Script Timeout

Specifies when to interrupt an executing script in a current browsing context. The default timeout 30,000 is imposed when a new session is created by WebDriver.

Page Load Timeout

Specifies the time interval in which web page needs to be loaded in a current browsing context. The default timeout 300,000 is imposed when a new session is created by WebDriver. If page load limits a given/default time frame, the script will be stopped by TimeoutException.

Implicit Wait Timeout

This specifies the time to wait for the implicit element location strategy when locating elements. The default timeout 0 is imposed when a new session is created by WebDriver.

unhandledPromptBehavior

Specifies the state of current session’s user prompt handler. Defaults to dismiss and notify state

User Prompt Handler

This defines what action must take when a user prompt encounters at the remote-end. This is defined by unhandledPromptBehavior capability and has the following states:

  • dismiss
  • accept
  • dismiss and notify
  • accept and notify
  • ignore

setWindowRect

Indicates whether the remote end supports all of the resizing and repositioning commands.

strictFileInteractability

This new capability indicates if strict interactability checks should be applied to input type=file elements. As strict interactability checks are off by default, there is a change in behaviour when using Element Send Keys with hidden file upload controls.

proxy

A proxy server acts as an intermediary for requests between a client and a server. In simple, the traffic flows through the proxy server on its way to the address you requested and back.

A proxy server for automation scripts with Selenium could be helpful for:

  • Capture network traffic
  • Mock backend calls made by the website
  • Access the required website under complex network topologies or strict corporate restrictions/policies.

If you are in a corporate environment, and a browser fails to connect to a URL, this is most likely because the environment needs a proxy to be accessed.

Selenium WebDriver provides a way to proxy settings:

import org.openqa.selenium.Proxy;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;

public class proxyTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Proxy proxy = new Proxy();
proxy.setHttpProxy("<HOST:PORT>");
ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
options.setCapability("proxy", proxy);
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
driver.get("https://www.google.com/");
driver.manage().window().maximize();
driver.quit();
}
}
from selenium import webdriver

PROXY = "<HOST:PORT>"
webdriver.DesiredCapabilities.FIREFOX['proxy'] = {
"httpProxy": PROXY,
"ftpProxy": PROXY,
"sslProxy": PROXY,
"proxyType": "MANUAL",

}

with webdriver.Firefox() as driver:
driver.get("https://selenium.dev")
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

public class ProxyTest{
public static void Main() {
ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
Proxy proxy = new Proxy();
proxy.Kind = ProxyKind.Manual;
proxy.IsAutoDetect = false;
proxy.SslProxy = "<HOST:PORT>";
options.Proxy = proxy;
options.AddArgument("ignore-certificate-errors");
IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.selenium.dev/");
}
}
proxy = Selenium::WebDriver::Proxy.new(http: '<HOST:PORT>')
cap   = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.chrome(proxy: proxy)

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:chrome, capabilities: cap)
driver.get('http://google.com')
let webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
let chrome = require('selenium-webdriver/chrome');
let proxy = require('selenium-webdriver/proxy');
let opts = new chrome.Options();

(async function example() {
opts.setProxy(proxy.manual({http: '<HOST:PORT>'}));
let driver = new webdriver.Builder()
.forBrowser('chrome')
.setChromeOptions(opts)
.build();
try {
await driver.get("https://selenium.dev");
}
finally {
await driver.quit();
}
}());
import org.openqa.selenium.Proxy
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions

class proxyTest {
fun main() {

        val proxy = Proxy()
        proxy.setHttpProxy("<HOST:PORT>")
        val options = ChromeOptions()
        options.setCapability("proxy", proxy)
        val driver: WebDriver = ChromeDriver(options)
        driver["https://www.google.com/"]
        driver.manage().window().maximize()
        driver.quit()
    }
}

2.2 - Command executors

These allow you to set various parameters for the HTTP library

2.3 - Command Listeners

These allow you to execute custom actions in every time specific Selenium commands are sent

2.4 - Browser Service

The Service classes are for managing the starting and stopping of drivers. They are not applicable in Remote Drivers.

  • Location of the driver
  • port to use
  • command line arguments to use

2.5 - Remote WebDriver

You can use WebDriver remotely the same way you would use it locally. The primary difference is that a remote WebDriver needs to be configured so that it can run your tests on a separate machine.

A remote WebDriver is composed of two pieces: a client and a server. The client is your WebDriver test and the server is simply a Java servlet, which can be hosted in any modern JEE app server.

To run a remote WebDriver client, we first need to connect to the RemoteWebDriver. We do this by pointing the URL to the address of the server running our tests. In order to customize our configuration, we set desired capabilities. Below is an example of instantiating a remote WebDriver object pointing to our remote web server, www.example.com, running our tests on Firefox.

FirefoxOptions firefoxOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://www.example.com"), firefoxOptions);
driver.get("http://www.google.com");
driver.quit();
  
from selenium import webdriver

firefox_options = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor='http://www.example.com',
    options=firefox_options
)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit() 
  
 FirefoxOptions firefoxOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
 IWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri("http://www.example.com"), firefoxOptions);
 driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.google.com");
 driver.Quit();
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: "http://www.example.com", desired_capabilities: :firefox
driver.get "http://www.google.com"
driver.close
  
const { Builder, Capabilities } = require("selenium-webdriver");
var capabilities = Capabilities.firefox();
(async function helloSelenium() {
    let driver = new Builder()
        .usingServer("http://example.com")   
        .withCapabilities(capabilities)
        .build();
    try {
        await driver.get('http://www.google.com');
    } finally {
        await driver.quit();
    }
})();  
  
firefoxOptions = FirefoxOptions()
driver: WebDriver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://www.example.com"), firefoxOptions)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()
  

To further customize our test configuration, we can add other desired capabilities.

Browser options

For example, suppose you wanted to run Chrome on Windows XP, using Chrome version 67:

ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
chromeOptions.setCapability("browserVersion", "67");
chromeOptions.setCapability("platformName", "Windows XP");
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://www.example.com"), chromeOptions);
driver.get("http://www.google.com");
driver.quit();
  
from selenium import webdriver

chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.set_capability("browserVersion", "67")
chrome_options.set_capability("platformName", "Windows XP")
driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor='http://www.example.com',
    options=chrome_options
)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()  
  
var chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
chromeOptions.BrowserVersion = "67";
chromeOptions.PlatformName = "Windows XP";
IWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri("http://www.example.com"), chromeOptions);
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.google.com");
driver.Quit();
  
caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.chrome
caps.platform = Windows XP
caps.version = 67

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, :url => "http://www.example.com", :desired_capabilities => caps
  
const { Builder } = require("selenium-webdriver");
const chrome = require("selenium-webdriver/chrome");
let opts = new chrome.Options();
opts.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true);
opts.setBrowserVersion('67');
opts.setPlatform('Windows XP');
(async function helloSelenium() {
    let driver = new Builder()
        .usingServer("http://example.com")
        .forBrowser('chrome')
        .setChromeOptions(opts)
        .build();
    try {
        await driver.get('http://www.google.com');
    }
    finally {
        await driver.quit();
    }
})();
  
val chromeOptions = ChromeOptions()
chromeOptions.setCapability("browserVersion", "67")
chromeOptions.setCapability("platformName", "Windows XP")
val driver: WebDriver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://www.example.com"), chromeOptions)
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
driver.quit()
  

Local file detector

The Local File Detector allows the transfer of files from the client machine to the remote server. For example, if a test needs to upload a file to a web application, a remote WebDriver can automatically transfer the file from the local machine to the remote web server during runtime. This allows the file to be uploaded from the remote machine running the test. It is not enabled by default and can be enabled in the following way:

driver.setFileDetector(new LocalFileDetector());
  
from selenium.webdriver.remote.file_detector import LocalFileDetector

driver.file_detector = LocalFileDetector()
  
var allowsDetection = this.driver as IAllowsFileDetection;
if (allowsDetection != null)
{
   allowsDetection.FileDetector = new LocalFileDetector();
}
  
@driver.file_detector = lambda do |args|
  # args => ["/path/to/file"]
  str = args.first.to_s
  str if File.exist?(str)
end
  
var remote = require('selenium-webdriver/remote');
driver.setFileDetector(new remote.FileDetector);  
  
driver.fileDetector = LocalFileDetector()
  

Once the above code is defined, you can upload a file in your test in the following way:

driver.get("http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload");
WebElement upload = driver.findElement(By.id("myfile"));
upload.sendKeys("/Users/sso/the/local/path/to/darkbulb.jpg");
  
driver.get("http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload")

driver.find_element(By.ID, "myfile").send_keys("/Users/sso/the/local/path/to/darkbulb.jpg")
  
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload");
IWebElement upload = driver.FindElement(By.Id("myfile"));
upload.SendKeys(@"/Users/sso/the/local/path/to/darkbulb.jpg");
  
@driver.navigate.to "http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload"
    element = @driver.find_element(:id, 'myfile')
    element.send_keys "/Users/sso/SauceLabs/sauce/hostess/maitred/maitred/public/images/darkbulb.jpg"
  
driver.get("http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload");
var upload = driver.findElement(By.id("myfile"));
upload.sendKeys("/Users/sso/the/local/path/to/darkbulb.jpg");  
  
driver.get("http://sso.dev.saucelabs.com/test/guinea-file-upload")
val upload: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.id("myfile"))
upload.sendKeys("/Users/sso/the/local/path/to/darkbulb.jpg")
  

Tracing client requests

This feature is only available for Java client binding (Beta onwards). The Remote WebDriver client sends requests to the Selenium Grid server, which passes them to the WebDriver. Tracing should be enabled at the server and client-side to trace the HTTP requests end-to-end. Both ends should have a trace exporter setup pointing to the visualization framework. By default, tracing is enabled for both client and server. To set up the visualization framework Jaeger UI and Selenium Grid 4, please refer to Tracing Setup for the desired version.

For client-side setup, follow the steps below.

Add the required dependencies

Installation of external libraries for tracing exporter can be done using Maven. Add the opentelemetry-exporter-jaeger and grpc-netty dependency in your project pom.xml:

  <dependency>
      <groupId>io.opentelemetry</groupId>
      <artifactId>opentelemetry-exporter-jaeger</artifactId>
      <version>1.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
      <artifactId>grpc-netty</artifactId>
      <version>1.35.0</version>
    </dependency>

Add/pass the required system properties while running the client

System.setProperty("otel.traces.exporter", "jaeger");
System.setProperty("otel.exporter.jaeger.endpoint", "http://localhost:14250");
System.setProperty("otel.resource.attributes", "service.name=selenium-java-client");

ImmutableCapabilities capabilities = new ImmutableCapabilities("browserName", "chrome");

WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://www.example.com"), capabilities);

driver.get("http://www.google.com");

driver.quit();

  

Please refer to Tracing Setup for more information on external dependencies versions required for the desired Selenium version.

More information can be found at:

Browser specific functionalities

Some browser specific functionalities require workarounds as mentioned in this issue.

3 - Supported Browsers

Each browser has custom capabilities and unique features.

3.1 - Chrome specific functionality

These are capabilities and features specific to Google Chrome browsers.

By default, Selenium 4 is compatible with Chrome v75 and greater. Note that the version of the Chrome browser and the version of chromedriver must match the major version.

Options

Capabilities common to all browsers are described on the Options page.

Capabilities unique to Chrome can be found at Google’s page for Capabilities & ChromeOptions

Starting a Chrome session with basic defined options looks like this:

        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    options = ChromeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
      var options = new ChromeOptions();
      var driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, options: options
      const Options = new Chrome.Options();
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(Options)
        .build();

Here are a few common use cases with different capabilities:

Arguments

The args parameter is for a list of Command Line Switches used when starting the browser. Commonly used args include --start-maximized and --headless=new

Add an argument to options:

        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.addArguments("--headless=new");
        driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    chrome_options = ChromeOptions()
    chrome_options.add_argument("--headless=new")
      var options = new ChromeOptions();
      options.AddArgument("--headless=new");
      var driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome(args: ['--headless=new'])
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.addArguments('--headless=new'))
        .build();

Start browser in a specified location

The binary parameter takes the path of an alternate location of browser to use. With this parameter you can use chromedriver to drive various Chromium based browsers.

Add a browser location to options:

      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setChromeBinaryPath(`Path to chrome binary`))
        .build();

Add extensions

The extensions parameter accepts crx files. As for unpacked directories, please use the load-extension argument instead, as mentioned in this post.

Add an extension to options:

Keeping browser open

Setting the detach parameter to true will keep the browser open after the driver process has been quit.

Add a binary to options:

        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.setExperimentalOption("detach", true);
        driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
    chrome_options = ChromeOptions()
    chrome_options.add_experimental_option("detach", True)
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome(detach: true)
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.detachDriver(true))
        .build();

Excluding arguments

Chrome adds various arguments, if you do not want those arguments added, pass them into excludeSwitches. A common example is to turn the popup blocker back on.

Set excluded arguments on options:

    chrome_options = ChromeOptions()
    chrome_options.add_experimental_option('excludeSwitches', ['enable-automation'])
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome(exclude_switches: ['enable-automation'])
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.excludeSwitches('enable-automation'))
        .build();

Casting

You can drive Chrome Cast devices, including sharing tabs

Network conditions

You can simulate various network conditions.

The following examples are for local webdrivers. For remote webdrivers, please refer to the Remote WebDriver page.

Logs

Permissions

DevTools

See the Chrome DevTools section for more information about using Chrome DevTools

3.2 - Edge specific functionality

These are capabilities and features specific to Microsoft Edge browsers.

Microsoft Edge is implemented with Chromium, with the earliest supported version of v79. Similar to Chrome, the major version number of edgedriver must match the major version of the Edge browser.

All capabilities and options found on the Chrome page work for Edge as well.

Options

Starting an Edge session with basic defined options looks like this:

        EdgeOptions options = new EdgeOptions();
        driver = new EdgeDriver(options);
    options = EdgeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Edge(options=options)
            var options = new EdgeOptions();
            var driver = new EdgeDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.edge
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :edge, options: options
      let options = new edge.Options();
      driver = await env.builder()
        .setEdgeOptions(options)
        .setEdgeService(new edge.ServiceBuilder(edgedriver.binPath()))
        .build();

Arguments

The args parameter is for a list of Command Line Switches used when starting the browser. Commonly used args include --start-maximized and --headless=new

Add an argument to options:

        EdgeOptions options = new EdgeOptions();
        options.addArguments("--headless=new");
        driver = new EdgeDriver(options);
    options = EdgeOptions()
    options.add_argument("--headless=new")
            var options = new EdgeOptions();
            options.AddArgument("--headless=new");
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.edge(args: ['--headless=new'])
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :edge, options: options

Internet Explorer Compatibility Mode

Microsoft Edge can be driven in “Internet Explorer Compatibility Mode”, which uses the Internet Explorer Driver classes in conjunction with Microsoft Edge. Read the Internet Explorer page for more details.

3.3 - Firefox specific functionality

These are capabilities and features specific to Mozilla Firefox browsers.

Selenium 4 requires Firefox 78 or greater. It is recommended to always use the latest version of geckodriver.

Options

Capabilities common to all browsers are described on the Options page.

Capabilities unique to Firefox can be found at Mozilla’s page for firefoxOptions

Starting a Firefox session with basic defined options looks like this:

        FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
        driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);
    options = FirefoxOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Firefox(options=options)
            var options = new FirefoxOptions();
            driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.firefox
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox, options: options
      let options = new firefox.Options();
      driver = await env.builder()
        .setFirefoxOptions(options)
        .build();

Arguments

The args parameter is for a list of Command line switches used when starting the browser.
Commonly used args include -headless and "-profile", "/path/to/profile"

Add an argument to options:

        FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
        options.addArguments("-headless");
options=Options()
options.add_argument("-profile")
options.add_argument("/path/to/profile")
            var options = new FirefoxOptions();
            options.AddArgument("-headless");
            driver = new FirefoxDriver(options);
    let driver = new Builder()
      .setFirefoxOptions(options.addArguments('--headless'))
      .build();

Start browser in a specified location

The binary parameter takes the path of an alternate location of browser to use. For example, with this parameter you can use geckodriver to drive Firefox Nightly instead of the production version when both are present on your computer.

Add a browser location to options:

Profiles

There are several ways to work with Firefox profiles

FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();
FirefoxOptions options = new FirefoxOptions();
options.setProfile(profile);
driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.firefox_profile import FirefoxProfile
options=Options()
firefox_profile = FirefoxProfile()
firefox_profile.set_preference("javascript.enabled", False)
options.profile = firefox_profile
  
var options = new FirefoxOptions();
var profile = new FirefoxProfile();
options.Profile = profile;
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
profile = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Profile.new
profile['browser.download.dir'] = "/tmp/webdriver-downloads"
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Firefox::Options.new(profile: profile)
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox, options: options
  
const { Builder } = require("selenium-webdriver");
const firefox = require('selenium-webdriver/firefox');

const options = new firefox.Options();
let profile = '/path to custom profile';
options.setProfile(profile);
const driver = new Builder()
    .forBrowser('firefox')
    .setFirefoxOptions(options)
    .build();
  
val options = FirefoxOptions()
options.profile = FirefoxProfile()
driver = RemoteWebDriver(options)
  

Add-ons

Unlike Chrome, Firefox extensions are not added as part of capabilities as mentioned in this issue, they are created after starting the driver.

The following examples are for local webdrivers. For remote webdrivers, please refer to the Remote WebDriver page.

Installation

A signed xpi file you would get from Mozilla Addon page

        Path xpiPath = Paths.get("src/test/resources/extensions/selenium-example.xpi");
        driver.installExtension(xpiPath);
    path = os.path.abspath("tests/extensions/webextensions-selenium-example.xpi")
    driver.install_addon(path)
            string baseDir = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
            string extensionFilePath = Path.Combine(baseDir, "../../../Extensions/webextensions-selenium-example.xpi");
            driver.InstallAddOnFromFile(Path.GetFullPath(extensionFilePath));
    driver.install_addon(extension_file_path)

Uninstallation

Uninstalling an addon requires knowing its id. The id can be obtained from the return value when installing the add-on.

        Path xpiPath = Paths.get("src/test/resources/extensions/selenium-example.xpi");
        String id = driver.installExtension(xpiPath);
        driver.uninstallExtension(id);
    path = os.path.abspath("tests/extensions/webextensions-selenium-example.xpi")
    id = driver.install_addon(path)
    driver.uninstall_addon(id)

Selenium v4.5

            string baseDir = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
            string extensionFilePath = Path.Combine(baseDir, "../../../Extensions/webextensions-selenium-example.xpi");
            string extensionId = driver.InstallAddOnFromFile(Path.GetFullPath(extensionFilePath));
            driver.UninstallAddOn(extensionId);
    extension_id = driver.install_addon(extension_file_path)
    driver.uninstall_addon(extension_id)

Unsigned installation

When working with an unfinished or unpublished extension, it will likely not be signed. As such, it can only be installed as “temporary.” This can be done by passing in either a zip file or a directory, here’s an example with a directory:

        Path path = Paths.get("src/test/resources/extensions/selenium-example");
        driver.installExtension(path, true);
    path = os.path.abspath("tests/extensions/webextensions-selenium-example/")
    driver.install_addon(path, temporary=True)

Selenium v4.5

            string baseDir = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
            string extensionDirPath = Path.Combine(baseDir, "../../../Extensions/webextensions-selenium-example/");
            driver.InstallAddOnFromDirectory(Path.GetFullPath(extensionDirPath), true);

Selenium v4.5

    driver.install_addon(extension_dir_path, true)

Full page screenshots

The following examples are for local webdrivers. For remote webdrivers, please refer to the Remote WebDriver page.

Context

The following examples are for local webdrivers. For remote webdrivers, please refer to the Remote WebDriver page.

3.4 - IE specific functionality

These are capabilities and features specific to Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers.

As of June 2022, Selenium officially no longer supports standalone Internet Explorer. The Internet Explorer driver still supports running Microsoft Edge in “IE Compatibility Mode.”

Special considerations

The IE Driver is the only driver maintained by the Selenium Project directly. While binaries for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Internet Explorer are available, there are some known limitations with the 64-bit driver. As such it is recommended to use the 32-bit driver.

Additional information about using Internet Explorer can be found on the IE Driver Server page

Options

Starting a Microsoft Edge browser in Internet Explorer Compatibility mode with basic defined options looks like this:

        InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
        driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
    options = InternetExplorerOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)
            var options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
            var driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.ie
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :ie, options: options
  let driver = await new Builder()
    .forBrowser('internet explorer')
    .setIEOptions(options)
    .build();
  val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
  val driver = InternetExplorerDriver(options)

As of Internet Explorer Driver v4.5.0:

  • If IE is not present on the system (default in Windows 11), you do not need to use the two parameters above. IE Driver will use Edge and will automatically locate it.
  • If IE and Edge are both present on the system, you only need to set attaching to Edge, IE Driver will automatically locate Edge on your system.

As of Internet Explorer Driver v4.7.0:

  • No longer need to set Ignore Zoom Level for Edge in IE Mode

Here are a few common use cases with different capabilities:

fileUploadDialogTimeout

In some environments, Internet Explorer may timeout when opening the File Upload dialog. IEDriver has a default timeout of 1000ms, but you can increase the timeout using the fileUploadDialogTimeout capability.

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.waitForUploadDialogUpTo(Duration.ofSeconds(2));
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.file_upload_dialog_timeout = 2000
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
var options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.FileUploadDialogTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(2000);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.file_upload_dialog_timeout = 2000
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options().fileUploadDialogTimeout(2000);
let driver = await Builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build(); 
  
val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
options.waitForUploadDialogUpTo(Duration.ofSeconds(2))
val driver = RemoteWebDriver(options)
  

ensureCleanSession

When set to true, this capability clears the Cache, Browser History and Cookies for all running instances of InternetExplorer including those started manually or by the driver. By default, it is set to false.

Using this capability will cause performance drop while launching the browser, as the driver will wait until the cache gets cleared before launching the IE browser.

This capability accepts a Boolean value as parameter.

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.destructivelyEnsureCleanSession();
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.ensure_clean_session = True
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
var options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.EnsureCleanSession = true;
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.ensure_clean_session = true
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options().ensureCleanSession(true);
let driver = await Builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build(); 
  
val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
options.destructivelyEnsureCleanSession()
val driver = RemoteWebDriver(options)
  

ignoreZoomSetting

InternetExplorer driver expects the browser zoom level to be 100%, else the driver will throw an exception. This default behaviour can be disabled by setting the ignoreZoomSetting to true.

This capability accepts a Boolean value as parameter.

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.ignoreZoomSettings();
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.ignore_zoom_level = True
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
var options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.IgnoreZoomLevel = true;
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.ignore_zoom_level = true
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options().ignoreZoomSetting(true);
let driver = await Builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build(); 
  
val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
options.ignoreZoomSettings()
val driver = RemoteWebDriver(options)
  

ignoreProtectedModeSettings

Whether to skip the Protected Mode check while launching a new IE session.

If not set and Protected Mode settings are not same for all zones, an exception will be thrown by the driver.

If capability is set to true, tests may become flaky, unresponsive, or browsers may hang. However, this is still by far a second-best choice, and the first choice should always be to actually set the Protected Mode settings of each zone manually. If a user is using this property, only a “best effort” at support will be given.

This capability accepts a Boolean value as parameter.

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.introduceFlakinessByIgnoringSecurityDomains();
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.ignore_protected_mode_settings = True
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
var options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true;
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(options);
  
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.ignore_protected_mode_settings = true
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options().introduceFlakinessByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings(true);
let driver = await Builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build(); 
  
val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
options.introduceFlakinessByIgnoringSecurityDomains()
val driver = RemoteWebDriver(options)
  

silent

When set to true, this capability suppresses the diagnostic output of the IEDriverServer.

This capability accepts a Boolean value as parameter.

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.setCapability("silent", true);
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.set_capability("silent", True)
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.AddAdditionalInternetExplorerOption("silent", true);
IWebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
  
    
    
    
    
    <p><a href=https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/seleniumhq.github.io/tree/trunk/examples>
    <span class="selenium-badge-code" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="right"
          title="Code examples are added to the projects in examples directory of repo; see about section for contribution and style guids">Add Example</span></a></p>
    

  
const {Builder,By, Capabilities} = require('selenium-webdriver');
let caps = Capabilities.ie();
caps.set('silent', true);

(async function example() {
    let driver = await new Builder()
        .forBrowser('internet explorer')
        .withCapabilities(caps)
        .build();
    try {
        await driver.get('http://www.google.com/ncr');
    }
    finally {
        await driver.quit();
    }
})();
  
import org.openqa.selenium.Capabilities
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions

fun main() {
    val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
    options.setCapability("silent", true)
    val driver = InternetExplorerDriver(options)
    try {
        driver.get("https://google.com/ncr")
        val caps = driver.getCapabilities()
        println(caps)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

Command-Line Options

Internet Explorer includes several command-line options that enable you to troubleshoot and configure the browser.

The following describes few supported command-line options

  • -private : Used to start IE in private browsing mode. This works for IE 8 and later versions.

  • -k : Starts Internet Explorer in kiosk mode. The browser opens in a maximized window that does not display the address bar, the navigation buttons, or the status bar.

  • -extoff : Starts IE in no add-on mode. This option specifically used to troubleshoot problems with browser add-ons. Works in IE 7 and later versions.

Note: forceCreateProcessApi should to enabled in-order for command line arguments to work.

import org.openqa.selenium.Capabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions;

public class ieTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
        options.useCreateProcessApiToLaunchIe();
        options.addCommandSwitches("-k");
        InternetExplorerDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
        try {
            driver.get("https://google.com/ncr");
            Capabilities caps = driver.getCapabilities();
            System.out.println(caps);
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.add_argument('-private')
options.force_create_process_api = True
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;

namespace ieTest {
 class Program {
  static void Main(string[] args) {
   InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
   options.ForceCreateProcessApi = true;
   options.BrowserCommandLineArguments = "-k";
   IWebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
   driver.Url = "https://google.com/ncr";
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.force_create_process_api = true
options.add_argument('-k')
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)

begin
  driver.get 'https://google.com'
  puts(driver.capabilities.to_json)
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options();
options.addBrowserCommandSwitches('-k');
options.addBrowserCommandSwitches('-private');
options.forceCreateProcessApi(true);

driver = await env.builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build();
  
import org.openqa.selenium.Capabilities
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions

fun main() {
    val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
    options.useCreateProcessApiToLaunchIe()
    options.addCommandSwitches("-k")
    val driver = InternetExplorerDriver(options)
    try {
        driver.get("https://google.com/ncr")
        val caps = driver.getCapabilities()
        println(caps)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

forceCreateProcessApi

Forces launching Internet Explorer using the CreateProcess API. The default value is false.

For IE 8 and above, this option requires the “TabProcGrowth” registry value to be set to 0.

import org.openqa.selenium.Capabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions;

public class ieTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
        options.useCreateProcessApiToLaunchIe();
        InternetExplorerDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
        try {
            driver.get("https://google.com/ncr");
            Capabilities caps = driver.getCapabilities();
            System.out.println(caps);
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.IeOptions()
options.force_create_process_api = True
driver = webdriver.Ie(options=options)

driver.get("http://www.google.com")

driver.quit()
  
using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.IE;

namespace ieTest {
 class Program {
  static void Main(string[] args) {
   InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
   options.ForceCreateProcessApi = true;
   IWebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
   driver.Url = "https://google.com/ncr";
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
options = Selenium::WebDriver::IE::Options.new
options.force_create_process_api = true
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(:ie, options: options)

begin
  driver.get 'https://google.com'
  puts(driver.capabilities.to_json)
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const ie = require('selenium-webdriver/ie');
let options = new ie.Options();
options.forceCreateProcessApi(true);

driver = await env.builder()
          .setIeOptions(options)
          .build();
  
import org.openqa.selenium.Capabilities
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions

fun main() {
    val options = InternetExplorerOptions()
    options.useCreateProcessApiToLaunchIe()
    val driver = InternetExplorerDriver(options)
    try {
        driver.get("https://google.com/ncr")
        val caps = driver.getCapabilities()
        println(caps)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

3.5 - Safari specific functionality

These are capabilities and features specific to Apple Safari browsers.

Unlike Chromium and Firefox drivers, the safaridriver is installed with the Operating System. To enable automation on Safari, run the following command from the terminal:

safaridriver --enable

Options

Capabilities common to all browsers are described on the Options page.

Capabilities unique to Safari can be found at Apple’s page About WebDriver for Safari

Starting a Safari session with basic defined options looks like this:

        SafariOptions options = new SafariOptions();
        driver = new SafariDriver(options);
    options = SafariOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Safari(options=options)
            var options = new SafariOptions();
            var driver = new SafariDriver(options);
    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.safari
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :safari, options: options
      let driver = await env.builder()
      .setSafariOptions(options)
      .build();
  val options = SafariOptions()
  val driver = SafariDriver(options)

Mobile

Those looking to automate Safari on iOS should look to the Appium project.

Safari Technology Preview

Apple provides a development version of their browser — Safari Technology Preview To use this version in your code:

4 - Waits

WebDriver can generally be said to have a blocking API. Because it is an out-of-process library that instructs the browser what to do, and because the web platform has an intrinsically asynchronous nature, WebDriver does not track the active, real-time state of the DOM. This comes with some challenges that we will discuss here.

From experience, most intermittent issues that arise from use of Selenium and WebDriver are connected to race conditions that occur between the browser and the user’s instructions. An example could be that the user instructs the browser to navigate to a page, then gets a no such element error when trying to find an element.

Consider the following document:

<!doctype html>
<meta charset=utf-8>
<title>Race Condition Example</title>

<script>
  var initialised = false;
  window.addEventListener("load", function() {
    var newElement = document.createElement("p");
    newElement.textContent = "Hello from JavaScript!";
    document.body.appendChild(newElement);
    initialised = true;
  });
</script>

The WebDriver instructions might look innocent enough:

driver.get("file:///race_condition.html");
WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("p"));
assertEquals(element.getText(), "Hello from JavaScript!");
  
driver.navigate("file:///race_condition.html")
el = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "p")
assert el.text == "Hello from JavaScript!"
  
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("file:///race_condition.html");
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("p"));
assertEquals(element.Text, "Hello from JavaScript!");
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
  # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'file:///race_condition.html'

  # Get and store Paragraph Text
  search_form = driver.find_element(:css,'p').text

  "Hello from JavaScript!".eql? search_form
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
await driver.get('file:///race_condition.html');
const element = driver.findElement(By.css('p'));
assert.strictEqual(await element.getText(), 'Hello from JavaScript!');
  
driver.get("file:///race_condition.html")
val element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("p"))
assert(element.text == "Hello from JavaScript!")
  

The issue here is that the default page load strategy used in WebDriver listens for the document.readyState to change to "complete" before returning from the call to navigate. Because the p element is added after the document has completed loading, this WebDriver script might be intermittent. It “might” be intermittent because no guarantees can be made about elements or events that trigger asynchronously without explicitly waiting—or blocking—on those events.

Fortunately, the normal instruction set available on the WebElement interface—such as WebElement.click and WebElement.sendKeys—are guaranteed to be synchronous, in that the function calls will not return (or the callback will not trigger in callback-style languages) until the command has been completed in the browser. The advanced user interaction APIs, Keyboard and Mouse, are exceptions as they are explicitly intended as “do what I say” asynchronous commands.

Waiting is having the automated task execution elapse a certain amount of time before continuing with the next step.

To overcome the problem of race conditions between the browser and your WebDriver script, most Selenium clients ship with a wait package. When employing a wait, you are using what is commonly referred to as an explicit wait.

Explicit wait

Explicit waits are available to Selenium clients for imperative, procedural languages. They allow your code to halt program execution, or freeze the thread, until the condition you pass it resolves. The condition is called with a certain frequency until the timeout of the wait is elapsed. This means that for as long as the condition returns a falsy value, it will keep trying and waiting.

Since explicit waits allow you to wait for a condition to occur, they make a good fit for synchronising the state between the browser and its DOM, and your WebDriver script.

To remedy our buggy instruction set from earlier, we could employ a wait to have the findElement call wait until the dynamically added element from the script has been added to the DOM:

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("https://google.com/ncr");
driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("cheese" + Keys.ENTER);
// Initialize and wait till element(link) became clickable - timeout in 10 seconds
WebElement firstResult = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
        .until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//a/h3")));
// Print the first result
System.out.println(firstResult.getText());
  
from selenium.webdriver.support.wait import WebDriverWait
def document_initialised(driver):
    return driver.execute_script("return initialised")

driver.navigate("file:///race_condition.html")
WebDriverWait(driver, timeout=10).until(document_initialised)
el = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "p")
assert el.text == "Hello from JavaScript!"
  
driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.Url = "https://www.google.com/ncr";
driver.FindElement(By.Name("q")).SendKeys("cheese" + Keys.Enter);

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
IWebElement firstResult = wait.Until(e => e.FindElement(By.XPath("//a/h3")));

Console.WriteLine(firstResult.Text);
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
wait = Selenium::WebDriver::Wait.new(:timeout => 10)

def document_initialised(driver)
  driver.execute_script('return initialised')
end

begin
  driver.get 'file:///race_condition.html'
  wait.until{document_initialised driver}
  search_form = driver.find_element(:css,'p').text
  "Hello from JavaScript!".eql? search_form
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const documentInitialised = () =>
    driver.executeScript('return initialised');

await driver.get('file:///race_condition.html');
await driver.wait(() => documentInitialised(), 10000);
const element = driver.findElement(By.css('p'));
assert.strictEqual(await element.getText(), 'Hello from JavaScript!');
  
driver.get("https://google.com/ncr")
driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("cheese" + Keys.ENTER)
// Initialize and wait till element(link) became clickable - timeout in 10 seconds
val firstResult = WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
      .until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//a/h3")))
// Print the first result
println(firstResult.text)
  

We pass in the condition as a function reference that the wait will run repeatedly until its return value is truthy. A “truthful” return value is anything that evaluates to boolean true in the language at hand, such as a string, number, a boolean, an object (including a WebElement), or a populated (non-empty) sequence or list. That means an empty list evaluates to false. When the condition is truthful and the blocking wait is aborted, the return value from the condition becomes the return value of the wait.

With this knowledge, and because the wait utility ignores no such element errors by default, we can refactor our instructions to be more concise:

WebElement foo = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(3))
          .until(driver -> driver.findElement(By.name("q")));
assertEquals(foo.getText(), "Hello from JavaScript!");
  
from selenium.webdriver.support.wait import WebDriverWait

driver.navigate("file:///race_condition.html")
el = WebDriverWait(driver, timeout=3).until(lambda d: d.find_element(By.TAG_NAME,"p"))
assert el.text == "Hello from JavaScript!"
  
   using (var driver = new FirefoxDriver())
    {
        var foo = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3))
                        .Until(drv => drv.FindElement(By.Name("q")));
        Debug.Assert(foo.Text.Equals("Hello from JavaScript!"));
    }
  
  driver.get 'file:///race_condition.html'
  wait = Selenium::WebDriver::Wait.new(:timeout => 10)
  ele = wait.until { driver.find_element(css: 'p')}
  foo = ele.text
  assert_match foo, 'Hello from JavaScript'
  
let ele = await driver.wait(until.elementLocated(By.css('p')),10000);
let foo = await ele.getText();
assert(foo == "Hello from JavaScript");
  
driver.get("file:///race_condition.html")
val ele = WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(By.tagName("p")))
assert(ele.text == "Hello from JavaScript!")
  

In that example, we pass in an anonymous function (but we could also define it explicitly as we did earlier so it may be reused). The first and only argument that is passed to our condition is always a reference to our driver object, WebDriver. In a multi-threaded environment, you should be careful to operate on the driver reference passed in to the condition rather than the reference to the driver in the outer scope.

Because the wait will swallow no such element errors that are raised when the element is not found, the condition will retry until the element is found. Then it will take the return value, a WebElement, and pass it back through to our script.

If the condition fails, e.g. a truthful return value from the condition is never reached, the wait will throw/raise an error/exception called a timeout error.

Options

The wait condition can be customised to match your needs. Sometimes it is unnecessary to wait the full extent of the default timeout, as the penalty for not hitting a successful condition can be expensive.

The wait lets you pass in an argument to override the timeout:

new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(3)).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//a/h3")));
  
WebDriverWait(driver, timeout=3).until(some_condition)
  
new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3)).Until(driver => driver.FindElement(By.Name("q")));
  
wait = Selenium::WebDriver::Wait.new(:timeout => 10)

wait.until { driver.find_element(:id, 'message').displayed? }
  
  await driver.wait(until.elementLocated(By.id('foo')), 30000);
  
WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(3)).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//a/h3")))
  

Expected conditions

Because it is quite a common occurrence to have to synchronise the DOM and your instructions, most clients also come with a set of predefined expected conditions. As might be obvious by the name, they are conditions that are predefined for frequent wait operations.

The conditions available in the different language bindings vary, but this is a non-exhaustive list of a few:

  • alert is present
  • element exists
  • element is visible
  • title contains
  • title is
  • element staleness
  • visible text

You can refer to the API documentation for each client binding to find an exhaustive list of expected conditions:

Implicit wait

There is a second type of wait that is distinct from explicit wait called implicit wait. By implicitly waiting, WebDriver polls the DOM for a certain duration when trying to find any element. This can be useful when certain elements on the webpage are not available immediately and need some time to load.

Implicit waiting for elements to appear is disabled by default and will need to be manually enabled on a per-session basis. Mixing explicit waits and implicit waits will cause unintended consequences, namely waits sleeping for the maximum time even if the element is available or condition is true.

Warning: Do not mix implicit and explicit waits. Doing so can cause unpredictable wait times. For example, setting an implicit wait of 10 seconds and an explicit wait of 15 seconds could cause a timeout to occur after 20 seconds.

An implicit wait is to tell WebDriver to poll the DOM for a certain amount of time when trying to find an element or elements if they are not immediately available. The default setting is 0, meaning disabled. Once set, the implicit wait is set for the life of the session.

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
driver.get("http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading");
WebElement myDynamicElement = driver.findElement(By.id("myDynamicElement"));
  
driver = Firefox()
driver.implicitly_wait(10)
driver.get("http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading")
my_dynamic_element = driver.find_element(By.ID, "myDynamicElement")
  
IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.Manage().Timeouts().ImplicitWait = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10);
driver.Url = "http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading";
IWebElement dynamicElement = driver.FindElement(By.Name("dynamicElement"));
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
driver.manage.timeouts.implicit_wait = 10

begin
  driver.get 'http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading'
  search_form = driver.find_element(:id,'dynamic_element')
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
(async function(){

// Apply timeout for 10 seconds
await driver.manage().setTimeouts( { implicit: 10000 } );

// Navigate to url
await driver.get('http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading');

let webElement = driver.findElement(By.id("myDynamicElement"));

}());
  
val driver = FirefoxDriver()
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
driver.get("http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading")
val myDynamicElement = driver.findElement(By.id("myDynamicElement"))
  

FluentWait

FluentWait instance defines the maximum amount of time to wait for a condition, as well as the frequency with which to check the condition.

Users may configure the wait to ignore specific types of exceptions whilst waiting, such as NoSuchElementException when searching for an element on the page.

// Waiting 30 seconds for an element to be present on the page, checking
// for its presence once every 5 seconds.
Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
  .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
  .pollingEvery(Duration.ofSeconds(5))
  .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);

WebElement foo = wait.until(driver -> {
  return driver.findElement(By.id("foo"));
});
  
driver = Firefox()
driver.get("http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading")
wait = WebDriverWait(driver, timeout=10, poll_frequency=1, ignored_exceptions=[ElementNotVisibleException, ElementNotSelectableException])
element = wait.until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//div")))
  
using (var driver = new FirefoxDriver())
{
  WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, timeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30))
  {
      PollingInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5),
  };
  wait.IgnoreExceptionTypes(typeof(NoSuchElementException));

  var foo = wait.Until(drv => drv.FindElement(By.Id("foo")));
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
exception = Selenium::WebDriver::Error::NoSuchElementError

begin
  driver.get 'http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading'
  wait = Selenium::WebDriver::Wait.new(timeout: 30, interval: 5, message: 'Timed out after 30 sec', ignore: exception)
  foo = wait.until { driver.find_element(id: 'foo')}
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, until} = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function example() {
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').build();
    await driver.get('http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading');
    // Waiting 30 seconds for an element to be present on the page, checking
    // for its presence once every 5 seconds.
    let foo = await driver.wait(until.elementLocated(By.id('foo')), 30000, 'Timed out after 30 seconds', 5000);
})();
  
val wait = FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
        .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
        .pollingEvery(Duration.ofSeconds(3))
        .ignoring(NoSuchElementException::class.java)

val foo = wait.until {it.findElement(By.id("foo")) }
  

5 - Web elements

Identifying and working with element objects in the DOM.

The majority of most people’s Selenium code involves working with web elements.

5.1 - File Upload

The file upload dialog could be handled using Selenium, when the input element is of type file. An example of it, could be found on this web page- https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload We will require to have a file available with us, which we need to upload. The code to upload the file for different programming languages will be as follows -

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
class fileUploadDoc{
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
		driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
		//we want to import selenium-snapshot file. 
		driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg");
		driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit();
		if(driver.getPageSource().contains("File Uploaded!")) {
			System.out.println("file uploaded");
		}
		else{
				System.out.println("file not uploaded");
			}
		driver.quit();
	}
}

  
from selenium import webdriver
driver.implicitly_wait(10)
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
driver.find_element(By.ID,"file-upload").send_keys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
driver.find_element(By.ID,"file-submit").submit()
if(driver.page_source.find("File Uploaded!")):
    print("file upload success")
else:
    print("file upload not successful")
driver.quit()

  
using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace SeleniumDocumentation.SeleniumPRs
{
    class FileUploadExample
    {
        static void Main(String[] args)
        {
            IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
            try
            {
                // Navigate to Url
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
                driver.FindElement(By.Id("file-upload")).SendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg");
                driver.FindElement(By.Id("file-submit")).Submit();
                if (driver.PageSource.Contains("File Uploaded!"))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("file uploaded");
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("file not uploaded");
                }
                driver.Quit();

            }

            }
}

  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload")
driver.find_element(:id,"file-upload").send_keys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
driver.find_element(:id,"file-submit").submit()

if driver.page_source().include? "File Uploaded!"
  puts "file upload success"
else
  puts "file upload not successful"
end

  
import {Builder,By} from "selenium-webdriver"


let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build()
await driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");

await driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
await driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit()

driver.getPageSource().then(result => {
    if (result.indexOf("File Uploaded!")){
        console.log("file upload success")
    }else {
        console.log("file upload not successful")
    }
})
  
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload")
    driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
    driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit()
    if(driver.pageSource.contains("File Uploaded!")) {
        println("file uploaded")
    }
    else{
        println("file not uploaded")
    }
}

So the above example code helps to understand how we can upload a file using Selenium.

5.2 - Locator strategies

Ways to identify one or more specific elements in the DOM.

A locator is a way to identify elements on a page. It is the argument passed to the Finding element methods.

Check out our encouraged test practices for tips on locators, including which to use when and why to declare locators separately from the finding methods.

Traditional Locators

Selenium provides support for these 8 traditional location strategies in WebDriver:

Locator Description
class name Locates elements whose class name contains the search value (compound class names are not permitted)
css selector Locates elements matching a CSS selector
id Locates elements whose ID attribute matches the search value
name Locates elements whose NAME attribute matches the search value
link text Locates anchor elements whose visible text matches the search value
partial link text Locates anchor elements whose visible text contains the search value. If multiple elements are matching, only the first one will be selected.
tag name Locates elements whose tag name matches the search value
xpath Locates elements matching an XPath expression

Creating Locators

To work on a web element using Selenium, we need to first locate it on the web page. Selenium provides us above mentioned ways, using which we can locate element on the page. To understand and create locator we will use the following HTML snippet.

<html>
<body>
<style>
.information {
  background-color: white;
  color: black;
  padding: 10px;
}
</style>
<h2>Contact Selenium</h2>

<form action="/action_page.php">
  <input type="radio" name="gender" value="m" />Male &nbsp;
  <input type="radio" name="gender" value="f" />Female <br>
  <br>
  <label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
  <input class="information" type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="Jane"><br><br>
  <label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
  <input class="information" type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe"><br><br>
  <label for="newsletter">Newsletter:</label>
  <input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" value="1" /><br><br>
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form> 

<p>To know more about Selenium, visit the official page 
<a href ="www.selenium.dev">Selenium Official Page</a> 
</p>

</body>
</html>

class name

The HTML page web element can have attribute class. We can see an example in the above shown HTML snippet. We can identify these elements using the class name locator available in Selenium.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.className("information"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "information")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.ClassName("information"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(class: 'information')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.className('information'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.className("information"))
  

css selector

CSS is the language used to style HTML pages. We can use css selector locator strategy to identify the element on the page. If the element has an id, we create the locator as css = #id. Otherwise the format we follow is css =[attribute=value] . Let us see an example from above HTML snippet. We will create locator for First Name textbox, using css.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fname"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#fname")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("#fname"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(css: '#fname')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.css('#fname'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.css("#fname"))
  

id

We can use the ID attribute available with element in a web page to locate it. Generally the ID property should be unique for a element on the web page. We will identify the Last Name field using it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.id("lname"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.ID, "lname")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Id("lname"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(id: 'lname')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.id('lname'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.id("lname"))
  

name

We can use the NAME attribute available with element in a web page to locate it. Generally the NAME property should be unique for a element on the web page. We will identify the Newsletter checkbox using it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.name("newsletter"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.NAME, "newsletter")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Name("newsletter"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(name: 'newsletter')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.name('newsletter'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.name("newsletter"))
  

If the element we want to locate is a link, we can use the link text locator to identify it on the web page. The link text is the text displayed of the link. In the HTML snippet shared, we have a link available, lets see how will we locate it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.linkText("Selenium Official Page"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "Selenium Official Page")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Selenium Official Page"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(link_text: 'Selenium Official Page')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.linkText('Selenium Official Page'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Selenium Official Page"))
  

If the element we want to locate is a link, we can use the partial link text locator to identify it on the web page. The link text is the text displayed of the link. We can pass partial text as value. In the HTML snippet shared, we have a link available, lets see how will we locate it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Official Page"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Official Page")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.PartialLinkText("Official Page"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(partial_link_text: 'Official Page')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText('Official Page'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Official Page"))
  

tag name

We can use the HTML TAG itself as a locator to identify the web element on the page. From the above HTML snippet shared, lets identify the link, using its html tag “a”.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.tagName("a"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "a")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.TagName("a"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(tag_name: 'a')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.tagName('a'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.tagName("a"))
  

xpath

A HTML document can be considered as a XML document, and then we can use xpath which will be the path traversed to reach the element of interest to locate the element. The XPath could be absolute xpath, which is created from the root of the document. Example - /html/form/input[1]. This will return the male radio button. Or the xpath could be relative. Example- //input[@name=‘fname’]. This will return the first name text box. Let us create locator for female radio button using xpath.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@value='f']"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@value='f']")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Xpath("//input[@value='f']"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(xpath: '//input[@value='f']')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@value='f']'));
  
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@value='f']'))
  

Relative Locators

Selenium 4 introduces Relative Locators (previously called as Friendly Locators). These locators are helpful when it is not easy to construct a locator for the desired element, but easy to describe spatially where the element is in relation to an element that does have an easily constructed locator.

How it works

Selenium uses the JavaScript function getBoundingClientRect() to determine the size and position of elements on the page, and can use this information to locate neighboring elements.
find the relative elements.

Relative locator methods can take as the argument for the point of origin, either a previously located element reference, or another locator. In these examples we’ll be using locators only, but you could swap the locator in the final method with an element object and it will work the same.

Let us consider the below example for understanding the relative locators.

Relative Locators

Available relative locators

Above

If the email text field element is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the password text field element is, we can locate the text field element using the fact that it is an “input” element “above” the password element.

By emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).above(By.id("password"));
email_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").above({By.ID: "password"})
var emailLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.TagName("input")).Above(By.Id("password"));
email_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', above: {id: 'password'}}}
let emailLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).above(By.id('password'));
val emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).above(By.id("password"))

Below

If the password text field element is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the email text field element is, we can locate the text field element using the fact that it is an “input” element “below” the email element.

By passwordLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).below(By.id("email"));
password_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").below({By.ID: "email"})
var passwordLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.TagName("input")).Below(By.Id("email"));
password_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', below: {id: 'email'}}}
let passwordLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).below(By.id('email'));
val passwordLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).below(By.id("email"))

Left of

If the cancel button is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the submit button element is, we can locate the cancel button element using the fact that it is a “button” element to the “left of” the submit element.

By cancelLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toLeftOf(By.id("submit"));
cancel_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").to_left_of({By.ID: "submit"})
var cancelLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).LeftOf(By.Id("submit"));
cancel_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', left: {id: 'submit'}}}
let cancelLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).toLeftOf(By.id('submit'));
val cancelLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toLeftOf(By.id("submit"))

Right of

If the submit button is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the cancel button element is, we can locate the submit button element using the fact that it is a “button” element “to the right of” the cancel element.

By submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"));
submit_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").to_right_of({By.ID: "cancel"})
var submitLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).RightOf(By.Id("cancel"));
submit_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', right: {id: 'cancel'}}}
let submitLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).toRightOf(By.id('cancel'));
val submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"))

Near

If the relative positioning is not obvious, or it varies based on window size, you can use the near method to identify an element that is at most 50px away from the provided locator. One great use case for this is to work with a form element that doesn’t have an easily constructed locator, but its associated input label element does.

By emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).near(By.id("lbl-email"));
email_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").near({By.ID: "lbl-email"})
var emailLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("input")).Near(By.Id("lbl-email"));
email_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', near: {id: 'lbl-email'}}}
let emailLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).near(By.id('lbl-email'));
val emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).near(By.id("lbl-email"));

Chaining relative locators

You can also chain locators if needed. Sometimes the element is most easily identified as being both above/below one element and right/left of another.

By submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).below(By.id("email")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"));
submit_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").below({By.ID: "email"}).to_right_of({By.ID: "cancel"})
var submitLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).Below(By.Id("email")).RightOf(By.Id("cancel"));
submit_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', below: {id: 'email'}, right: {id: 'cancel'}}}
let submitLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).below(By.id('email')).toRightOf(By.id('cancel'));
val submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).below(By.id("email")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"))

5.3 - Finding web elements

Locating the elements based on the provided locator values.

One of the most fundamental aspects of using Selenium is obtaining element references to work with. Selenium offers a number of built-in locator strategies to uniquely identify an element. There are many ways to use the locators in very advanced scenarios. For the purposes of this documentation, let’s consider this HTML snippet:

<ol id="vegetables">
 <li class="potatoes"> <li class="onions"> <li class="tomatoes"><span>Tomato is a Vegetable</span></ol>
<ul id="fruits">
  <li class="bananas">  <li class="apples">  <li class="tomatoes"><span>Tomato is a Fruit</span></ul>

First matching element

Many locators will match multiple elements on the page. The singular find element method will return a reference to the first element found within a given context.

Evaluating entire DOM

When the find element method is called on the driver instance, it returns a reference to the first element in the DOM that matches with the provided locator. This value can be stored and used for future element actions. In our example HTML above, there are two elements that have a class name of “tomatoes” so this method will return the element in the “vegetables” list.

WebElement vegetable = driver.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"));
  
vegetable = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "tomatoes")
  
var vegetable = driver.FindElement(By.ClassName("tomatoes"));
  
vegetable = driver.find_element(class: 'tomatoes')
  
const vegetable = await driver.findElement(By.className('tomatoes'));
  
val vegetable: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"))
  

Evaluating a subset of the DOM

Rather than finding a unique locator in the entire DOM, it is often useful to narrow the search to the scope of another located element. In the above example there are two elements with a class name of “tomatoes” and it is a little more challenging to get the reference for the second one.

One solution is to locate an element with a unique attribute that is an ancestor of the desired element and not an ancestor of the undesired element, then call find element on that object:

WebElement fruits = driver.findElement(By.id("fruits"));
WebElement fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"));
  
fruits = driver.find_element(By.ID, "fruits")
fruit = fruits.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME,"tomatoes")
  
IWebElement fruits = driver.FindElement(By.Id("fruits"));
IWebElement fruit = fruits.FindElement(By.ClassName("tomatoes"));
  
fruits = driver.find_element(id: 'fruits')
fruit = fruits.find_element(class: 'tomatoes')
  
const fruits = await driver.findElement(By.id('fruits'));
const fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className('tomatoes'));
  
val fruits = driver.findElement(By.id("fruits"))
val fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"))
  

Java and C#
WebDriver, WebElement and ShadowRoot classes all implement a SearchContext interface, which is considered a role-based interface. Role-based interfaces allow you to determine whether a particular driver implementation supports a given feature. These interfaces are clearly defined and try to adhere to having only a single role of responsibility.

Optimized locator

A nested lookup might not be the most effective location strategy since it requires two separate commands to be issued to the browser.

To improve the performance slightly, we can use either CSS or XPath to find this element in a single command. See the Locator strategy suggestions in our Encouraged test practices section.

For this example, we’ll use a CSS Selector:

WebElement fruit = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"));
  
fruit = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR,"#fruits .tomatoes")
  
var fruit = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"));
  
fruit = driver.find_element(css: '#fruits .tomatoes')
  
const fruit = await driver.findElement(By.css('#fruits .tomatoes'));
  
val fruit = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"))
  

All matching elements

There are several use cases for needing to get references to all elements that match a locator, rather than just the first one. The plural find elements methods return a collection of element references. If there are no matches, an empty list is returned. In this case, references to all fruits and vegetable list items will be returned in a collection.

List<WebElement> plants = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"));
  
plants = driver.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, "li")
  
IReadOnlyList<IWebElement> plants = driver.FindElements(By.TagName("li"));
  
plants = driver.find_elements(tag_name: 'li')
  
const plants = await driver.findElements(By.tagName('li'));
  
val plants: List<WebElement> = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"))
  

Get element

Often you get a collection of elements but want to work with a specific element, which means you need to iterate over the collection and identify the one you want.

List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"));

for (WebElement element : elements) {
    System.out.println("Paragraph text:" + element.getText());
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Firefox()

    # Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
elements = driver.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, 'p')

for e in elements:
    print(e.text)
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace FindElementsExample {
 class FindElementsExample {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

    // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    IList < IWebElement > elements = driver.FindElements(By.TagName("p"));
    foreach(IWebElement e in elements) {
     System.Console.WriteLine(e.Text);
    }

   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
     # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

     # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
  elements = driver.find_elements(:tag_name,'p')

  elements.each { |e|
    puts e.text
  }
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');
(async function example() {
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').build();
    try {
        // Navigate to Url
        await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

        // Get all the elements available with tag 'p'
        let elements = await driver.findElements(By.css('p'));
        for(let e of elements) {
            console.log(await e.getText());
        }
    }
    finally {
        await driver.quit();
    }
})();
  
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = FirefoxDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
        val elements = driver.findElements(By.tagName("p"))
        for (element in elements) {
            println("Paragraph text:" + element.text)
        }
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

Find Elements From Element

It is used to find the list of matching child WebElements within the context of parent element. To achieve this, the parent WebElement is chained with ‘findElements’ to access child elements

  import org.openqa.selenium.By;
  import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
  import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
  import java.util.List;

  public class findElementsFromElement {
      public static void main(String[] args) {
          WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
          try {
              driver.get("https://example.com");

              // Get element with tag name 'div'
              WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("div"));

              // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
              List<WebElement> elements = element.findElements(By.tagName("p"));
              for (WebElement e : elements) {
                  System.out.println(e.getText());
              }
          } finally {
              driver.quit();
          }
      }
  }
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Get element with tag name 'div'
element = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'div')

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
elements = element.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, 'p')
for e in elements:
    print(e.text)
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace FindElementsFromElement {
 class FindElementsFromElement {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

    // Get element with tag name 'div'
    IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("div"));

    // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    IList < IWebElement > elements = element.FindElements(By.TagName("p"));
    foreach(IWebElement e in elements) {
     System.Console.WriteLine(e.Text);
    }
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
  require 'selenium-webdriver'
  driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  begin
    # Navigate to URL
    driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Get element with tag name 'div'
    element = driver.find_element(:tag_name,'div')

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    elements = element.find_elements(:tag_name,'p')

    elements.each { |e|
      puts e.text
    }
  ensure
    driver.quit
  end
  
  const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');

  (async function example() {
      let driver = new Builder()
          .forBrowser('chrome')
          .build();

      await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

      // Get element with tag name 'div'
      let element = driver.findElement(By.css("div"));

      // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
      let elements = await element.findElements(By.css("p"));
      for(let e of elements) {
          console.log(await e.getText());
      }
  })();
  
  import org.openqa.selenium.By
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

  fun main() {
      val driver = ChromeDriver()
      try {
          driver.get("https://example.com")

          // Get element with tag name 'div'
          val element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("div"))

          // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
          val elements = element.findElements(By.tagName("p"))
          for (e in elements) {
              println(e.text)
          }
      } finally {
          driver.quit()
      }
  }
  

Get Active Element

It is used to track (or) find DOM element which has the focus in the current browsing context.

  import org.openqa.selenium.*;
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

  public class activeElementTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      try {
        driver.get("http://www.google.com");
        driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("[name='q']")).sendKeys("webElement");

        // Get attribute of current active element
        String attr = driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title");
        System.out.println(attr);
      } finally {
        driver.quit();
      }
    }
  }
  
  from selenium import webdriver
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

  driver = webdriver.Chrome()
  driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, '[name="q"]').send_keys("webElement")

    # Get attribute of current active element
  attr = driver.switch_to.active_element.get_attribute("title")
  print(attr)
  
    using OpenQA.Selenium;
    using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

    namespace ActiveElement {
     class ActiveElement {
      public static void Main(string[] args) {
       IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
       try {
        // Navigate to Url
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");
        driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("[name='q']")).SendKeys("webElement");

        // Get attribute of current active element
        string attr = driver.SwitchTo().ActiveElement().GetAttribute("title");
        System.Console.WriteLine(attr);
       } finally {
        driver.Quit();
       }
      }
     }
    }
  
  require 'selenium-webdriver'
  driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  begin
    driver.get 'https://www.google.com'
    driver.find_element(css: '[name="q"]').send_keys('webElement')

    # Get attribute of current active element
    attr = driver.switch_to.active_element.attribute('title')
    puts attr
  ensure
    driver.quit
  end
  
  const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');

  (async function example() {
      let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
      await driver.get('https://www.google.com');
      await  driver.findElement(By.css('[name="q"]')).sendKeys("webElement");

      // Get attribute of current active element
      let attr = await driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title");
      console.log(`${attr}`)
  })();
  
  import org.openqa.selenium.By
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

  fun main() {
      val driver = ChromeDriver()
      try {
          driver.get("https://www.google.com")
          driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("[name='q']")).sendKeys("webElement")

          // Get attribute of current active element
          val attr = driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title")
          print(attr)
      } finally {
          driver.quit()
      }
  }
  

5.4 - Interacting with web elements

A high-level instruction set for manipulating form controls.

There are only 5 basic commands that can be executed on an element:

  • click (applies to any element)
  • send keys (only applies to text fields and content editable elements)
  • clear (only applies to text fields and content editable elements)
  • submit (only applies to form elements)
  • select (see Select List Elements)

Additional validations

These methods are designed to closely emulate a user’s experience, so, unlike the Actions API, it attempts to perform two things before attempting the specified action.

  1. If it determines the element is outside the viewport, it scrolls the element into view, specifically it will align the bottom of the element with the bottom of the viewport.
  2. It ensures the element is interactable before taking the action. This could mean that the scrolling was unsuccessful, or that the element is not otherwise displayed. Determining if an element is displayed on a page was too difficult to define directly in the webdriver specification, so Selenium sends an execute command with a JavaScript atom that checks for things that would keep the element from being displayed. If it determines an element is not in the viewport, not displayed, not keyboard-interactable, or not pointer-interactable, it returns an element not interactable error.

Click

The element click command is executed on the center of the element. If the center of the element is obscured for some reason, Selenium will return an element click intercepted error.

Send keys

The element send keys command types the provided keys into an editable element. Typically, this means an element is an input element of a form with a text type or an element with a content-editable attribute. If it is not editable, an invalid element state error is returned.

Here is the list of possible keystrokes that WebDriver Supports.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class HelloSelenium {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://google.com");

      // Enter text "q" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
      driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("q" + Keys.ENTER);
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}

  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
driver = webdriver.Firefox()

    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")

    # Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").send_keys("webdriver" + Keys.ENTER)
  
using (var driver = new FirefoxDriver())
{
  // Navigate to Url
  driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://google.com");

  // Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
  driver.FindElement(By.Name("q")).SendKeys("webdriver" + Keys.Enter);
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
    # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://google.com'

    # Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
  driver.find_element(name: 'q').send_keys 'webdriver', :return

ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, By, Key} = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function example() {
  let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').build();

  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    await driver.get('https://www.google.com');

    // Enter text "webdriver" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
    await driver.findElement(By.name('q')).sendKeys('webdriver', Key.ENTER);
  }
  finally {
    await driver.quit();
  }
})();
  
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver

fun main() {
  val driver = FirefoxDriver()
  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.get("https://google.com")

    // Enter text "q" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
    driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("q" + Keys.ENTER)
  } finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}
  

Clear

The element clear command resets the content of an element. This requires an element to be editable, and resettable. Typically, this means an element is an input element of a form with a text type or an element with acontent-editable attribute. If these conditions are not met, an invalid element state error is returned.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class clear {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://www.google.com");
      // Store 'SearchInput' element
      WebElement searchInput = driver.findElement(By.name("q"));
      searchInput.sendKeys("selenium");
      // Clears the entered text
      searchInput.clear();
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
    # Store 'SearchInput' element
SearchInput = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q")
SearchInput.send_keys("selenium")
    # Clears the entered text
SearchInput.clear()
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using System;

namespace SnipetProjectDelete
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      try
      {
        // Navigate to Url
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(@"https://www.google.com");
        // Store 'SearchInput' element
        IWebElement searchInput = driver.FindElement(By.Name("q"));
        searchInput.SendKeys("selenium");
        // Clears the entered text
        searchInput.Clear();
      }
      finally
      {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
begin
    # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://google.com'
    # store 'search_input' element
  search_input = driver.find_element(name: 'q')
  search_input.send_keys('selenium')
    # Clears the entered text
  search_input.clear
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
        await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html');
        let inputField = await driver.findElement(By.name('no_type'));
        await inputField.clear();
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
fun main() {
  val driver =  ChromeDriver()
  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
    // Store 'searchInput' element
    val searchInput = driver.findElement(By.name("q"))
    searchInput.sendKeys("selenium")
    // Clears the entered text
    searchInput.clear()
  } finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}
  

Submit

In Selenium 4 this is no longer implemented with a separate endpoint and functions by executing a script. As such, it is recommended not to use this method and to click the applicable form submission button instead.

5.5 - Information about web elements

What you can learn about an element.

There are a number of details you can query about a specific element.

Is Displayed

This method is used to check if the connected Element is displayed on a webpage. Returns a Boolean value, True if the connected element is displayed in the current browsing context else returns false.

This functionality is mentioned in, but not defined by the w3c specification due to the impossibility of covering all potential conditions. As such, Selenium cannot expect drivers to implement this functionality directly, and now relies on executing a large JavaScript function directly. This function makes many approximations about an element’s nature and relationship in the tree to return a value.

// Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// Get boolean value for is element display
boolean isEmailVisible = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed();
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

# Get boolean value for is element display
is_email_visible = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "email_input").is_displayed()
//Navigate to the url
driver.Url = "https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html";

//Get boolean value for is element display
Boolean is_email_visible = driver.FindElement(By.Name("email_input")).Displayed;
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

#fetch display status
val = driver.find_element(name: 'email_input').displayed?
// Navigate to url
await driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// Resolves Promise and returns boolean value
let result =  await driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed();
 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

 //returns true if element is displayed else returns false
 val flag = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed()

Is Enabled

This method is used to check if the connected Element is enabled or disabled on a webpage. Returns a boolean value, True if the connected element is enabled in the current browsing context else returns false.

  //navigates to url
  driver.get("https://www.google.com/");

  //returns true if element is enabled else returns false
  boolean value = driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")

    # Returns true if element is enabled else returns false
value = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'btnK').is_enabled()
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://google.com");

// Store the WebElement
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.Name("btnK"));

// Prints true if element is enabled else returns false
System.Console.WriteLine(element.Enabled);
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'http://www.google.com/'

    # Returns true if element is enabled else returns false
ele = driver.find_element(name: 'btnK').enabled?
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://www.google.com');

// Resolves Promise and returns boolean value
let element =  await driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled();
  
 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.google.com/")

 //returns true if element is enabled else returns false
 val attr = driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled()
  

Is Selected

This method determines if the referenced Element is Selected or not. This method is widely used on Check boxes, radio buttons, input elements, and option elements.

Returns a boolean value, True if referenced element is selected in the current browsing context else returns false.

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes");

 //returns true if element is checked else returns false
 boolean value = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type")).isSelected();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes")

    # Returns true if element is checked else returns false
value = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type").is_selected()
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes");

// Returns true if element ins checked else returns false
bool value = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type")).Selected;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes'

    # Returns true if element is checked else returns false
ele = driver.find_element(css: "input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type").selected?
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes');

// Returns true if element ins checked else returns false
let res = await driver.findElement(By.css("input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type")).isSelected();
  
 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes")

 //returns true if element is checked else returns false
 val attr =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type")).isSelected()
  

Tag Name

It is used to fetch the TagName of the referenced Element which has the focus in the current browsing context.

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.example.com");

 //returns TagName of the element
 String value = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getTagName();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Returns TagName of the element
attr = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").tag_name
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

// Returns TagName of the element
string attr = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1")).TagName;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Returns TagName of the element
attr = driver.find_element(css: "h1").tag_name
  
// Navigate to URL
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Returns TagName of the element
let value = await driver.findElement(By.css('h1')).getTagName();
  
 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.example.com")

 //returns TagName of the element
 val attr =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getTagName()
  

Size and Position

It is used to fetch the dimensions and coordinates of the referenced element.

The fetched data body contain the following details:

  • X-axis position from the top-left corner of the element
  • y-axis position from the top-left corner of the element
  • Height of the element
  • Width of the element
// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
Rectangle res =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getRect();

// Rectangle class provides getX,getY, getWidth, getHeight methods
System.out.println(res.getX());
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
res = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").rect
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

var res = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1"));
// Return x and y coordinates referenced element
System.Console.WriteLine(res.Location);
// Returns height, width
System.Console.WriteLine(res.Size);
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
res = driver.find_element(css: "h1").rect
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
let element =  await driver.findElement(By.css("h1")).getRect();
  
// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
val res = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).rect

// Rectangle class provides getX,getY, getWidth, getHeight methods
println(res.getX())
  

Get CSS Value

Retrieves the value of specified computed style property of an element in the current browsing context.

// Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
String cssValue = driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue("color");

  
    # Navigate to Url
driver.get('https://www.example.com')

    # Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
cssValue = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "More information...").value_of_css_property('color')

  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
String cssValue = driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("More information...")).GetCssValue("color");

  
    # Navigate to Url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
cssValue = driver.find_element(:link_text, 'More information...').css_value('color')

  
// Navigate to Url
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
let cssValue = await driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue('color');

    
// Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
val cssValue = driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue("color")

  

Text Content

Retrieves the rendered text of the specified element.

// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://example.com");

// Retrieves the text of the element
String text = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getText();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Retrieves the text of the element
text = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").text
  
// Navigate to url
driver.Url="https://example.com";

// Retrieves the text of the element
String text = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1")).Text;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Retrieves the text of the element
text = driver.find_element(:css, 'h1').text
  
// Navigate to URL
await driver.get('http://www.example.com');

// retrieves the text of the element
let text = await driver.findElement(By.css('h1')).getText();
    
// Navigate to URL
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// retrieves the text of the element
val text = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getText()
  

Fetching Attributes or Properties

Fetches the run time value associated with a DOM attribute. It returns the data associated with the DOM attribute or property of the element.

//Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

//identify the email text box
WebElement emailTxt = driver.findElement(By.name(("email_input")));

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
String valueInfo = eleSelLink.getAttribute("value");
  
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

# Identify the email text box
email_txt = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "email_input")

# Fetch the value property associated with the textbox
value_info = email_txt.get_attribute("value")
  
 //Navigate to the url
driver.Url="https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html";

//identify the email text box
IWebElement emailTxt = driver.FindElement(By.Name(("email_input")));

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
String valueInfo = eleSelLink.GetAttribute("value");
  
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

#identify the email text box
email_element=driver.find_element(name: 'email_input')

#fetch the value property associated with the textbox
emailVal = email_element.attribute("value");
  
// Navigate to the Url
await driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// identify the email text box
const emailElement = await driver.findElements(By.xpath('//input[@name="email_input"]'));

//fetch the attribute "name" associated with the textbox
const nameAttribute = await emailElement.getAttribute("name");
    
// Navigate to URL
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
val attr = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).getAttribute("value")
  

6 - Browser interactions

Get browser information

Get title

You can read the current page title from the browser:

driver.getTitle();
driver.title
driver.Title;
driver.title
await driver.getTitle();
driver.title

Get current URL

You can read the current URL from the browser’s address bar using:

driver.getCurrentUrl();
driver.current_url
driver.Url;
driver.current_url
await driver.getCurrentUrl();
driver.currentUrl

6.1 - Browser navigation

The first thing you will want to do after launching a browser is to open your website. This can be achieved in a single line:

//Convenient
driver.get("https://selenium.dev");

//Longer way
driver.navigate().to("https://selenium.dev");
  
driver.get("https://selenium.dev")
  
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(@"https://selenium.dev");
  
driver.navigate.to 'https://selenium.dev'
  
await driver.get('https://selenium.dev');
  
//Convenient
driver.get("https://selenium.dev")

//Longer way
driver.navigate().to("https://selenium.dev")
  

Back

Pressing the browser’s back button:

driver.navigate().back();
driver.back()
driver.Navigate().Back();
driver.navigate.back
await driver.navigate().back();
driver.navigate().back() 

Forward

Pressing the browser’s forward button:

driver.navigate().forward();
driver.forward()
driver.Navigate().Forward();
driver.navigate.forward
await driver.navigate().forward();
driver.navigate().forward()

Refresh

Refresh the current page:

driver.navigate().refresh();
driver.refresh()
driver.Navigate().Refresh();
driver.navigate.refresh
await driver.navigate().refresh();
driver.navigate().refresh()

6.2 - JavaScript alerts, prompts and confirmations

WebDriver provides an API for working with the three types of native popup messages offered by JavaScript. These popups are styled by the browser and offer limited customisation.

Alerts

The simplest of these is referred to as an alert, which shows a custom message, and a single button which dismisses the alert, labelled in most browsers as OK. It can also be dismissed in most browsers by pressing the close button, but this will always do the same thing as the OK button. See an example alert.

WebDriver can get the text from the popup and accept or dismiss these alerts.

//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See an example alert")).click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
Alert alert = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent());

//Store the alert text in a variable
String text = alert.getText();

//Press the OK button
alert.accept();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "See an example alert").click()

# Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
alert = wait.until(expected_conditions.alert_is_present())

# Store the alert text in a variable
text = alert.text

# Press the OK button
alert.accept()
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("See an example alert")).Click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
IAlert alert = wait.Until(ExpectedConditions.AlertIsPresent());

//Store the alert text in a variable
string text = alert.Text;

//Press the OK button
alert.Accept();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(:link_text, 'See an example alert').click

# Store the alert reference in a variable
alert = driver.switch_to.alert

# Store the alert text in a variable
alert_text = alert.text

# Press on OK button
alert.accept
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
await driver.findElement(By.linkText('See an example alert')).click();

// Wait for the alert to be displayed
await driver.wait(until.alertIsPresent());

// Store the alert in a variable
let alert = await driver.switchTo().alert();

//Store the alert text in a variable
let alertText = await alert.getText();

//Press the OK button
await alert.accept();

// Note: To use await, the above code should be inside an async function
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See an example alert")).click()

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
val alert = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent())

//Store the alert text in a variable
val text = alert.getText()

//Press the OK button
alert.accept()
  

Confirm

A confirm box is similar to an alert, except the user can also choose to cancel the message. See a sample confirm.

This example also shows a different approach to storing an alert:

//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See a sample confirm")).click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent());

//Store the alert in a variable
Alert alert = driver.switchTo().alert();

//Store the alert in a variable for reuse
String text = alert.getText();

//Press the Cancel button
alert.dismiss();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "See a sample confirm").click()

# Wait for the alert to be displayed
wait.until(expected_conditions.alert_is_present())

# Store the alert in a variable for reuse
alert = driver.switch_to.alert

# Store the alert text in a variable
text = alert.text

# Press the Cancel button
alert.dismiss()
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("See a sample confirm")).Click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed
wait.Until(ExpectedConditions.AlertIsPresent());

//Store the alert in a variable
IAlert alert = driver.SwitchTo().Alert();

//Store the alert in a variable for reuse
string text = alert.Text;

//Press the Cancel button
alert.Dismiss();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(:link_text, 'See a sample confirm').click

# Store the alert reference in a variable
alert = driver.switch_to.alert

# Store the alert text in a variable
alert_text = alert.text

# Press on Cancel button
alert.dismiss
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
await driver.findElement(By.linkText('See a sample confirm')).click();

// Wait for the alert to be displayed
await driver.wait(until.alertIsPresent());

// Store the alert in a variable
let alert = await driver.switchTo().alert();

//Store the alert text in a variable
let alertText = await alert.getText();

//Press the Cancel button
await alert.dismiss();

// Note: To use await, the above code should be inside an async function
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See a sample confirm")).click()

//Wait for the alert to be displayed
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent())

//Store the alert in a variable
val alert = driver.switchTo().alert()

//Store the alert in a variable for reuse
val text = alert.text

//Press the Cancel button
alert.dismiss()
  

Prompt

Prompts are similar to confirm boxes, except they also include a text input. Similar to working with form elements, you can use WebDriver’s send keys to fill in a response. This will completely replace the placeholder text. Pressing the cancel button will not submit any text. See a sample prompt.

//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See a sample prompt")).click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
Alert alert = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent());

//Type your message
alert.sendKeys("Selenium");

//Press the OK button
alert.accept();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "See a sample prompt").click()

# Wait for the alert to be displayed
wait.until(expected_conditions.alert_is_present())

# Store the alert in a variable for reuse
alert = Alert(driver)

# Type your message
alert.send_keys("Selenium")

# Press the OK button
alert.accept()
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("See a sample prompt")).Click();

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
IAlert alert = wait.Until(ExpectedConditions.AlertIsPresent());

//Type your message
alert.SendKeys("Selenium");

//Press the OK button
alert.Accept();
  
# Click the link to activate the alert
driver.find_element(:link_text, 'See a sample prompt').click

# Store the alert reference in a variable
alert = driver.switch_to.alert

# Type a message
alert.send_keys("selenium")

# Press on Ok button
alert.accept
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
await driver.findElement(By.linkText('See a sample prompt')).click();

// Wait for the alert to be displayed
await driver.wait(until.alertIsPresent());

// Store the alert in a variable
let alert = await driver.switchTo().alert();

//Type your message
await alert.sendKeys("Selenium");

//Press the OK button
await alert.accept();

//Note: To use await, the above code should be inside an async function
  
//Click the link to activate the alert
driver.findElement(By.linkText("See a sample prompt")).click()

//Wait for the alert to be displayed and store it in a variable
val alert = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent())

//Type your message
alert.sendKeys("Selenium")

//Press the OK button
alert.accept()
  

6.3 - Working with cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent from a website and stored in your computer. Cookies are mostly used to recognise the user and load the stored information.

WebDriver API provides a way to interact with cookies with built-in methods:

It is used to add a cookie to the current browsing context. Add Cookie only accepts a set of defined serializable JSON object. Here is the link to the list of accepted JSON key values

First of all, you need to be on the domain that the cookie will be valid for. If you are trying to preset cookies before you start interacting with a site and your homepage is large / takes a while to load an alternative is to find a smaller page on the site (typically the 404 page is small, e.g. http://example.com/some404page)

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class addCookie {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("http://www.example.com");

            // Adds the cookie into current browser context
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("key", "value"));
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get("http://www.example.com")

# Adds the cookie into current browser context
driver.add_cookie({"name": "key", "value": "value"})
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace AddCookie {
 class AddCookie {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

    // Adds the cookie into current browser context
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("key", "value"));
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  
  # Adds the cookie into current browser context
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "key", value: "value")
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Create a cookie', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // set a cookie on the current domain
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'key', value: 'value' });
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")

        // Adds the cookie into current browser context
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("key", "value"))
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

It returns the serialized cookie data matching with the cookie name among all associated cookies.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class getCookieNamed {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("http://www.example.com");
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("foo", "bar"));

            // Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
            Cookie cookie1 = driver.manage().getCookieNamed("foo");
            System.out.println(cookie1);
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.example.com")

# Adds the cookie into current browser context
driver.add_cookie({"name": "foo", "value": "bar"})

# Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
print(driver.get_cookie("foo"))
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace GetCookieNamed {
 class GetCookieNamed {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("foo", "bar"));

    // Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
    var cookie = driver.Manage().Cookies.GetCookieNamed("foo");
    System.Console.WriteLine(cookie);
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "foo", value: "bar")

  # Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
  puts driver.manage.cookie_named('foo')
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Read cookie', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // set a cookie on the current domain
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'foo', value: 'bar' });

            // Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
            await driver.manage().getCookie('foo').then(function(cookie) {
                console.log('cookie details => ', cookie);
            });
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("foo", "bar"))

        // Get cookie details with named cookie 'foo'
        val cookie = driver.manage().getCookieNamed("foo")
        println(cookie)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}  
  

Get All Cookies

It returns a ‘successful serialized cookie data’ for current browsing context. If browser is no longer available it returns error.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.util.Set;

public class getAllCookies {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("http://www.example.com");
            // Add few cookies
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("test2", "cookie2"));

            // Get All available cookies
            Set<Cookie> cookies = driver.manage().getCookies();
            System.out.println(cookies);
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.example.com")

driver.add_cookie({"name": "test1", "value": "cookie1"})
driver.add_cookie({"name": "test2", "value": "cookie2"})

# Get all available cookies
print(driver.get_cookies())
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace GetAllCookies {
 class GetAllCookies {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("test2", "cookie2"));

    // Get All available cookies
    var cookies = driver.Manage().Cookies.AllCookies;
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test1", value: "cookie1")
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test2", value: "cookie2")

  # Get all available cookies
  puts driver.manage.all_cookies
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Read all cookies', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // Add few cookies
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test1', value: 'cookie1' });
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test2', value: 'cookie2' });

            // Get all Available cookies
            await driver.manage().getCookies().then(function(cookies) {
                console.log('cookie details => ', cookies);
            });
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("test1", "cookie1"))
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("test2", "cookie2"))

        // Get All available cookies
        val cookies = driver.manage().cookies
        println(cookies)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}  
  

It deletes the cookie data matching with the provided cookie name.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class deleteCookie {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("http://www.example.com");
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
            Cookie cookie1 = new Cookie("test2", "cookie2");
            driver.manage().addCookie(cookie1);

            // delete a cookie with name 'test1'
            driver.manage().deleteCookieNamed("test1");

            /*
             Selenium Java bindings also provides a way to delete
             cookie by passing cookie object of current browsing context
             */
            driver.manage().deleteCookie(cookie1);
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.example.com")
driver.add_cookie({"name": "test1", "value": "cookie1"})
driver.add_cookie({"name": "test2", "value": "cookie2"})

# Delete a cookie with name 'test1'
driver.delete_cookie("test1")
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace DeleteCookie {
 class DeleteCookie {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
    var cookie = new Cookie("test2", "cookie2");
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(cookie);

    // delete a cookie with name 'test1'	
    driver.Manage().Cookies.DeleteCookieNamed("test1");

    // Selenium .net bindings also provides a way to delete
    // cookie by passing cookie object of current browsing context
    driver.Manage().Cookies.DeleteCookie(cookie);
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test1", value: "cookie1")
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test2", value: "cookie2")

  # delete a cookie with name 'test1'
  driver.manage.delete_cookie('test1')
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Delete a cookie', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // Add few cookies
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test1', value: 'cookie1' });
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test2', value: 'cookie2' });

            // Delete a cookie with name 'test1'
            await driver.manage().deleteCookie('test1');

            // Get all Available cookies
            await driver.manage().getCookies().then(function(cookies) {
                console.log('cookie details => ', cookies);
            });
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("test1", "cookie1"))
        val cookie1 = Cookie("test2", "cookie2")
        driver.manage().addCookie(cookie1)

        // delete a cookie with name 'test1'
        driver.manage().deleteCookieNamed("test1")
        
        // delete cookie by passing cookie object of current browsing context.
        driver.manage().deleteCookie(cookie1)
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}  
  

Delete All Cookies

It deletes all the cookies of the current browsing context.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class deleteAllCookies {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("http://www.example.com");
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
            driver.manage().addCookie(new Cookie("test2", "cookie2"));

            // deletes all cookies
            driver.manage().deleteAllCookies();
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.example.com")
driver.add_cookie({"name": "test1", "value": "cookie1"})
driver.add_cookie({"name": "test2", "value": "cookie2"})

#  Deletes all cookies
driver.delete_all_cookies()
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace DeleteAllCookies {
 class DeleteAllCookies {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("test1", "cookie1"));
    driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(new Cookie("test2", "cookie2"));

    // deletes all cookies
    driver.Manage().Cookies.DeleteAllCookies();
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test1", value: "cookie1")
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "test2", value: "cookie2")

  # deletes all cookies
  driver.manage.delete_all_cookies
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Delete all cookies', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // Add few cookies
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test1', value: 'cookie1' });
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'test2', value: 'cookie2' });

            // Delete all cookies
            await driver.manage().deleteAllCookies();
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("test1", "cookie1"))
        driver.manage().addCookie(Cookie("test2", "cookie2"))

        // deletes all cookies
        driver.manage().deleteAllCookies()
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}  
  

It allows a user to instruct browsers to control whether cookies are sent along with the request initiated by third party sites. It is introduced to prevent CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attacks.

Same-Site cookie attribute accepts two parameters as instructions

Strict:

When the sameSite attribute is set as Strict, the cookie will not be sent along with requests initiated by third party websites.

Lax:

When you set a cookie sameSite attribute to Lax, the cookie will be sent along with the GET request initiated by third party website.

Note: As of now this feature is landed in chrome(80+version), Firefox(79+version) and works with Selenium 4 and later versions.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class cookieTest {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    try {
      driver.get("http://www.example.com");
      Cookie cookie = new Cookie.Builder("key", "value").sameSite("Strict").build();
      Cookie cookie1 = new Cookie.Builder("key", "value").sameSite("Lax").build();
      driver.manage().addCookie(cookie);
      driver.manage().addCookie(cookie1);
      System.out.println(cookie.getSameSite());
      System.out.println(cookie1.getSameSite());
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get("http://www.example.com")
# Adds the cookie into current browser context with sameSite 'Strict' (or) 'Lax'
driver.add_cookie({"name": "foo", "value": "value", 'sameSite': 'Strict'})
driver.add_cookie({"name": "foo1", "value": "value", 'sameSite': 'Lax'})
cookie1 = driver.get_cookie('foo')
cookie2 = driver.get_cookie('foo1')
print(cookie1)
print(cookie2)
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace SameSiteCookie {
  class SameSiteCookie {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      try {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.example.com");

        var cookie1Dictionary = new System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, object>() {
          { "name", "test1" }, { "value", "cookie1" }, { "sameSite", "Strict" } };
        var cookie1 = Cookie.FromDictionary(cookie1Dictionary);

        var cookie2Dictionary = new System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, object>() {
          { "name", "test2" }, { "value", "cookie2" }, { "sameSite", "Lax" } };
        var cookie2 = Cookie.FromDictionary(cookie2Dictionary);

        driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(cookie1);
        driver.Manage().Cookies.AddCookie(cookie2);

        System.Console.WriteLine(cookie1.SameSite);
        System.Console.WriteLine(cookie2.SameSite);
      } finally {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'
  # Adds the cookie into current browser context with sameSite 'Strict' (or) 'Lax'
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "foo", value: "bar", same_site: "Strict")
  driver.manage.add_cookie(name: "foo1", value: "bar", same_site: "Lax")
  puts driver.manage.cookie_named('foo')
  puts driver.manage.cookie_named('foo1')
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  

        it('Create cookies with sameSite', async function() {
            await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

            // set a cookie on the current domain with sameSite 'Strict' (or) 'Lax'
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'key', value: 'value', sameSite: 'Strict' });
            await driver.manage().addCookie({ name: 'key', value: 'value', sameSite: 'Lax' });
import org.openqa.selenium.Cookie
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("http://www.example.com")
        val cookie = Cookie.Builder("key", "value").sameSite("Strict").build()
        val cookie1 = Cookie.Builder("key", "value").sameSite("Lax").build()
        driver.manage().addCookie(cookie)
        driver.manage().addCookie(cookie1)
        println(cookie.getSameSite())
        println(cookie1.getSameSite())
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}
  

6.4 - Working with IFrames and frames

Frames are a now deprecated means of building a site layout from multiple documents on the same domain. You are unlikely to work with them unless you are working with an pre HTML5 webapp. Iframes allow the insertion of a document from an entirely different domain, and are still commonly used.

If you need to work with frames or iframes, WebDriver allows you to work with them in the same way. Consider a button within an iframe. If we inspect the element using the browser development tools, we might see the following:

<div id="modal">
  <iframe id="buttonframe" name="myframe"  src="https://seleniumhq.github.io">
   <button>Click here</button>
 </iframe>
</div>

If it was not for the iframe we would expect to click on the button using something like:

//This won't work
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click();
  
    # This Wont work
driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'button').click()
  
//This won't work
driver.FindElement(By.TagName("button")).Click();
  
    # This won't work
driver.find_element(:tag_name,'button').click
  
// This won't work
await driver.findElement(By.css('button')).click();
  
//This won't work
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click()
  

However, if there are no buttons outside of the iframe, you might instead get a no such element error. This happens because Selenium is only aware of the elements in the top level document. To interact with the button, we will need to first switch to the frame, in a similar way to how we switch windows. WebDriver offers three ways of switching to a frame.

Using a WebElement

Switching using a WebElement is the most flexible option. You can find the frame using your preferred selector and switch to it.

//Store the web element
WebElement iframe = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#modal>iframe"));

//Switch to the frame
driver.switchTo().frame(iframe);

//Now we can click the button
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click();
  
    # Store iframe web element
iframe = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#modal > iframe")

    # switch to selected iframe
driver.switch_to.frame(iframe)

    # Now click on button
driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'button').click()
  
//Store the web element
IWebElement iframe = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("#modal>iframe"));

//Switch to the frame
driver.SwitchTo().Frame(iframe);

//Now we can click the button
driver.FindElement(By.TagName("button")).Click();
  
    # Store iframe web element
iframe = driver.find_element(:css,'#modal > iframe')

    # Switch to the frame
driver.switch_to.frame iframe

    # Now, Click on the button
driver.find_element(:tag_name,'button').click
  
// Store the web element
const iframe = driver.findElement(By.css('#modal > iframe'));

// Switch to the frame
await driver.switchTo().frame(iframe);

// Now we can click the button
await driver.findElement(By.css('button')).click();
  
//Store the web element
val iframe = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#modal>iframe"))

//Switch to the frame
driver.switchTo().frame(iframe)

//Now we can click the button
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click()
  

Using a name or ID

If your frame or iframe has an id or name attribute, this can be used instead. If the name or ID is not unique on the page, then the first one found will be switched to.

//Using the ID
driver.switchTo().frame("buttonframe");

//Or using the name instead
driver.switchTo().frame("myframe");

//Now we can click the button
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click();
  
    # Switch frame by id
driver.switch_to.frame('buttonframe')

    # Now, Click on the button
driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'button').click()
  
//Using the ID
driver.SwitchTo().Frame("buttonframe");

//Or using the name instead
driver.SwitchTo().Frame("myframe");

//Now we can click the button
driver.FindElement(By.TagName("button")).Click();
  
    # Switch by ID
driver.switch_to.frame 'buttonframe'

    # Now, Click on the button
driver.find_element(:tag_name,'button').click
  
// Using the ID
await driver.switchTo().frame('buttonframe');

// Or using the name instead
await driver.switchTo().frame('myframe');

// Now we can click the button
await driver.findElement(By.css('button')).click();
  
//Using the ID
driver.switchTo().frame("buttonframe")

//Or using the name instead
driver.switchTo().frame("myframe")

//Now we can click the button
driver.findElement(By.tagName("button")).click()
  

Using an index

It is also possible to use the index of the frame, such as can be queried using window.frames in JavaScript.

// Switches to the second frame
driver.switchTo().frame(1);
  
    # Switch to the second frame
driver.switch_to.frame(1)
  
// Switches to the second frame
driver.SwitchTo().Frame(1);
  
    # switching to second iframe based on index
iframe = driver.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME,'iframe')[1]

    # switch to selected iframe
driver.switch_to.frame(iframe)
  
// Switches to the second frame
await driver.switchTo().frame(1);
  
// Switches to the second frame
driver.switchTo().frame(1)
  

Leaving a frame

To leave an iframe or frameset, switch back to the default content like so:

// Return to the top level
driver.switchTo().defaultContent();
  
    # switch back to default content
driver.switch_to.default_content()
  
// Return to the top level
driver.SwitchTo().DefaultContent();
  
    # Return to the top level
driver.switch_to.default_content
  
// Return to the top level
await driver.switchTo().defaultContent();
  
// Return to the top level
driver.switchTo().defaultContent()
  

6.5 - Working with windows and tabs

Windows and tabs

Get window handle

WebDriver does not make the distinction between windows and tabs. If your site opens a new tab or window, Selenium will let you work with it using a window handle. Each window has a unique identifier which remains persistent in a single session. You can get the window handle of the current window by using:

driver.getWindowHandle();
driver.current_window_handle
driver.CurrentWindowHandle;
driver.window_handle
await driver.getWindowHandle();
driver.windowHandle

Switching windows or tabs

Clicking a link which opens in a new window will focus the new window or tab on screen, but WebDriver will not know which window the Operating System considers active. To work with the new window you will need to switch to it. If you have only two tabs or windows open, and you know which window you start with, by the process of elimination you can loop over both windows or tabs that WebDriver can see, and switch to the one which is not the original.

However, Selenium 4 provides a new api NewWindow which creates a new tab (or) new window and automatically switches to it.

//Store the ID of the original window
String originalWindow = driver.getWindowHandle();

//Check we don't have other windows open already
assert driver.getWindowHandles().size() == 1;

//Click the link which opens in a new window
driver.findElement(By.linkText("new window")).click();

//Wait for the new window or tab
wait.until(numberOfWindowsToBe(2));

//Loop through until we find a new window handle
for (String windowHandle : driver.getWindowHandles()) {
    if(!originalWindow.contentEquals(windowHandle)) {
        driver.switchTo().window(windowHandle);
        break;
    }
}

//Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
wait.until(titleIs("Selenium documentation"));
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

with webdriver.Firefox() as driver:
    # Open URL
    driver.get("https://seleniumhq.github.io")

    # Setup wait for later
    wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 10)

    # Store the ID of the original window
    original_window = driver.current_window_handle

    # Check we don't have other windows open already
    assert len(driver.window_handles) == 1

    # Click the link which opens in a new window
    driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "new window").click()

    # Wait for the new window or tab
    wait.until(EC.number_of_windows_to_be(2))

    # Loop through until we find a new window handle
    for window_handle in driver.window_handles:
        if window_handle != original_window:
            driver.switch_to.window(window_handle)
            break

    # Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
    wait.until(EC.title_is("SeleniumHQ Browser Automation"))
  
//Store the ID of the original window
string originalWindow = driver.CurrentWindowHandle;

//Check we don't have other windows open already
Assert.AreEqual(driver.WindowHandles.Count, 1);

//Click the link which opens in a new window
driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("new window")).Click();

//Wait for the new window or tab
wait.Until(wd => wd.WindowHandles.Count == 2);

//Loop through until we find a new window handle
foreach(string window in driver.WindowHandles)
{
    if(originalWindow != window)
    {
        driver.SwitchTo().Window(window);
        break;
    }
}
//Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
wait.Until(wd => wd.Title == "Selenium documentation");
  
    # Store the ID of the original window
original_window = driver.window_handle

    # Check we don't have other windows open already
assert(driver.window_handles.length == 1, 'Expected one window')

    # Click the link which opens in a new window
driver.find_element(link: 'new window').click

    # Wait for the new window or tab
wait.until { driver.window_handles.length == 2 }

    #Loop through until we find a new window handle
driver.window_handles.each do |handle|
    if handle != original_window
        driver.switch_to.window handle
        break
    end
end

    #Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
wait.until { driver.title == 'Selenium documentation'}
  
//Store the ID of the original window
const originalWindow = await driver.getWindowHandle();

//Check we don't have other windows open already
assert((await driver.getAllWindowHandles()).length === 1);

//Click the link which opens in a new window
await driver.findElement(By.linkText('new window')).click();

//Wait for the new window or tab
await driver.wait(
    async () => (await driver.getAllWindowHandles()).length === 2,
    10000
  );

//Loop through until we find a new window handle
const windows = await driver.getAllWindowHandles();
windows.forEach(async handle => {
  if (handle !== originalWindow) {
    await driver.switchTo().window(handle);
  }
});

//Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
await driver.wait(until.titleIs('Selenium documentation'), 10000);
  
//Store the ID of the original window
val originalWindow = driver.getWindowHandle()

//Check we don't have other windows open already
assert(driver.getWindowHandles().size() === 1)

//Click the link which opens in a new window
driver.findElement(By.linkText("new window")).click()

//Wait for the new window or tab
wait.until(numberOfWindowsToBe(2))

//Loop through until we find a new window handle
for (windowHandle in driver.getWindowHandles()) {
    if (!originalWindow.contentEquals(windowHandle)) {
        driver.switchTo().window(windowHandle)
        break
    }
}

//Wait for the new tab to finish loading content
wait.until(titleIs("Selenium documentation"))

  

Create new window (or) new tab and switch

Creates a new window (or) tab and will focus the new window or tab on screen. You don’t need to switch to work with the new window (or) tab. If you have more than two windows (or) tabs opened other than the new window, you can loop over both windows or tabs that WebDriver can see, and switch to the one which is not the original.

Note: This feature works with Selenium 4 and later versions.

// Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.TAB);

// Opens a new window and switches to new window
driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.WINDOW);
  
    # Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
driver.switch_to.new_window('tab')

    # Opens a new window and switches to new window
driver.switch_to.new_window('window')
  
// Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
driver.SwitchTo().NewWindow(WindowType.Tab)

// Opens a new window and switches to new window
driver.SwitchTo().NewWindow(WindowType.Window)
  
    # Note: The new_window in ruby only opens a new tab (or) Window and will not switch automatically
    # The user has to switch to new tab (or) new window

    # Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
driver.manage.new_window(:tab)

    # Opens a new window and switches to new window
driver.manage.new_window(:window)
  
// Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
await driver.switchTo().newWindow('tab');

// Opens a new window and switches to new window
await driver.switchTo().newWindow('window');

  
// Opens a new tab and switches to new tab
driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.TAB)

// Opens a new window and switches to new window
driver.switchTo().newWindow(WindowType.WINDOW)
  

Closing a window or tab

When you are finished with a window or tab and it is not the last window or tab open in your browser, you should close it and switch back to the window you were using previously. Assuming you followed the code sample in the previous section you will have the previous window handle stored in a variable. Put this together and you will get:

//Close the tab or window
driver.close();

//Switch back to the old tab or window
driver.switchTo().window(originalWindow);
  
    #Close the tab or window
driver.close()

    #Switch back to the old tab or window
driver.switch_to.window(original_window)
  
//Close the tab or window
driver.Close();

//Switch back to the old tab or window
driver.SwitchTo().Window(originalWindow);
  
    #Close the tab or window
driver.close

    #Switch back to the old tab or window
driver.switch_to.window original_window
  
//Close the tab or window
await driver.close();

//Switch back to the old tab or window
await driver.switchTo().window(originalWindow);
  
//Close the tab or window
driver.close()

//Switch back to the old tab or window
driver.switchTo().window(originalWindow)

  

Forgetting to switch back to another window handle after closing a window will leave WebDriver executing on the now closed page, and will trigger a No Such Window Exception. You must switch back to a valid window handle in order to continue execution.

Quitting the browser at the end of a session

When you are finished with the browser session you should call quit, instead of close:

driver.quit();
driver.quit()
driver.Quit();
driver.quit
await driver.quit();
driver.quit()
  • Quit will:
    • Close all the windows and tabs associated with that WebDriver session
    • Close the browser process
    • Close the background driver process
    • Notify Selenium Grid that the browser is no longer in use so it can be used by another session (if you are using Selenium Grid)

Failure to call quit will leave extra background processes and ports running on your machine which could cause you problems later.

Some test frameworks offer methods and annotations which you can hook into to tear down at the end of a test.

/**
 * Example using JUnit
 * https://junit.org/junit5/docs/current/api/org/junit/jupiter/api/AfterAll.html
 */
@AfterAll
public static void tearDown() {
    driver.quit();
}
  
    # unittest teardown
    # https://docs.python.org/3/library/unittest.html?highlight=teardown#unittest.TestCase.tearDown
def tearDown(self):
    self.driver.quit()
  
/*
    Example using Visual Studio's UnitTesting
    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.visualstudio.testtools.unittesting.aspx
*/
[TestCleanup]
public void TearDown()
{
    driver.Quit();
}
  
    # UnitTest Teardown
    # https://www.rubydoc.info/github/test-unit/test-unit/Test/Unit/TestCase
def teardown
    @driver.quit
end
  
/**
 * Example using Mocha
 * https://mochajs.org/#hooks
 */
after('Tear down', async function () {
  await driver.quit();
});
  
/**
 * Example using JUnit
 * https://junit.org/junit5/docs/current/api/org/junit/jupiter/api/AfterAll.html
 */
@AfterAll
fun tearDown() {
    driver.quit()
}
  

If not running WebDriver in a test context, you may consider using try / finally which is offered by most languages so that an exception will still clean up the WebDriver session.

try {
    //WebDriver code here...
} finally {
    driver.quit();
}
  
try:
    #WebDriver code here...
finally:
    driver.quit()
  
try {
    //WebDriver code here...
} finally {
    driver.Quit();
}
  
begin
    #WebDriver code here...
ensure
    driver.quit
end
  
try {
    //WebDriver code here...
} finally {
    await driver.quit();
}
  
try {
    //WebDriver code here...
} finally {
    driver.quit()
}
  

Python’s WebDriver now supports the python context manager, which when using the with keyword can automatically quit the driver at the end of execution.

with webdriver.Firefox() as driver:
  # WebDriver code here...

# WebDriver will automatically quit after indentation

Window management

Screen resolution can impact how your web application renders, so WebDriver provides mechanisms for moving and resizing the browser window.

Get window size

Fetches the size of the browser window in pixels.

//Access each dimension individually
int width = driver.manage().window().getSize().getWidth();
int height = driver.manage().window().getSize().getHeight();

//Or store the dimensions and query them later
Dimension size = driver.manage().window().getSize();
int width1 = size.getWidth();
int height1 = size.getHeight();
  
    # Access each dimension individually
width = driver.get_window_size().get("width")
height = driver.get_window_size().get("height")

    # Or store the dimensions and query them later
size = driver.get_window_size()
width1 = size.get("width")
height1 = size.get("height")
  
//Access each dimension individually
int width = driver.Manage().Window.Size.Width;
int height = driver.Manage().Window.Size.Height;

//Or store the dimensions and query them later
System.Drawing.Size size = driver.Manage().Window.Size;
int width1 = size.Width;
int height1 = size.Height;
  
    # Access each dimension individually
width = driver.manage.window.size.width
height = driver.manage.window.size.height

    # Or store the dimensions and query them later
size = driver.manage.window.size
width1 = size.width
height1 = size.height
  
// Access each dimension individually
const { width, height } = await driver.manage().window().getRect();

// Or store the dimensions and query them later
const rect = await driver.manage().window().getRect();
const width1 = rect.width;
const height1 = rect.height;
  
//Access each dimension individually
val width = driver.manage().window().size.width
val height = driver.manage().window().size.height

//Or store the dimensions and query them later
val size = driver.manage().window().size
val width1 = size.width
val height1 = size.height
  

Set window size

Restores the window and sets the window size.

driver.manage().window().setSize(new Dimension(1024, 768));
driver.set_window_size(1024, 768)
driver.Manage().Window.Size = new Size(1024, 768);
driver.manage.window.resize_to(1024,768)
await driver.manage().window().setRect({ width: 1024, height: 768 });
driver.manage().window().size = Dimension(1024, 768)

Get window position

Fetches the coordinates of the top left coordinate of the browser window.

// Access each dimension individually
int x = driver.manage().window().getPosition().getX();
int y = driver.manage().window().getPosition().getY();

// Or store the dimensions and query them later
Point position = driver.manage().window().getPosition();
int x1 = position.getX();
int y1 = position.getY();
  
    # Access each dimension individually
x = driver.get_window_position().get('x')
y = driver.get_window_position().get('y')

    # Or store the dimensions and query them later
position = driver.get_window_position()
x1 = position.get('x')
y1 = position.get('y')
  
//Access each dimension individually
int x = driver.Manage().Window.Position.X;
int y = driver.Manage().Window.Position.Y;

//Or store the dimensions and query them later
Point position = driver.Manage().Window.Position;
int x1 = position.X;
int y1 = position.Y;
  
    #Access each dimension individually
x = driver.manage.window.position.x
y = driver.manage.window.position.y

    # Or store the dimensions and query them later
rect  = driver.manage.window.rect
x1 = rect.x
y1 = rect.y
  
// Access each dimension individually
const { x, y } = await driver.manage().window().getRect();

// Or store the dimensions and query them later
const rect = await driver.manage().window().getRect();
const x1 = rect.x;
const y1 = rect.y;
  
// Access each dimension individually
val x = driver.manage().window().position.x
val y = driver.manage().window().position.y

// Or store the dimensions and query them later
val position = driver.manage().window().position
val x1 = position.x
val y1 = position.y

  

Set window position

Moves the window to the chosen position.

// Move the window to the top left of the primary monitor
driver.manage().window().setPosition(new Point(0, 0));
  
    # Move the window to the top left of the primary monitor
driver.set_window_position(0, 0)
  
// Move the window to the top left of the primary monitor
driver.Manage().Window.Position = new Point(0, 0);
  
driver.manage.window.move_to(0,0)
  
// Move the window to the top left of the primary monitor
await driver.manage().window().setRect({ x: 0, y: 0 });
  
// Move the window to the top left of the primary monitor
driver.manage().window().position = Point(0,0)
    

Maximize window

Enlarges the window. For most operating systems, the window will fill the screen, without blocking the operating system’s own menus and toolbars.

driver.manage().window().maximize();
driver.maximize_window()
driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();
driver.manage.window.maximize
await driver.manage().window().maximize();
driver.manage().window().maximize()

Minimize window

Minimizes the window of current browsing context. The exact behavior of this command is specific to individual window managers.

Minimize Window typically hides the window in the system tray.

Note: This feature works with Selenium 4 and later versions.

driver.manage().window().minimize();
driver.minimize_window()
driver.Manage().Window.Minimize();
driver.manage.window.minimize
await driver.manage().window().minimize();
driver.manage().window().minimize()

Fullscreen window

Fills the entire screen, similar to pressing F11 in most browsers.

driver.manage().window().fullscreen();
driver.fullscreen_window()
driver.Manage().Window.FullScreen();
driver.manage.window.full_screen
await driver.manage().window().fullscreen();
driver.manage().window().fullscreen()

TakeScreenshot

Used to capture screenshot for current browsing context. The WebDriver endpoint screenshot returns screenshot which is encoded in Base64 format.

import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.io.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.*;

public class SeleniumTakeScreenshot {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("http://www.example.com");
        File scrFile = ((TakesScreenshot)driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
        FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, new File("./image.png"));
        driver.quit();
    }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get("http://www.example.com")

    # Returns and base64 encoded string into image
driver.save_screenshot('./image.png')

driver.quit()
  using OpenQA.Selenium;
  using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
  using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;

  var driver = new ChromeDriver();
  driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.example.com");
  Screenshot screenshot = (driver as ITakesScreenshot).GetScreenshot();
  screenshot.SaveAsFile("screenshot.png", ScreenshotImageFormat.Png); // Format values are Bmp, Gif, Jpeg, Png, Tiff
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://example.com/'

    # Takes and Stores the screenshot in specified path
  driver.save_screenshot('./image.png')

end
  
let {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
let fs = require('fs');

(async function example() {
    let driver = await new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .build();

    await driver.get('https://www.example.com');
    // Returns base64 encoded string
    let encodedString = await driver.takeScreenshot();
    await fs.writeFileSync('./image.png', encodedString, 'base64');
    await driver.quit();
}())
  
import com.oracle.tools.packager.IOUtils.copyFile
import org.openqa.selenium.*
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import java.io.File

fun main(){
    val driver =  ChromeDriver()
    driver.get("https://www.example.com")
    val scrFile = (driver as TakesScreenshot).getScreenshotAs<File>(OutputType.FILE)
    copyFile(scrFile, File("./image.png"))
    driver.quit()
}
   

TakeElementScreenshot

Used to capture screenshot of an element for current browsing context. The WebDriver endpoint screenshot returns screenshot which is encoded in Base64 format.

import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class SeleniumelementTakeScreenshot {
  public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver.get("https://www.example.com");
    WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1"));
    File scrFile = element.getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
    FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, new File("./image.png"));
    driver.quit();
  }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get("http://www.example.com")

ele = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'h1')

    # Returns and base64 encoded string into image
ele.screenshot('./image.png')

driver.quit()
  
    using OpenQA.Selenium;
    using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
    using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;

    // Webdriver
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.example.com");

    // Fetch element using FindElement
    var webElement = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1"));

    // Screenshot for the element
    var elementScreenshot = (webElement as ITakesScreenshot).GetScreenshot();
    elementScreenshot.SaveAsFile("screenshot_of_element.png");
  
    # Works with Selenium4-alpha7 Ruby bindings and above
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://example.com/'
  ele = driver.find_element(:css, 'h1')

    # Takes and Stores the element screenshot in specified path
  ele.save_screenshot('./image.jpg')
end
  
const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');
let fs = require('fs');

(async function example() {
   let driver = await new Builder()
       .forBrowser('chrome')
       .build();

   await driver.get('https://www.example.com');
   let ele = await driver.findElement(By.css("h1"));
   // Captures the element screenshot
   let encodedString = await ele.takeScreenshot(true);
   await fs.writeFileSync('./image.png', encodedString, 'base64');
   await driver.quit();
}())
  
import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.*
import java.io.File

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    driver.get("https://www.example.com")
    val element = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1"))
    val scrFile: File = element.getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE)
    FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, File("./image.png"))
    driver.quit()
}
  

Execute Script

Executes JavaScript code snippet in the current context of a selected frame or window.

    //Creating the JavascriptExecutor interface object by Type casting
      JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
    //Button Element
      WebElement button =driver.findElement(By.name("btnLogin"));
    //Executing JavaScript to click on element
      js.executeScript("arguments[0].click();", button);
    //Get return value from script
      String text = (String) js.executeScript("return arguments[0].innerText", button);
    //Executing JavaScript directly
      js.executeScript("console.log('hello world')");
  
    # Stores the header element
header = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1")

    # Executing JavaScript to capture innerText of header element
driver.execute_script('return arguments[0].innerText', header)
  
	//creating Chromedriver instance
	IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	//Creating the JavascriptExecutor interface object by Type casting
	IJavaScriptExecutor js = (IJavaScriptExecutor) driver;
	//Button Element
	IWebElement button = driver.FindElement(By.Name("btnLogin"));
	//Executing JavaScript to click on element
	js.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].click();", button);
	//Get return value from script
	String text = (String)js.ExecuteScript("return arguments[0].innerText", button);
	//Executing JavaScript directly
	js.ExecuteScript("console.log('hello world')");
  
    # Stores the header element
header = driver.find_element(css: 'h1')

    # Get return value from script
result = driver.execute_script("return arguments[0].innerText", header)

    # Executing JavaScript directly
driver.execute_script("alert('hello world')")
  
// Stores the header element
let header = await driver.findElement(By.css('h1'));

// Executing JavaScript to capture innerText of header element
let text = await driver.executeScript('return arguments[0].innerText', header);
  
// Stores the header element
val header = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1"))

// Get return value from script
val result = driver.executeScript("return arguments[0].innerText", header)

// Executing JavaScript directly
driver.executeScript("alert('hello world')")
  

Prints the current page within the browser.

Note: This requires Chromium Browsers to be in headless mode

    import org.openqa.selenium.print.PrintOptions;

    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev");
    printer = (PrintsPage) driver;

    PrintOptions printOptions = new PrintOptions();
    printOptions.setPageRanges("1-2");

    Pdf pdf = printer.print(printOptions);
    String content = pdf.getContent();
  
    from selenium.webdriver.common.print_page_options import PrintOptions

    print_options = PrintOptions()
    print_options.page_ranges = ['1-2']

    driver.get("printPage.html")

    base64code = driver.print_page(print_options)
  
    // code sample not available please raise a PR
  
    driver.navigate_to 'https://www.selenium.dev'

    base64encodedContent = driver.print_page(orientation: 'landscape')
  
  const {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
  const chrome = require('selenium-webdriver/chrome');
  let opts = new chrome.Options();
  let fs = require('fs');
  (async function example() {
    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .setChromeOptions(opts.headless())
      .build();
    await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev');
    try {
      let base64 = await driver.printPage({pageRanges:["1-2"]});
      await fs.writeFileSync('./test.pdf', base64, 'base64');
    } catch (e) {
      console.log(e)
    }
    await driver.quit();
  })();
  
    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev")
    val printer = driver as PrintsPage

    val printOptions = PrintOptions()
    printOptions.setPageRanges("1-2")
    
    val pdf: Pdf = printer.print(printOptions)
    val content = pdf.content
  

6.6 - Virtual Authenticator

A representation of the Web Authenticator model.

Web applications can enable a public key-based authentication mechanism known as Web Authentication to authenticate users in a passwordless manner. Web Authentication defines APIs that allows a user to create a public-key credential and register it with an authenticator. An authenticator can be a hardware device or a software entity that stores user’s public-key credentials and retrieves them on request.

As the name suggests, Virtual Authenticator emulates such authenticators for testing.

Virtual Authenticator Options

A Virtual Authenticatior has a set of properties. These properties are mapped as VirtualAuthenticatorOptions in the Selenium bindings.

    new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(Base64.getUrlDecoder().decode(base64EncodedEC256PK));

  public WebDriver driver;

  @BeforeEach
  public void setup() {
    driver = new ChromeDriver();
            // Create virtual authenticator options
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetIsUserVerified(true)
                .SetHasUserVerification(true)
                .SetIsUserConsenting(true)
                .SetTransport(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Transport.USB)
                .SetProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
                .SetHasResidentKey(false);
    it('Virtual options', async function () {
      options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions();
      options.setIsUserVerified(true);
      options.setHasUserVerification(true);
      options.setIsUserConsenting(true);
      options.setTransport(Transport['USB']);
      options.setProtocol(Protocol['U2F']);

Add Example

Add Virtual Authenticator

It creates a new virtual authenticator with the provided properties.


  @Test
  public void testVirtualOptions() {
    // Create virtual authenticator options
    VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
      .setIsUserVerified(true)
            // Create virtual authenticator options
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
                .SetHasResidentKey(false);

            // Register a virtual authenticator
            ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(options);

            List<Credential> credentialList = ((WebDriver)driver).GetCredentials();
            options.setProtocol(Protocol['U2F']);
            options.setHasResidentKey(false);

            // Register a virtual authenticator
            await driver.addVirtualAuthenticator(options);

Remove Virtual Authenticator

Removes the previously added virtual authenticator.

    VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
                .SetHasResidentKey(false);

            String virtualAuthenticatorId = ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(options);

            ((WebDriver)driver).RemoveVirtualAuthenticator(virtualAuthenticatorId);
            await driver.addVirtualAuthenticator(options);
            await driver.removeVirtualAuthenticator();

Create Resident Credential

Creates a resident (stateful) credential with the given required credential parameters.

  public void testRemoveAuthenticator() {
    VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions();
    VirtualAuthenticator authenticator =
      ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver).addVirtualAuthenticator(options);
            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
            byte[] userHandle = { 1 };

            Credential residentCredential = Credential.CreateResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedPK, userHandle, 0);

Create Non-Resident Credential

Creates a resident (stateless) credential with the given required credential parameters.

      new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(Base64.getUrlDecoder().decode(base64EncodedEC256PK));

    byte[] credentialId = {1, 2, 3, 4};
            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

            Credential nonResidentCredential = Credential.CreateNonResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedEC256PK, 0);

Add Credential

Registers the credential with the authenticator.

      .setProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
      .setHasResidentKey(true);

    VirtualAuthenticator authenticator = ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver).addVirtualAuthenticator(options);

    PKCS8EncodedKeySpec privateKey =
      new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(Base64.getUrlDecoder().decode(base64EncodedEC256PK));

    byte[] credentialId = {1, 2, 3, 4};
    byte[] userHandle = {1};
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
                .SetHasResidentKey(false);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(options);

            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

            Credential nonResidentCredential = Credential.CreateNonResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedEC256PK, 0);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddCredential(nonResidentCredential);

Get Credential

Returns the list of credentials owned by the authenticator.

    VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
      .setProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.U2F)
      .setHasResidentKey(false);

    VirtualAuthenticator authenticator = ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver).addVirtualAuthenticator(options);

    byte[] credentialId = {1, 2, 3, 4};
    Credential nonResidentCredential = Credential.createNonResidentCredential(
      credentialId, "localhost", ec256PrivateKey, /*signCount=*/0);
    authenticator.addCredential(nonResidentCredential);

    List<Credential> credentialList = authenticator.getCredentials();
    Assertions.assertEquals(1, credentialList.size());

    Credential credential = credentialList.get(0);
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetProtocol(Protocol.CTAP2)
                .SetHasResidentKey(true)
                .SetHasUserVerification(true)
                .SetIsUserVerified(true);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(options);

            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
            byte[] userHandle = { 1 };

            Credential residentCredential = Credential.CreateResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedPK, userHandle, 0);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddCredential(residentCredential);

            List<Credential> credentialList = ((WebDriver)driver).GetCredentials();

Remove Credential

Removes a credential from the authenticator based on the passed credential id.

      .setIsUserVerified(true);
    VirtualAuthenticator authenticator = ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver).addVirtualAuthenticator(options);

    byte[] credentialId = {1, 2, 3, 4};
    byte[] userHandle = {1};
    Credential residentCredential = Credential.createResidentCredential(
      credentialId, "localhost", rsaPrivateKey, userHandle, /*signCount=*/0);

    authenticator.addCredential(residentCredential);
            ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions());

            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

            Credential nonResidentCredential = Credential.CreateNonResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedEC256PK, 0);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddCredential(nonResidentCredential);

            ((WebDriver)driver).RemoveCredential(credentialId);

Remove All Credentials

Removes all the credentials from the authenticator.

    Assertions.assertArrayEquals(rsaPrivateKey.getEncoded(), credential.getPrivateKey().getEncoded());
  }

  @Test
  public void testRemoveCredential() {
    VirtualAuthenticator authenticator =
      ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver).addVirtualAuthenticator(new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions());

    byte[] credentialId = {1, 2, 3, 4};
    Credential credential = Credential.createNonResidentCredential(
            ((WebDriver)driver).AddVirtualAuthenticator(new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions());

            byte[] credentialId = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

            Credential nonResidentCredential = Credential.CreateNonResidentCredential(
              credentialId, "localhost", base64EncodedEC256PK, 0);

            ((WebDriver)driver).AddCredential(nonResidentCredential);

            ((WebDriver)driver).RemoveAllCredentials();

Set User Verified

Sets whether the authenticator will simulate success or fail on user verification.

    Assertions.assertEquals(0, authenticator.getCredentials().size());
  }
            VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
                .SetIsUserVerified(true);

7 - Actions API

A low-level interface for providing virtualized device input actions to the web browser.

In addition to the high-level element interactions, the Actions API provides granular control over exactly what designated input devices can do. Selenium provides an interface for 3 kinds of input sources: a key input for keyboard devices, a pointer input for a mouse, pen or touch devices, and wheel inputs for scroll wheel devices (introduced in Selenium 4.2). Selenium allows you to construct individual action commands assigned to specific inputs and chain them together and call the associated perform method to execute them all at once.

Action Builder

In the move from the legacy JSON Wire Protocol to the new W3C WebDriver Protocol, the low level building blocks of actions became especially detailed. It is extremely powerful, but each input device has a number of ways to use it and if you need to manage more than one device, you are responsible for ensuring proper synchronization between them.

Thankfully, you likely do not need to learn how to use the low level commands directly, since almost everything you might want to do has been given a convenience method that combines the lower level commands for you. These are all documented in keyboard, mouse, pen, and wheel pages.

Pause

Pointer movements and Wheel scrolling allow the user to set a duration for the action, but sometimes you just need to wait a beat between actions for things to work correctly.

        WebElement clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .moveToElement(clickable)
                .pause(Duration.ofSeconds(1))
                .clickAndHold()
                .pause(Duration.ofSeconds(1))
                .sendKeys("abc")
                .perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "clickable")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .move_to_element(clickable)\
        .pause(1)\
        .click_and_hold()\
        .pause(1)\
        .send_keys("abc")\
        .perform()

Selenium v4.2

            IWebElement clickable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("clickable"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .MoveToElement(clickable)
                .Pause(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1))
                .ClickAndHold()
                .Pause(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1))
                .SendKeys("abc")
                .Perform();

Selenium v4.2

    clickable = driver.find_element(id: 'clickable')
    driver.action
          .move_to(clickable)
          .pause(duration: 1)
          .click_and_hold
          .pause(duration: 1)
          .send_keys('abc')
          .perform
      const clickable = await driver.findElement(By.id('clickable'))
      await driver.actions()
        .move({ origin: clickable })
        .pause(1000)
        .press()
        .pause(1000)
        .sendKeys('abc')
        .perform()
        val clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"))
        Actions(driver)
            .moveToElement(clickable)
            .pause(Duration.ofSeconds(1))
            .clickAndHold()
            .pause(Duration.ofSeconds(1))
            .sendKeys("abc")
            .perform() 

Release All Actions

An important thing to note is that the driver remembers the state of all the input items throughout a session. Even if you create a new instance of an actions class, the depressed keys and the location of the pointer will be in whatever state a previously performed action left them.

There is a special method to release all currently depressed keys and pointer buttons. This method is implemented differently in each of the languages because it does not get executed with the perform method.

        ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).resetInputState();
    ActionBuilder(driver).clear_actions()
            ((WebDriver)driver).ResetInputState();
    driver.action.release_actions
      await driver.actions().clear()
        (driver as RemoteWebDriver).resetInputState()

7.1 - Keyboard actions

A representation of any key input device for interacting with a web page.

There are only 2 actions that can be accomplished with a keyboard: pressing down on a key, and releasing a pressed key. In addition to supporting ASCII characters, each keyboard key has a representation that can be pressed or released in designated sequences.

Keys

In addition to the keys represented by regular unicode, unicode values have been assigned to other keyboard keys for use with Selenium. Each language has its own way to reference these keys; the full list can be found here.

Key down

        new Actions(driver)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("a")
                .perform();
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .key_down(Keys.SHIFT)\
        .send_keys("abc")\
        .perform()
                .KeyDown(Keys.Shift)
                .SendKeys("a")
                .Perform();
    driver.action
          .key_down(:shift)
          .send_keys('a')
          .perform
      await driver.actions()
        .keyDown(Key.SHIFT)
        .sendKeys('a')
        .perform()
        Actions(driver)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("a")
                .perform()

Key up

        new Actions(driver)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("a")
                .keyUp(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("b")
                .perform();
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .key_down(Keys.SHIFT)\
        .send_keys("a")\
        .key_up(Keys.SHIFT)\
        .send_keys("b")\
        .perform()
            new Actions(driver)
                .KeyDown(Keys.Shift)
                .SendKeys("a")
                .KeyUp(Keys.Shift)
                .SendKeys("b")
                .Perform();
    driver.action
          .key_down(:shift)
          .send_keys('a')
          .key_up(:shift)
          .send_keys('b')
          .perform
      await driver.actions()
        .keyDown(Key.SHIFT)
        .sendKeys('a')
        .keyUp(Key.SHIFT)
        .sendKeys('b')
        .perform()
        Actions(driver)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("a")
                .keyUp(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys("b")
                .perform()

Send keys

This is a convenience method in the Actions API that combines keyDown and keyUp commands in one action. Executing this command differs slightly from using the element method, but primarily this gets used when needing to type multiple characters in the middle of other actions.

Active Element

        new Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys("abc")
                .perform();
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .send_keys("abc")\
        .perform()

            new Actions(driver)
                .SendKeys("abc")
    driver.action
          .send_keys('abc')
          .perform
      const textField = driver.findElement(By.id('textInput'))
      await textField.click()
        Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys("abc")
                .perform()

Designated Element

        new Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys(textField, "Selenium!")
                .perform();
    text_input = driver.find_element(By.ID, "textInput")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .send_keys_to_element(text_input, "abc")\
        .perform()
            driver.FindElement(By.TagName("body")).Click();
            
            IWebElement textField = driver.FindElement(By.Id("textInput"));
            new Actions(driver)
    text_field = driver.find_element(id: 'textInput')
    driver.action
          .send_keys(text_field, 'Selenium!')
          .perform

Selenium v4.5.0

      const textField = await driver.findElement(By.id('textInput'))

      await driver.actions()
        .sendKeys(textField, 'abc')
        .perform()
        val textField = driver.findElement(By.id("textInput"))
        Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys(textField, "Selenium!")
                .perform()

Copy and Paste

Here’s an example of using all of the above methods to conduct a copy / paste action. Note that the key to use for this operation will be different depending on if it is a Mac OS or not. This code will end up with the text: SeleniumSelenium!

        Keys cmdCtrl = Platform.getCurrent().is(Platform.MAC) ? Keys.COMMAND : Keys.CONTROL;

        WebElement textField = driver.findElement(By.id("textInput"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys(textField, "Selenium!")
                .sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_LEFT)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_UP)
                .keyUp(Keys.SHIFT)
                .keyDown(cmdCtrl)
                .sendKeys("xvv")
                .keyUp(cmdCtrl)
                .perform();

        Assertions.assertEquals("SeleniumSelenium!", textField.getAttribute("value"));
    cmd_ctrl = Keys.COMMAND if sys.platform == 'darwin' else Keys.CONTROL

    ActionChains(driver)\
        .send_keys("Selenium!")\
        .send_keys(Keys.ARROW_LEFT)\
        .key_down(Keys.SHIFT)\
        .send_keys(Keys.ARROW_UP)\
        .key_up(Keys.SHIFT)\
        .key_down(cmd_ctrl)\
        .send_keys("xvv")\
        .key_up(cmd_ctrl)\
        .perform()

            var capabilities = ((WebDriver)driver).Capabilities;
            String platformName = (string)capabilities.GetCapability("platformName");

            String cmdCtrl = platformName.Contains("mac") ? Keys.Command : Keys.Control;

            new Actions(driver)
                .SendKeys("Selenium!")
                .SendKeys(Keys.ArrowLeft)
                .KeyDown(Keys.Shift)
                .SendKeys(Keys.ArrowUp)
    cmd_ctrl = driver.capabilities.platform_name.include?('mac') ? :command : :control
    driver.action
          .send_keys('Selenium!')
          .send_keys(:arrow_left)
          .key_down(:shift)
          .send_keys(:arrow_up)
          .key_up(:shift)
          .key_down(cmd_ctrl)
          .send_keys('xvv')
          .key_up(cmd_ctrl)
          .perform
      const cmdCtrl = platform.includes('darwin') ? Key.COMMAND : Key.CONTROL

      await driver.actions()
        .click(textField)
        .sendKeys('Selenium!')
        .sendKeys(Key.ARROW_LEFT)
        .keyDown(Key.SHIFT)
        .sendKeys(Key.ARROW_UP)
        .keyUp(Key.SHIFT)
        .keyDown(cmdCtrl)
        .sendKeys('xvv')
        .keyUp(cmdCtrl)
        .perform()
        val cmdCtrl = if(platformName == Platform.MAC) Keys.COMMAND else Keys.CONTROL

        val textField = driver.findElement(By.id("textInput"))
        Actions(driver)
                .sendKeys(textField, "Selenium!")
                .sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_LEFT)
                .keyDown(Keys.SHIFT)
                .sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_UP)
                .keyUp(Keys.SHIFT)
                .keyDown(cmdCtrl)
                .sendKeys("xvv")
                .keyUp(cmdCtrl)
                .perform()

7.2 - Mouse actions

A representation of any pointer device for interacting with a web page.

There are only 3 actions that can be accomplished with a mouse: pressing down on a button, releasing a pressed button, and moving the mouse. Selenium provides convenience methods that combine these actions in the most common ways.

Click and hold

This method combines moving the mouse to the center of an element with pressing the left mouse button. This is useful for focusing a specific element:

        WebElement clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .clickAndHold(clickable)
                .perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "clickable")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .click_and_hold(clickable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement clickable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("clickable"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .ClickAndHold(clickable)
                .Perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(id: 'clickable')
    driver.action
          .click_and_hold(clickable)
          .perform
      let clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.move({origin: clickable}).press().perform();
        val clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"))
        Actions(driver)
                .clickAndHold(clickable)
                .perform()

Click and release

This method combines moving to the center of an element with pressing and releasing the left mouse button. This is otherwise known as “clicking”:

        WebElement clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("click"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .click(clickable)
                .perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "click")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .click(clickable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement clickable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("click"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .Click(clickable)
                .Perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(id: 'click')
    driver.action
          .click(clickable)
          .perform
      let click = driver.findElement(By.id("click"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.move({origin: click}).click().perform();
        val clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("click"))
        Actions(driver)
                .click(clickable)
                .perform()

Alternate Button Clicks

There are a total of 5 defined buttons for a Mouse:

  • 0 — Left Button (the default)
  • 1 — Middle Button (currently unsupported)
  • 2 — Right Button
  • 3 — X1 (Back) Button
  • 4 — X2 (Forward) Button

Context Click

This method combines moving to the center of an element with pressing and releasing the right mouse button (button 2). This is otherwise known as “right-clicking”:

        WebElement clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .contextClick(clickable)
                .perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "clickable")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .context_click(clickable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement clickable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("clickable"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .ContextClick(clickable)
                .Perform();
      clickable = driver.find_element(id: 'clickable')
      driver.action
            .context_click(clickable)
            .perform
      const clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.contextClick(clickable).perform();
        val clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"))
        Actions(driver)
                .contextClick(clickable)
                .perform()

Back Click

There is no convenience method for this, it is just pressing and releasing mouse button 3

        PointerInput mouse = new PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse");

        Sequence actions = new Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerDown(PointerInput.MouseButton.BACK.asArg()))
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerUp(PointerInput.MouseButton.BACK.asArg()));

        ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions));

Selenium v4.2

    action = ActionBuilder(driver)
    action.pointer_action.pointer_down(MouseButton.BACK)
    action.pointer_action.pointer_up(MouseButton.BACK)
    action.perform()

Selenium v4.2

            ActionBuilder actionBuilder = new ActionBuilder();
            PointerInputDevice mouse = new PointerInputDevice(PointerKind.Mouse, "default mouse");
            actionBuilder.AddAction(mouse.CreatePointerDown(MouseButton.Back));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(mouse.CreatePointerUp(MouseButton.Back));
            ((IActionExecutor)driver).PerformActions(actionBuilder.ToActionSequenceList());

Selenium v4.2

      driver.action
            .pointer_down(:back)
            .pointer_up(:back)
            .perform

Selenium v4.5.0

      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.press(Button.BACK).release(Button.BACK).perform()
        val mouse = PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse")

        val actions = Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerDown(PointerInput.MouseButton.BACK.asArg()))
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerUp(PointerInput.MouseButton.BACK.asArg()))

        (driver as RemoteWebDriver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions))

Forward Click

There is no convenience method for this, it is just pressing and releasing mouse button 4

        PointerInput mouse = new PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse");

        Sequence actions = new Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerDown(PointerInput.MouseButton.FORWARD.asArg()))
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerUp(PointerInput.MouseButton.FORWARD.asArg()));

        ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions));

Selenium v4.2

    action = ActionBuilder(driver)
    action.pointer_action.pointer_down(MouseButton.FORWARD)
    action.pointer_action.pointer_up(MouseButton.FORWARD)
    action.perform()

Selenium v4.2

            ActionBuilder actionBuilder = new ActionBuilder();
            PointerInputDevice mouse = new PointerInputDevice(PointerKind.Mouse, "default mouse");
            actionBuilder.AddAction(mouse.CreatePointerDown(MouseButton.Forward));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(mouse.CreatePointerUp(MouseButton.Forward));
            ((IActionExecutor)driver).PerformActions(actionBuilder.ToActionSequenceList());

Selenium v4.2

      driver.action
            .pointer_down(:forward)
            .pointer_up(:forward)
            .perform

Selenium v4.5.0

      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.press(Button.FORWARD).release(Button.FORWARD).perform()
        val mouse = PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse")

        val actions = Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerDown(PointerInput.MouseButton.FORWARD.asArg()))
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerUp(PointerInput.MouseButton.FORWARD.asArg()))

        (driver as RemoteWebDriver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions))

Double click

This method combines moving to the center of an element with pressing and releasing the left mouse button twice.

        WebElement clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .doubleClick(clickable)
                .perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "clickable")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .double_click(clickable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement clickable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("clickable"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .DoubleClick(clickable)
                .Perform();
    clickable = driver.find_element(id: 'clickable')
    driver.action
          .double_click(clickable)
          .perform
      const clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.doubleClick(clickable).perform();
        val clickable = driver.findElement(By.id("clickable"))
        Actions(driver)
                .doubleClick(clickable)
                .perform()

Move to element

This method moves the mouse to the in-view center point of the element. This is otherwise known as “hovering.” Note that the element must be in the viewport or else the command will error.

        WebElement hoverable = driver.findElement(By.id("hover"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .moveToElement(hoverable)
                .perform();
    hoverable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "hover")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .move_to_element(hoverable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement hoverable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("hover"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .MoveToElement(hoverable)
                .Perform();
    hoverable = driver.find_element(id: 'hover')
    driver.action
          .move_to(hoverable)
          .perform
      const hoverable = driver.findElement(By.id("hover"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.move({origin: hoverable}).perform();
        val hoverable = driver.findElement(By.id("hover"))
        Actions(driver)
                .moveToElement(hoverable)
                .perform()

Move by offset

These methods first move the mouse to the designated origin and then by the number of pixels in the provided offset. Note that the position of the mouse must be in the viewport or else the command will error.

Offset from Element

This method moves the mouse to the in-view center point of the element, then moves by the provided offset.

        WebElement tracker = driver.findElement(By.id("mouse-tracker"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .moveToElement(tracker, 8, 0)
                .perform();
    mouse_tracker = driver.find_element(By.ID, "mouse-tracker")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .move_to_element_with_offset(mouse_tracker, 8, 0)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement tracker = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mouse-tracker"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .MoveToElement(tracker, 8, 0)
                .Perform();
      mouse_tracker = driver.find_element(id: 'mouse-tracker')
      driver.action
            .move_to(mouse_tracker, 8, 11)
            .perform
        val tracker = driver.findElement(By.id("mouse-tracker"))
        Actions(driver)
                .moveToElement(tracker, 8, 0)
                .perform()

Offset from Viewport

This method moves the mouse from the upper left corner of the current viewport by the provided offset.

        PointerInput mouse = new PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse");

        Sequence actions = new Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, PointerInput.Origin.viewport(), 8, 12));

        ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions));
    action = ActionBuilder(driver)
    action.pointer_action.move_to_location(8, 0)
    action.perform()
            ActionBuilder actionBuilder = new ActionBuilder();
            PointerInputDevice mouse = new PointerInputDevice(PointerKind.Mouse, "default mouse");
            actionBuilder.AddAction(mouse.CreatePointerMove(CoordinateOrigin.Viewport,
                8, 0, TimeSpan.Zero));
            ((IActionExecutor)driver).PerformActions(actionBuilder.ToActionSequenceList());
      driver.action
            .move_to_location(8, 12)
            .perform
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.move({x: 8, y: 0}).perform();
        val mouse = PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.MOUSE, "default mouse")

        val actions = Sequence(mouse, 0)
                .addAction(mouse.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, PointerInput.Origin.viewport(), 8, 12))

        (driver as RemoteWebDriver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actions))

Offset from Current Pointer Location

This method moves the mouse from its current position by the offset provided by the user. If the mouse has not previously been moved, the position will be in the upper left corner of the viewport. Note that the pointer position does not change when the page is scrolled.

Note that the first argument X specifies to move right when positive, while the second argument Y specifies to move down when positive. So moveByOffset(30, -10) moves right 30 and up 10 from the current mouse position.

        new Actions(driver)
                .moveByOffset(13, 15)
                .perform();
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .move_by_offset( 13, 15)\
        .perform()
            new Actions(driver)
                .MoveByOffset(13, 15)
                .Perform();
      driver.action
            .move_by(13, 15)
            .perform
      await actions.move({x: 13, y: 15, origin: Origin.POINTER}).perform()
        Actions(driver)
                .moveByOffset(13, 15)
                .perform()

Drag and Drop on Element

This method firstly performs a click-and-hold on the source element, moves to the location of the target element and then releases the mouse.

        WebElement draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"));
        WebElement droppable = driver.findElement(By.id("droppable"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .dragAndDrop(draggable, droppable)
                .perform();
    draggable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "draggable")
    droppable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "droppable")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .drag_and_drop(draggable, droppable)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement draggable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("draggable"));
            IWebElement droppable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("droppable"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .DragAndDrop(draggable, droppable)
                .Perform();
    draggable = driver.find_element(id: 'draggable')
    droppable = driver.find_element(id: 'droppable')
    driver.action
          .drag_and_drop(draggable, droppable)
          .perform
      const draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"));
      const droppable = await driver.findElement(By.id("droppable"));
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.dragAndDrop(draggable, droppable).perform();
        val draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"))
        val droppable = driver.findElement(By.id("droppable"))
        Actions(driver)
                .dragAndDrop(draggable, droppable)
                .perform()

Drag and Drop by Offset

This method firstly performs a click-and-hold on the source element, moves to the given offset and then releases the mouse.

        WebElement draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"));
        Rectangle start = draggable.getRect();
        Rectangle finish = driver.findElement(By.id("droppable")).getRect();
        new Actions(driver)
                .dragAndDropBy(draggable, finish.getX() - start.getX(), finish.getY() - start.getY())
                .perform();
    draggable = driver.find_element(By.ID, "draggable")
    start = draggable.location
    finish = driver.find_element(By.ID, "droppable").location
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .drag_and_drop_by_offset(draggable, finish['x'] - start['x'], finish['y'] - start['y'])\
        .perform()
            IWebElement draggable = driver.FindElement(By.Id("draggable"));
            Point start = draggable.Location;
            Point finish = driver.FindElement(By.Id("droppable")).Location;
            new Actions(driver)
                .DragAndDropToOffset(draggable, finish.X - start.X, finish.Y - start.Y)
                .Perform();
    draggable = driver.find_element(id: 'draggable')
    start = draggable.rect
    finish = driver.find_element(id: 'droppable').rect
    driver.action
          .drag_and_drop_by(draggable, finish.x - start.x, finish.y - start.y)
          .perform
      const draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"));
      let start = await draggable.getRect();
      let finish = await driver.findElement(By.id("droppable")).getRect();
      const actions = driver.actions({async: true});
      await actions.dragAndDrop(draggable, {x: finish.x - start.x, y: finish.y - start.y}).perform();
        val draggable = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable"))
        val start = draggable.getRect()
        val finish = driver.findElement(By.id("droppable")).getRect()
        Actions(driver)
                .dragAndDropBy(draggable, finish.getX() - start.getX(), finish.getY() - start.getY())
                .perform()

7.3 - Pen actions

A representation of a pen stylus kind of pointer input for interacting with a web page.

Chromium Only

A Pen is a type of pointer input that has most of the same behavior as a mouse, but can also have event properties unique to a stylus. Additionally, while a mouse has 5 buttons, a pen has 3 equivalent button states:

  • 0 — Touch Contact (the default; equivalent to a left click)
  • 2 — Barrel Button (equivalent to a right click)
  • 5 — Eraser Button (currently unsupported by drivers)

Using a Pen

Selenium v4.2

        WebElement pointerArea = driver.findElement(By.id("pointerArea"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .setActivePointer(PointerInput.Kind.PEN, "default pen")
                .moveToElement(pointerArea)
                .clickAndHold()
                .moveByOffset(2, 2)
                .release()
                .perform();

Selenium v4.2

    pointer_area = driver.find_element(By.ID, "pointerArea")
    pen_input = PointerInput(POINTER_PEN, "default pen")
    action = ActionBuilder(driver, mouse=pen_input)
    action.pointer_action\
        .move_to(pointer_area)\
        .pointer_down()\
        .move_by(2, 2)\
        .pointer_up()
    action.perform()
            IWebElement pointerArea = driver.FindElement(By.Id("pointerArea"));
            ActionBuilder actionBuilder = new ActionBuilder();
            PointerInputDevice pen = new PointerInputDevice(PointerKind.Pen, "default pen");
            
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerMove(pointerArea, 0, 0, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(800)));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerDown(MouseButton.Left));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerMove(CoordinateOrigin.Pointer,
                2, 2, TimeSpan.Zero));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerUp(MouseButton.Left));
            ((IActionExecutor)driver).PerformActions(actionBuilder.ToActionSequenceList());

Selenium v4.2

    pointer_area = driver.find_element(id: 'pointerArea')
    driver.action(devices: :pen)
          .move_to(pointer_area)
          .pointer_down
          .move_by(2, 2)
          .pointer_up
          .perform
        val pointerArea = driver.findElement(By.id("pointerArea"))
        Actions(driver)
                .setActivePointer(PointerInput.Kind.PEN, "default pen")
                .moveToElement(pointerArea)
                .clickAndHold()
                .moveByOffset(2, 2)
                .release()
                .perform()

Adding Pointer Event Attributes

Selenium v4.2

        WebElement pointerArea = driver.findElement(By.id("pointerArea"));
        PointerInput pen = new PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.PEN, "default pen");
        PointerInput.PointerEventProperties eventProperties = PointerInput.eventProperties()
                .setTiltX(-72)
                .setTiltY(9)
                .setTwist(86);
        PointerInput.Origin origin = PointerInput.Origin.fromElement(pointerArea);

        Sequence actionListPen = new Sequence(pen, 0)
                .addAction(pen.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, origin, 0, 0))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerDown(0))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, origin, 2, 2, eventProperties))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerUp(0));

        ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).perform(Collections.singletonList(actionListPen));
    pointer_area = driver.find_element(By.ID, "pointerArea")
    pen_input = PointerInput(POINTER_PEN, "default pen")
    action = ActionBuilder(driver, mouse=pen_input)
    action.pointer_action\
        .move_to(pointer_area)\
        .pointer_down()\
        .move_by(2, 2, tilt_x=-72, tilt_y=9, twist=86)\
        .pointer_up(0)
    action.perform()
            IWebElement pointerArea = driver.FindElement(By.Id("pointerArea"));
            ActionBuilder actionBuilder = new ActionBuilder();
            PointerInputDevice pen = new PointerInputDevice(PointerKind.Pen, "default pen");
            PointerInputDevice.PointerEventProperties properties = new PointerInputDevice.PointerEventProperties() {
                TiltX = -72,
                TiltY = 9,
                Twist = 86,
            };            
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerMove(pointerArea, 0, 0, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(800)));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerDown(MouseButton.Left));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerMove(CoordinateOrigin.Pointer,
                2, 2, TimeSpan.Zero, properties));
            actionBuilder.AddAction(pen.CreatePointerUp(MouseButton.Left));
            ((IActionExecutor)driver).PerformActions(actionBuilder.ToActionSequenceList());
    pointer_area = driver.find_element(id: 'pointerArea')
    driver.action(devices: :pen)
          .move_to(pointer_area)
          .pointer_down
          .move_by(2, 2, tilt_x: -72, tilt_y: 9, twist: 86)
          .pointer_up
          .perform
        val pointerArea = driver.findElement(By.id("pointerArea"))
        val pen = PointerInput(PointerInput.Kind.PEN, "default pen")
        val eventProperties = PointerInput.eventProperties()
                .setTiltX(-72)
                .setTiltY(9)
                .setTwist(86)
        val origin = PointerInput.Origin.fromElement(pointerArea)
        
        val actionListPen = Sequence(pen, 0)
                .addAction(pen.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, origin, 0, 0))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerDown(0))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerMove(Duration.ZERO, origin, 2, 2, eventProperties))
                .addAction(pen.createPointerUp(0))

        (driver as RemoteWebDriver).perform(listOf(actionListPen))

7.4 - Scroll wheel actions

A representation of a scroll wheel input device for interacting with a web page.

Selenium v4.2

Chromium Only

There are 5 scenarios for scrolling on a page.

Scroll to element

This is the most common scenario. Unlike traditional click and send keys methods, the actions class does not automatically scroll the target element into view, so this method will need to be used if elements are not already inside the viewport.

This method takes a web element as the sole argument.

Regardless of whether the element is above or below the current viewscreen, the viewport will be scrolled so the bottom of the element is at the bottom of the screen.

        WebElement iframe = driver.findElement(By.tagName("iframe"));
        new Actions(driver)
                .scrollToElement(iframe)
                .perform();
    iframe = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "iframe")
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .scroll_to_element(iframe)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement iframe = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("iframe"));
            new Actions(driver)
                .ScrollToElement(iframe)
                .Perform();
    iframe = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'iframe')
    driver.action
          .scroll_to(iframe)
          .perform
      const iframe = await driver.findElement(By.css("iframe"))

      await driver.actions()
        .scroll(0, 0, 0, 0, iframe)
        .perform()
        val iframe = driver.findElement(By.tagName("iframe"))
        Actions(driver)
                .scrollToElement(iframe)
                .perform()

Scroll by given amount

This is the second most common scenario for scrolling. Pass in an delta x and a delta y value for how much to scroll in the right and down directions. Negative values represent left and up, respectively.

        WebElement footer = driver.findElement(By.tagName("footer"));
        int deltaY = footer.getRect().y;
        new Actions(driver)
                .scrollByAmount(0, deltaY)
                .perform();
    footer = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "footer")
    delta_y = footer.rect['y']
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .scroll_by_amount(0, delta_y)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement footer = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("footer"));
            int deltaY = footer.Location.Y;
            new Actions(driver)
                .ScrollByAmount(0, deltaY)
                .Perform();
    footer = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'footer')
    delta_y = footer.rect.y
    driver.action
          .scroll_by(0, delta_y)
          .perform
      const footer = await driver.findElement(By.css("footer"))
      const deltaY = (await footer.getRect()).y

      await driver.actions()
        .scroll(0, 0, 0, deltaY)
        .perform()
        val footer = driver.findElement(By.tagName("footer"))
        val deltaY = footer.getRect().y
        Actions(driver)
                .scrollByAmount(0, deltaY)
                .perform()

Scroll from an element by a given amount

This scenario is effectively a combination of the above two methods.

To execute this use the “Scroll From” method, which takes 3 arguments. The first represents the origination point, which we designate as the element, and the second two are the delta x and delta y values.

If the element is out of the viewport, it will be scrolled to the bottom of the screen, then the page will be scrolled by the provided delta x and delta y values.

        WebElement iframe = driver.findElement(By.tagName("iframe"));
        WheelInput.ScrollOrigin scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(iframe);
        new Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .perform();
    iframe = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "iframe")
    scroll_origin = ScrollOrigin.from_element(iframe)
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .scroll_from_origin(scroll_origin, 0, 200)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement iframe = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("iframe"));
            WheelInputDevice.ScrollOrigin scrollOrigin = new WheelInputDevice.ScrollOrigin
            {
                Element = iframe
            };
            new Actions(driver)
                .ScrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .Perform();
    iframe = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'iframe')
    scroll_origin = Selenium::WebDriver::WheelActions::ScrollOrigin.element(iframe)
    driver.action
          .scroll_from(scroll_origin, 0, 200)
          .perform
      const iframe = await driver.findElement(By.css("iframe"))

      await driver.actions()
        .scroll(0, 0, 0, 200, iframe)
        .perform()
        val iframe = driver.findElement(By.tagName("iframe"))
        val scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(iframe)
        Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .perform()

Scroll from an element with an offset

This scenario is used when you need to scroll only a portion of the screen, and it is outside the viewport. Or is inside the viewport and the portion of the screen that must be scrolled is a known offset away from a specific element.

This uses the “Scroll From” method again, and in addition to specifying the element, an offset is specified to indicate the origin point of the scroll. The offset is calculated from the center of the provided element.

If the element is out of the viewport, it first will be scrolled to the bottom of the screen, then the origin of the scroll will be determined by adding the offset to the coordinates of the center of the element, and finally the page will be scrolled by the provided delta x and delta y values.

Note that if the offset from the center of the element falls outside of the viewport, it will result in an exception.

        WebElement footer = driver.findElement(By.tagName("footer"));
        WheelInput.ScrollOrigin scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(footer, 0, -50);
        new Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin,0, 200)
                .perform();
    footer = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "footer")
    scroll_origin = ScrollOrigin.from_element(footer, 0, -50)
    ActionChains(driver)\
        .scroll_from_origin(scroll_origin, 0, 200)\
        .perform()
            IWebElement footer = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("footer"));
            var scrollOrigin = new WheelInputDevice.ScrollOrigin
            {
                Element = footer,
                XOffset = 0,
                YOffset = -50
            };
            new Actions(driver)
                .ScrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .Perform();
    footer = driver.find_element(tag_name: 'footer')
    scroll_origin = Selenium::WebDriver::WheelActions::ScrollOrigin.element(footer, 0, -50)
    driver.action
          .scroll_from(scroll_origin, 0, 200)
          .perform
      const footer = await driver.findElement(By.css("footer"))

      await driver.actions()
        .scroll(0, -50, 0, 200, footer)
        .perform()
        val footer = driver.findElement(By.tagName("footer"))
        val scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(footer, 0, -50)
        Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin,0, 200)
                .perform()

Scroll from a offset of origin (element) by given amount

The final scenario is used when you need to scroll only a portion of the screen, and it is already inside the viewport.

This uses the “Scroll From” method again, but the viewport is designated instead of an element. An offset is specified from the upper left corner of the current viewport. After the origin point is determined, the page will be scrolled by the provided delta x and delta y values.

Note that if the offset from the upper left corner of the viewport falls outside of the screen, it will result in an exception.

        WheelInput.ScrollOrigin scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromViewport(10, 10);
        new Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .perform();
    scroll_origin = ScrollOrigin.from_viewport(10, 10)

    ActionChains(driver)\
        .scroll_from_origin(scroll_origin, 0, 200)\
        .perform()
            var scrollOrigin = new WheelInputDevice.ScrollOrigin
            {
                Viewport = true,
                XOffset = 10,
                YOffset = 10
            };
            new Actions(driver)
                .ScrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .Perform();
    scroll_origin = Selenium::WebDriver::WheelActions::ScrollOrigin.viewport(10, 10)
    driver.action
          .scroll_from(scroll_origin, 0, 200)
          .perform
      await driver.actions()
        .scroll(10, 10, 0, 200)
        .perform()
        val scrollOrigin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromViewport(10, 10)
        Actions(driver)
                .scrollFromOrigin(scrollOrigin, 0, 200)
                .perform()

8 - BiDirectional functionality

Selenium is working with browser vendors to create the WebDriver BiDirectional Protocol as a means to provide a stable, cross-browser API that uses the bidirectional functionality useful for both browser automation generally and testing specifically. Before now, users seeking this functionality have had to rely on CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) with all of its frustrations and limitations.

The traditional WebDriver model of strict request/response commands will be supplemented with the ability to stream events from the user agent to the controlling software via WebSockets, better matching the evented nature of the browser DOM.

As it is not a good idea to tie your tests to a specific version of any browser, the Selenium project recommends using WebDriver BiDi wherever possible.

While the specification is in works, the browser vendors are parallely implementing the WebDriver BiDirectional Protocol. Refer web-platform-tests dashboard to see how far along the browser vendors are. Selenium is trying to keep up with the browser vendors and has started implementing W3C BiDi APIs. The goal is to ensure APIs are W3C compliant and uniform among the different language bindings.

However, until the specification and corresponding Selenium implementation is complete there are many useful things that CDP offers. Selenium offers some useful helper classes that use CDP.

8.1 - BiDirectional API (CDP implementation)

The following list of APIs will be growing as the Selenium project works through supporting real world use cases. If there is additional functionality you’d like to see, please raise a feature request.

Register Basic Auth

Some applications make use of browser authentication to secure pages. With Selenium, you can automate the input of basic auth credentials whenever they arise.

Predicate<URI> uriPredicate = uri -> uri.getHost().contains("your-domain.com");

((HasAuthentication) driver).register(uriPredicate, UsernameAndPassword.of("admin", "password"));
driver.get("https://your-domain.com/login");
NetworkAuthenticationHandler handler = new NetworkAuthenticationHandler()
{
    UriMatcher = (d) => d.Host.Contains("your-domain.com"),
    Credentials = new PasswordCredentials("admin", "password")
};

INetwork networkInterceptor = driver.Manage().Network;
networkInterceptor.AddAuthenticationHandler(handler);
await networkInterceptor.StartMonitoring();
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.devtools.new
  driver.register(username: 'username', password: 'password')
  driver.get '<your site url>'
ensure
  driver.quit
end
const {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function example() {
  try {
    let driver = await new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .build();

    const pageCdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');
    await driver.register('username', 'password', pageCdpConnection);
    await driver.get('https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/basic_auth');
    await driver.quit();
  }catch (e){
    console.log(e)
  }
}())
val uriPredicate = Predicate { uri: URI ->
        uri.host.contains("your-domain.com")
    }
(driver as HasAuthentication).register(uriPredicate, UsernameAndPassword.of("admin", "password"))
driver.get("https://your-domain.com/login")

Mutation Observation

Mutation Observation is the ability to capture events via WebDriver BiDi when there are DOM mutations on a specific element in the DOM.

ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

AtomicReference<DomMutationEvent> seen = new AtomicReference<>();
CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
((HasLogEvents) driver).onLogEvent(domMutation(mutation -> {
    seen.set(mutation);
    latch.countDown();
}));

driver.get("https://www.google.com");
WebElement span = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("span"));

((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('cheese', 'gouda');", span);

assertThat(latch.await(10, SECONDS), is(true));
assertThat(seen.get().getAttributeName(), is("cheese"));
assertThat(seen.get().getCurrentValue(), is("gouda"));

driver.quit();
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.wait import WebDriverWait

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
async with driver.log.mutation_events() as event:
    pages.load("dynamic.html")
    driver.find_element(By.ID, "reveal").click()
    WebDriverWait(driver, 5)\
        .until(EC.visibility_of(driver.find_element(By.ID, "revealed")))

assert event["attribute_name"] == "style"
assert event["current_value"] == ""
assert event["old_value"] == "display:none;"

  
List<DomMutationData> attributeValueChanges = new List<DomMutationData>();
DefaultWait<List<DomMutationData>> wait = new DefaultWait<List<DomMutationData>>(attributeValueChanges);
wait.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3);

using IJavaScriptEngine monitor = new JavaScriptEngine(driver);
monitor.DomMutated += (sender, e) =>
{
    attributeValueChanges.Add(e.AttributeData);
};
await monitor.StartEventMonitoring();

driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.google.com");
IWebElement span = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("span"));

await monitor.EnableDomMutationMonitoring();
((IJavaScriptExecutor) driver).ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('cheese', 'gouda');", span);

wait.Until((list) => list.Count > 0);
Console.WriteLine("Found {0} DOM mutation events", attributeValueChanges.Count);
foreach(var record in attributeValueChanges)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Attribute name: {0}", record.AttributeName);
    Console.WriteLine("Attribute value: {0}", record.AttributeValue);
}

await monitor.DisableDomMutationMonitoring();
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
  driver.on_log_event(:mutation) { |mutation| mutations.push(mutation) }
  driver.navigate.to url_for('dynamic.html')
  driver.find_element(id: 'reveal').click
  wait.until { mutations.any? }
  mutation = mutations.first
  expect(mutation.element).to eq(driver.find_element(id: 'revealed'))
  expect(mutation.attribute_name).to eq('style')
  expect(mutation.current_value).to eq('')
  expect(mutation.old_value).to eq('display:none;')
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, until} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const assert = require("assert");

(async function example() {
  try {
    let driver = await new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .build();

    const cdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');
    await driver.logMutationEvents(cdpConnection, event => {
      assert.deepStrictEqual(event['attribute_name'], 'style');
      assert.deepStrictEqual(event['current_value'], "");
      assert.deepStrictEqual(event['old_value'], "display:none;");
    });

    await driver.get('dynamic.html');
    await driver.findElement({id: 'reveal'}).click();
    let revealed = driver.findElement({id: 'revealed'});
    await driver.wait(until.elementIsVisible(revealed), 5000);
    await driver.quit();
  }catch (e){
    console.log(e)
  }
}())
  

Listen to console.log events

Listen to the console.log events and register callbacks to process the event.

ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
DevTools devTools = driver.getDevTools();
devTools.createSession();
devTools.send(Log.enable());
devTools.addListener(Log.entryAdded(),
                           logEntry -> {
                               System.out.println("log: "+logEntry.getText());
                               System.out.println("level: "+logEntry.getLevel());
                           });
driver.get("http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/broken_images");
// Check the terminal output for the browser console messages.
driver.quit();
import trio
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.log import Log

async def printConsoleLogs():
  chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
  driver = webdriver.Chrome()
  driver.get("http://www.google.com")

  async with driver.bidi_connection() as session:
      log = Log(driver, session)
      from selenium.webdriver.common.bidi.console import Console
      async with log.add_listener(Console.ALL) as messages:
          driver.execute_script("console.log('I love cheese')")
      print(messages["message"])

  driver.quit()

trio.run(printConsoleLogs)
using IJavaScriptEngine monitor = new JavaScriptEngine(driver);
List<string> consoleMessages = new List<string>();
monitor.JavaScriptConsoleApiCalled += (sender, e) =>
{
    Console.WriteLine("Log: {0}", e.MessageContent);
};
await monitor.StartEventMonitoring();
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
begin
  driver.get 'http://www.google.com'
  logs = []
  driver.on_log_event(:console) do |event|
    logs.push(event)
    puts logs.length
  end

  driver.execute_script('console.log("here")')

ensure
  driver.quit
end
const {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
(async () => {
  try {
    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .build();

    const cdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');
    await driver.onLogEvent(cdpConnection, function (event) {
      console.log(event['args'][0]['value']);
    });
    await driver.executeScript('console.log("here")');
    await driver.quit();
  }catch (e){
    console.log(e);
  }
})()
fun kotlinConsoleLogExample() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    val devTools = driver.devTools
    devTools.createSession()

    val logConsole = { c: ConsoleEvent -> print("Console log message is: " + c.messages)}
    devTools.domains.events().addConsoleListener(logConsole)

    driver.get("https://www.google.com")

    val executor = driver as JavascriptExecutor
    executor.executeScript("console.log('Hello World')")

    val input = driver.findElement(By.name("q"))
    input.sendKeys("Selenium 4")
    input.sendKeys(Keys.RETURN)
    driver.quit()
}

Listen to JS Exceptions

Listen to the JS Exceptions and register callbacks to process the exception details.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.DevTools;

public void jsExceptionsExample() {
    ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    DevTools devTools = driver.getDevTools();
    devTools.createSession();

    List<JavascriptException> jsExceptionsList = new ArrayList<>();
    Consumer<JavascriptException> addEntry = jsExceptionsList::add;
    devTools.getDomains().events().addJavascriptExceptionListener(addEntry);

    driver.get("<your site url>");

    WebElement link2click = driver.findElement(By.linkText("<your link text>"));
    ((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].setAttribute(arguments[1], arguments[2]);",
          link2click, "onclick", "throw new Error('Hello, world!')");
    link2click.click();

    for (JavascriptException jsException : jsExceptionsList) {
        System.out.println("JS exception message: " + jsException.getMessage());
        System.out.println("JS exception system information: " + jsException.getSystemInformation());
        jsException.printStackTrace();
    }
}
async def catchJSException():
  chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
  driver = webdriver.Chrome()

  async with driver.bidi_connection() as session:
      driver.get("<your site url>")
      log = Log(driver, session)
      async with log.add_js_error_listener() as messages:
          # Operation on the website that throws an JS error
      print(messages)

  driver.quit()
List<string> exceptionMessages = new List<string>();
using IJavaScriptEngine monitor = new JavaScriptEngine(driver);
monitor.JavaScriptExceptionThrown += (sender, e) =>
{
    exceptionMessages.Add(e.Message);
};

await monitor.StartEventMonitoring();

driver.Navigate.GoToUrl("<your site url>");

IWebElement link2click = driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("<your link text>"));
((IJavaScriptExecutor) driver).ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute(arguments[1], arguments[2]);",
      link2click, "onclick", "throw new Error('Hello, world!')");
link2click.Click();

foreach (string message in exceptionMessages)
{
    Console.WriteLine("JS exception message: {0}", message);
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
begin
  driver.get '<your-site-url>'
  exceptions = []
  driver.on_log_event(:exception) do |event|
    exceptions.push(event)
    puts exceptions.length
  end

  #Actions causing JS exceptions

ensure
  driver.quit
end
const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');
(async () => {
  try {
    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser('chrome')
      .build();

    const cdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page')
    await driver.onLogException(cdpConnection, function (event) {
      console.log(event['exceptionDetails']);
    })
    await driver.get('https://the-internet.herokuapp.com');
    const link = await driver.findElement(By.linkText('Checkboxes'));
    await driver.executeScript("arguments[0].setAttribute(arguments[1], arguments[2]);", link, "onclick","throw new Error('Hello, world!')");
    await link.click();
    await driver.quit();
  }catch (e){
    console.log(e);
  }
})()
fun kotlinJsErrorListener() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    val devTools = driver.devTools
    devTools.createSession()

    val logJsError = { j: JavascriptException -> print("Javascript error: '" + j.localizedMessage + "'.") }
    devTools.domains.events().addJavascriptExceptionListener(logJsError)

    driver.get("https://www.google.com")

    val link2click = driver.findElement(By.name("q"))
    (driver as JavascriptExecutor).executeScript(
      "arguments[0].setAttribute(arguments[1], arguments[2]);",
      link2click, "onclick", "throw new Error('Hello, world!')"
    )
    link2click.click()

    driver.quit()
}

Network Interception

If you want to capture network events coming into the browser and you want manipulate them you are able to do it with the following examples.

    import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
    import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.HasDevTools;
    import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.NetworkInterceptor;
    import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.Contents;
    import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.Filter;
    import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.HttpResponse;
    import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.Route;

    NetworkInterceptor interceptor = new NetworkInterceptor(
      driver,
      Route.matching(req -> true)
        .to(() -> req -> new HttpResponse()
          .setStatus(200)
          .addHeader("Content-Type", MediaType.HTML_UTF_8.toString())
          .setContent(utf8String("Creamy, delicious cheese!"))));

   driver.get("https://example-sausages-site.com");

    String source = driver.getPageSource();

    assertThat(source).contains("delicious cheese!");
Currently unavailable in python due the inability to mix certain async and sync commands
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
driver.intercept do |request, &continue|
    uri = URI(request.url)
    if uri.path.end_with?('one.js')
      uri.path = '/devtools_request_interception_test/two.js'
      request.url = uri.to_s
    end
    continue.call(request)
end
driver.navigate.to url_for('devToolsRequestInterceptionTest.html')
driver.find_element(tag_name: 'button').click
expect(driver.find_element(id: 'result').text).to eq('two')
const connection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page')
let url = fileServer.whereIs("/cheese")
let httpResponse = new HttpResponse(url)
httpResponse.addHeaders("Content-Type", "UTF-8")
httpResponse.body = "sausages"
await driver.onIntercept(connection, httpResponse, async function () {
  let body = await driver.getPageSource()
  assert.strictEqual(body.includes("sausages"), true, `Body contains: ${body}`)
})
driver.get(url)
val driver = ChromeDriver()
val interceptor = new NetworkInterceptor(
      driver,
      Route.matching(req -> true)
        .to(() -> req -> new HttpResponse()
          .setStatus(200)
          .addHeader("Content-Type", MediaType.HTML_UTF_8.toString())
          .setContent(utf8String("Creamy, delicious cheese!"))))

    driver.get(appServer.whereIs("/cheese"))

    String source = driver.getPageSource()

8.2 - Chrome DevTools

While Selenium 4 provides direct access to the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), it is highly encouraged that you use the WebDriver Bidi APIs instead.

Many browsers provide “DevTools” – a set of tools that are integrated with the browser that developers can use to debug web apps and explore the performance of their pages. Google Chrome’s DevTools make use of a protocol called the Chrome DevTools Protocol (or “CDP” for short). As the name suggests, this is not designed for testing, nor to have a stable API, so functionality is highly dependent on the version of the browser.

WebDriver Bidi is the next generation of the W3C WebDriver protocol and aims to provide a stable API implemented by all browsers, but it’s not yet complete. Until it is, Selenium provides access to the CDP for those browsers that implement it (such as Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge, and Firefox), allowing you to enhance your tests in interesting ways. Some examples of what you can do with it are given below.

Emulate Geo Location

Some applications have different features and functionalities across different locations. Automating such applications is difficult because it is hard to emulate the geo-locations in the browser using Selenium. But with the help of Devtools, we can easily emulate them. Below code snippet demonstrates that.

ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
DevTools devTools = driver.getDevTools();
devTools.createSession();
devTools.send(Emulation.setGeolocationOverride(Optional.of(52.5043),
                                               Optional.of(13.4501),
                                               Optional.of(1)));
driver.get("https://my-location.org/");
driver.quit();
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service

def geoLocationTest():
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
    Map_coordinates = dict({
        "latitude": 41.8781,
        "longitude": -87.6298,
        "accuracy": 100
        })
    driver.execute_cdp_cmd("Emulation.setGeolocationOverride", Map_coordinates)
    driver.get("<your site url>")
  
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools;
// Replace the version to match the Chrome version
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V87.Emulation;

namespace dotnet_test {
  class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
      GeoLocation().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
    }

    public static async Task GeoLocation() {
      ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      DevToolsSession devToolsSession = driver.CreateDevToolsSession();
      var geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings = new SetGeolocationOverrideCommandSettings();

      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Latitude = 51.507351;
      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Longitude = -0.127758;
      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Accuracy = 1;

      await devToolsSession
        .GetVersionSpecificDomains<OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V87.DevToolsSessionDomains>()
        .Emulation
        .SetGeolocationOverride(geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings);

        driver.Url = "<your site url>";
        }
    }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  # Latitude and longitude of Tokyo, Japan
  coordinates = { latitude: 35.689487,
                  longitude: 139.691706,
                  accuracy: 100 }
  driver.execute_cdp('Emulation.setGeolocationOverride', coordinates)
  driver.get 'https://www.google.com/search?q=selenium'
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const { By, Key, Browser} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const { suite } = require('selenium-webdriver/testing');
const assert = require("assert");

suite(function(env) {
    describe('Emulate geolocation', function() {
        let driver;

        before(async function() {
            driver = await env.builder().build();
        });

        after(() => driver.quit());

        it('Emulate coordinates of Tokyo', async function() {
            const cdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');

            // Latitude and longitude of Tokyo, Japan
            const coordinates = {
                latitude: 35.689487,
                longitude: 139.691706,
                accuracy: 100,
            };

            await cdpConnection.execute(
                "Emulation.setGeolocationOverride",
                coordinates
            );
            await driver.get("https://kawasaki-india.com/dealer-locator/");
        });

    });
},{ browsers: [Browser.CHROME, Browser.FIREFOX]});
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.DevTools

fun main() {
    val driver =  ChromeDriver()
    val coordinates : HashMap<String, Any> = HashMap<String, Any> ()
    coordinates.put("latitude", 50.2334)
    coordinates.put("longitude", 0.2334)
    coordinates.put("accuracy", 1)
    driver.executeCdpCommand("Emulation.setGeolocationOverride", coordinates)
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
}
  

Emulate Geo Location with the Remote WebDriver:

ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("<grid-url>"), chromeOptions);
driver = new Augmenter().augment(driver);

DevTools devTools = ((HasDevTools) driver).getDevTools();
devTools.createSession();

devTools.send(Emulation.setGeolocationOverride(Optional.of(52.5043),
                                               Optional.of(13.4501),
                                               Optional.of(1)));
 
driver.get("https://my-location.org/");
driver.quit();
  
from selenium import webdriver
#Replace the version to match the Chrome version
import selenium.webdriver.common.devtools.v93 as devtools

async def geoLocationTest():
    chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Remote(
        command_executor='<grid-url>',
        options=chrome_options
    )

    async with driver.bidi_connection() as session:
        cdpSession = session.session
        await cdpSession.execute(devtools.emulation.set_geolocation_override(latitude=41.8781,longitude=-87.6298,accuracy=100))
    driver.get("https://my-location.org/")
    driver.quit()
  
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools;
// Replace the version to match the Chrome version
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V87.Emulation;

namespace dotnet_test {
  class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] args) {
      GeoLocation().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
    }

    public static async Task GeoLocation() {
      ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
      RemoteWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri("<grid-url>"), chromeOptions);
      DevToolsSession devToolsSession = driver.CreateDevToolsSession();
      var geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings = new SetGeolocationOverrideCommandSettings();

      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Latitude = 51.507351;
      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Longitude = -0.127758;
      geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings.Accuracy = 1;

      await devToolsSession
        .GetVersionSpecificDomains<OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V87.DevToolsSessionDomains>()
        .Emulation
        .SetGeolocationOverride(geoLocationOverrideCommandSettings);

        driver.Url = "https://my-location.org/";
        }
    }
}
  
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(
:remote, 
:url => "<grid-url>",
:capabilities => :chrome)

begin
  # Latitude and longitude of Tokyo, Japan
  coordinates = { latitude: 35.689487,
                  longitude: 139.691706,
                  accuracy: 100 }
  devToolsSession = driver.devtools
  devToolsSession.send_cmd('Emulation.setGeolocationOverride', coordinates)
  driver.get 'https://my-location.org/'
  puts res
ensure
  driver.quit
end

  
const webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
const BROWSER_NAME = webdriver.Browser.CHROME;

async function getDriver() {
  return new webdriver.Builder()
  .usingServer('<grid-url>')
  .forBrowser(BROWSER_NAME)
  .build();
}

async function executeCDPCommands () {
 let driver = await getDriver();

 await driver.get("<your site url>");
 
 const cdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');
  //Latitude and longitude of Tokyo, Japan
  const coordinates = {
    latitude: 35.689487,
    longitude: 139.691706,
    accuracy: 100,
  };
  await cdpConnection.execute(
    "Emulation.setGeolocationOverride",
    coordinates
  );
 await driver.quit();
}

executeCDPCommands(); 
  
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions
import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.HasDevTools
// Replace the version to match the Chrome version
import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.v91.emulation.Emulation
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.Augmenter
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver
import java.net.URL
import java.util.Optional

fun main() {
    val chromeOptions = ChromeOptions()
    var driver: WebDriver = RemoteWebDriver(URL("<grid-url>"), chromeOptions)
    driver = Augmenter().augment(driver)

    val devTools = (driver as HasDevTools).devTools
    devTools.createSession()

    devTools.send(
        Emulation.setGeolocationOverride(
            Optional.of(52.5043),
            Optional.of(13.4501),
            Optional.of(1)
        )
    )

    driver["https://my-location.org/"]
    driver.quit()
}

  

Override Device Mode

Using Selenium’s integration with CDP, one can override the current device mode and simulate a new mode. Width, height, mobile, and deviceScaleFactor are required parameters. Optional parameters include scale, screenWidth, screenHeight, positionX, positionY, dontSetVisible, screenOrientation, viewport, and displayFeature.

ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
DevTools devTools = driver.getDevTools();
devTools.createSession();
// iPhone 11 Pro dimensions
devTools.send(Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride(375,
                                                 812,
                                                 50,
                                                 true,
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty(),
                                                 Optional.empty()));
driver.get("https://selenium.dev/");
driver.quit();
  from selenium import webdriver
  
  driver = webdriver.Chrome()
  // iPhone 11 Pro dimensions
  set_device_metrics_override = dict({
                  "width": 375,
                  "height": 812,
                  "deviceScaleFactor": 50,
                  "mobile": True
              })
  driver.execute_cdp_cmd('Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride', set_device_metrics_override)
  driver.get("<your site url>")
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V91.Emulation;
using DevToolsSessionDomains = OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V91.DevToolsSessionDomains;

namespace Selenium4Sample {
public class ExampleDevice {

    protected IDevToolsSession session;
    protected IWebDriver driver;
    protected DevToolsSessionDomains devToolsSession;

    public async Task DeviceModeTest() {
      ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
      //Set ChromeDriver
      driver = new ChromeDriver();
      //Get DevTools
      IDevTools devTools = driver as IDevTools;
      //DevTools Session
      session = devTools.GetDevToolsSession();

      var deviceModeSetting = new SetDeviceMetricsOverrideCommandSettings();
      deviceModeSetting.Width = 600;
      deviceModeSetting.Height = 1000;
      deviceModeSetting.Mobile = true;
      deviceModeSetting.DeviceScaleFactor = 50;

      await session
            .GetVersionSpecificDomains < OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V91.DevToolsSessionDomains > ()
            .Emulation
            .SetDeviceMetricsOverride(deviceModeSetting);

      driver.Url = "<your site url>";
    }
}
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  metrics = { width: 300,
              height: 200,
              mobile: true,
              deviceScaleFactor: 50 }
  driver.execute_cdp('Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride', metrics)
  driver.get 'https://www.google.com'
ensure
  driver.quit
end
const {Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const firefox = require('selenium-webdriver/firefox');
const options = new firefox.Options();
// enable debugger for CDP
options.enableDebugger();

(async function example() {
  try {
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').setFirefoxOptions(options).build();
    const pageCdpConnection = await driver.createCDPConnection('page');
    const metrics = {
      width: 300,
      height: 200,
      deviceScaleFactor: 50,
      mobile: true,
    };
    await pageCdpConnection.execute(
      "Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride",
      metrics
    );
    await driver.get("https://www.google.com");
    await driver.quit();
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e);
  }
})();
fun kotlinOverridDeviceMode() {
  val driver = ChromeDriver()

  val deviceMetrics: Map<String, Any> = object : HashMap<String, Any>() {
    init {
        put("width", 600)
        put("height", 1000)
        put("mobile", true)
        put("deviceScaleFactor", 50)
    }
  }

  driver.executeCdpCommand("Emulation.setDeviceMetricsOverride", deviceMetrics)
  driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  driver.quit()
}

Collect Performance Metrics

Collect various performance metrics while navigating the application.

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.devtools.DevTools;

public void performanceMetricsExample() {
    ChromeDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    DevTools devTools = driver.getDevTools();
    devTools.createSession();
    devTools.send(Performance.enable(Optional.empty()));
    List<Metric> metricList = devTools.send(Performance.getMetrics());

    driver.get("https://google.com");
    driver.quit();

    for(Metric m : metricList) {
        System.out.println(m.getName() + " = " + m.getValue());
    }
}
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

driver.get('https://www.duckduckgo.com')
driver.execute_cdp_cmd('Performance.enable', {})
t = driver.execute_cdp_cmd('Performance.getMetrics', {})
print(t)
driver.quit()
// File must contain the following using statements
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools;

// We must use a version-specific set of domains
using OpenQA.Selenium.DevTools.V94.Performance;

public async Task PerformanceMetricsExample()
{
    IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    IDevTools devTools = driver as IDevTools;
    DevToolsSession session = devTools.GetDevToolsSession();
    await session.SendCommand<EnableCommandSettings>(new EnableCommandSettings());
    var metricsResponse =
        await session.SendCommand<GetMetricsCommandSettings, GetMetricsCommandResponse>(
            new GetMetricsCommandSettings());

    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.google.com");
    driver.Quit();

    var metrics = metricsResponse.Metrics;
    foreach (Metric metric in metrics)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0} = {1}", metric.Name, metric.Value);
    }
}
require 'selenium-webdriver'

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

begin
  driver.get 'https://www.duckduckgo.com'
  driver.execute_cdp('Performance.enable', {})
  metrics = driver.execute_cdp('Performance.getMetrics', {})
  puts metrics
ensure
  driver.quit
end
await driver.get("https://www.duckduckgo.com");

await driver.sendAndGetDevToolsCommand('Performance.enable')

let result = await driver.sendAndGetDevToolsCommand('Performance.getMetrics')
console.log(result)

await driver.quit();
val driver = ChromeDriver()
val devTools = driver.devTools
devTools.createSession()
devTools.send(Performance.enable(Optional.empty()))
val metricList: List<Metric> = devTools.send(Performance.getMetrics())

driver["https://google.com"]
driver.quit()

for (m in metricList) {
    println(m.name.toString() + " = " + m.value)
}

8.3 - BiDirectional API (W3C compliant)

The following list of APIs will be growing as the WebDriver BiDirectional Protocol grows and browser vendors implement the same. Additionally, Selenium will try to support real-world use cases that internally use a combination of W3C BiDi protocol APIs.

If there is additional functionality you’d like to see, please raise a feature request.

8.3.1 - Browsing Context

This section contains the APIs related to browsing context commands.

Open a new window

Creates a new browsing context in a new window.

Open a new tab

Creates a new browsing context in a new tab.

    void testCreateAWindowWithAReferenceContext() {

Use existing window handle

Creates a browsing context for the existing tab/window to run commands.

Open a window with a reference browsing context

A reference browsing context is a top-level browsing context. The API allows to pass the reference browsing context, which is used to create a new window. The implementation is operating system specific.

Open a tab with a reference browsing context

A reference browsing context is a top-level browsing context. The API allows to pass the reference browsing context, which is used to create a new tab. The implementation is operating system specific.

    void testCreateATabWithAReferenceContext() {
        BrowsingContext
                browsingContext =
        NavigationResult info = browsingContext.navigate("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/bidi/logEntryAdded.html");

        Assertions.assertNotNull(browsingContext.getId());
        Assertions.assertNull(info.getNavigationId());

Get browsing context tree

Provides a tree of all browsing contexts descending from the parent browsing context, including the parent browsing context.

                ReadinessState.COMPLETE);

        Assertions.assertNotNull(browsingContext.getId());
        Assertions.assertNull(info.getNavigationId());
        Assertions.assertTrue(info.getUrl().contains("/bidi/logEntryAdded.html"));
    }

Get browsing context tree with depth

Provides a tree of all browsing contexts descending from the parent browsing context, including the parent browsing context upto the depth value passed.

        Assertions.assertEquals(1, contextInfoList.size());
        BrowsingContextInfo info = contextInfoList.get(0);
        Assertions.assertEquals(1, info.getChildren().size());
        Assertions.assertEquals(referenceContextId, info.getId());

Get All Top level browsing contexts


        Assertions.assertEquals(1, contextInfoList.size());
        BrowsingContextInfo info = contextInfoList.get(0);
        Assertions.assertNull(info.getChildren()); // since depth is 0

Close a tab/window

        BrowsingContext window2 = new BrowsingContext(driver, WindowType.WINDOW);

        List<BrowsingContextInfo> contextInfoList = window1.getTopLevelContexts();

8.3.2 - Log

This section contains the APIs related to logging.

Listen to console.log events

Listen to the console.log events and register callbacks to process the event.

    }

    @AfterEach
    public void cleanup() {
        driver.quit();
    }

    @Test
            const inspector = await LogInspector(driver)
            await inspector.onConsoleEntry(function (log) {
              logEntry = log
            })
    
            await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/bidi/logEntryAdded.html')
            await driver.findElement({ id: 'consoleLog' }).click()
            
            assert.equal(logEntry.text, 'Hello, world!')
            assert.equal(logEntry.realm, null)
            assert.equal(logEntry.type, 'console')
            assert.equal(logEntry.level, 'info')
            assert.equal(logEntry.method, 'log')
            assert.equal(logEntry.stackTrace, null)
            assert.equal(logEntry.args.length, 1)

Listen to JS Exceptions

Listen to the JS Exceptions and register callbacks to process the exception details.

            Assertions.assertEquals("Error: Not working", logEntry.getText());
            Assertions.assertEquals("javascript", logEntry.getType());
            Assertions.assertEquals(LogLevel.ERROR, logEntry.getLevel());
        }
    }

    @Test
    void testListenToJavascriptErrorLog()
        const inspector = await LogInspector(driver)
        await inspector.onJavascriptException(function (log) {
            logEntry = log
        })

        await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/bidi/logEntryAdded.html')
        await driver.findElement({ id: 'jsException' }).click()

        assert.equal(logEntry.text, 'Error: Not working')
        assert.equal(logEntry.type, 'javascript')
        assert.equal(logEntry.level, 'error')

Listen to JS Logs

Listen to all JS logs at all levels and register callbacks to process the log.

            Assertions.assertEquals("console", logEntry.getType());
            Assertions.assertEquals("log", logEntry.getMethod());
            Assertions.assertNull(logEntry.getStackTrace());
        }
    }

    @Test
    void testListenToJavascriptLog()

9 - Support features

Support classes provide optional higher level features.

The core libraries of Selenium try to be low level and non-opinionated. The Support classes in each language provide opinionated wrappers for common interactions that may be used to simplify some behaviors.

9.1 - Working With Colors

You will occasionally want to validate the colour of something as part of your tests; the problem is that colour definitions on the web are not constant. Would it not be nice if there was an easy way to compare a HEX representation of a colour with a RGB representation of a colour, or a RGBA representation of a colour with a HSLA representation of a colour?

Worry not. There is a solution: the Color class!

First of all, you will need to import the class:

import org.openqa.selenium.support.Color;
  
from selenium.webdriver.support.color import Color
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
include Selenium::WebDriver::Support
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
import org.openqa.selenium.support.Color

You can now start creating colour objects. Every colour object will need to be created from a string representation of your colour. Supported colour representations are:

private final Color HEX_COLOUR = Color.fromString("#2F7ED8");
private final Color RGB_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgb(255, 255, 255)");
private final Color RGB_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgb(40%, 20%, 40%)");
private final Color RGBA_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5)");
private final Color RGBA_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgba(40%, 20%, 40%, 0.5)");
private final Color HSL_COLOUR = Color.fromString("hsl(100, 0%, 50%)");
private final Color HSLA_COLOUR = Color.fromString("hsla(100, 0%, 50%, 0.5)");
  
HEX_COLOUR = Color.from_string('#2F7ED8')
RGB_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgb(255, 255, 255)')
RGB_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgb(40%, 20%, 40%)')
RGBA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5)')
RGBA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgba(40%, 20%, 40%, 0.5)')
HSL_COLOUR = Color.from_string('hsl(100, 0%, 50%)')
HSLA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('hsla(100, 0%, 50%, 0.5)')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
HEX_COLOUR = Color.from_string('#2F7ED8')
RGB_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgb(255, 255, 255)')
RGB_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgb(40%, 20%, 40%)')
RGBA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5)')
RGBA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('rgba(40%, 20%, 40%, 0.5)')
HSL_COLOUR = Color.from_string('hsl(100, 0%, 50%)')
HSLA_COLOUR = Color.from_string('hsla(100, 0%, 50%, 0.5)')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
private val HEX_COLOUR = Color.fromString("#2F7ED8")
private val RGB_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgb(255, 255, 255)")
private val RGB_COLOUR_PERCENT = Color.fromString("rgb(40%, 20%, 40%)")
private val RGBA_COLOUR = Color.fromString("rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5)")
private val RGBA_COLOUR_PERCENT = Color.fromString("rgba(40%, 20%, 40%, 0.5)")
private val HSL_COLOUR = Color.fromString("hsl(100, 0%, 50%)")
private val HSLA_COLOUR = Color.fromString("hsla(100, 0%, 50%, 0.5)")
  

The Color class also supports all of the base colour definitions specified in http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/#html4.

private final Color BLACK = Color.fromString("black");
private final Color CHOCOLATE = Color.fromString("chocolate");
private final Color HOTPINK = Color.fromString("hotpink");
  
BLACK = Color.from_string('black')
CHOCOLATE = Color.from_string('chocolate')
HOTPINK = Color.from_string('hotpink')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
BLACK = Color.from_string('black')
CHOCOLATE = Color.from_string('chocolate')
HOTPINK = Color.from_string('hotpink')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
private val BLACK = Color.fromString("black")
private val CHOCOLATE = Color.fromString("chocolate")
private val HOTPINK = Color.fromString("hotpink")
  

Sometimes browsers will return a colour value of “transparent” if no colour has been set on an element. The Color class also supports this:

private final Color TRANSPARENT = Color.fromString("transparent");
  
TRANSPARENT = Color.from_string('transparent')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
TRANSPARENT = Color.from_string('transparent')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
private val TRANSPARENT = Color.fromString("transparent")
  

You can now safely query an element to get its colour/background colour knowing that any response will be correctly parsed and converted into a valid Color object:

Color loginButtonColour = Color.fromString(driver.findElement(By.id("login")).getCssValue("color"));

Color loginButtonBackgroundColour = Color.fromString(driver.findElement(By.id("login")).getCssValue("background-color"));
  
login_button_colour = Color.from_string(driver.find_element(By.ID,'login').value_of_css_property('color'))

login_button_background_colour = Color.from_string(driver.find_element(By.ID,'login').value_of_css_property('background-color'))
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
login_button_colour = Color.from_string(driver.find_element(id: 'login').css_value('color'))

login_button_background_colour = Color.from_string(driver.find_element(id: 'login').css_value('background-color'))
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
val loginButtonColour = Color.fromString(driver.findElement(By.id("login")).getCssValue("color"))

val loginButtonBackgroundColour = Color.fromString(driver.findElement(By.id("login")).getCssValue("background-color"))
  

You can then directly compare colour objects:

assert loginButtonBackgroundColour.equals(HOTPINK);
  
assert login_button_background_colour == HOTPINK
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
assert(login_button_background_colour == HOTPINK)
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
assert(loginButtonBackgroundColour.equals(HOTPINK))
  

Or you can convert the colour into one of the following formats and perform a static validation:

assert loginButtonBackgroundColour.asHex().equals("#ff69b4");
assert loginButtonBackgroundColour.asRgba().equals("rgba(255, 105, 180, 1)");
assert loginButtonBackgroundColour.asRgb().equals("rgb(255, 105, 180)");
  
assert login_button_background_colour.hex == '#ff69b4'
assert login_button_background_colour.rgba == 'rgba(255, 105, 180, 1)'
assert login_button_background_colour.rgb == 'rgb(255, 105, 180)'
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
assert(login_button_background_colour.hex == '#ff69b4')
assert(login_button_background_colour.rgba == 'rgba(255, 105, 180, 1)')
assert(login_button_background_colour.rgb == 'rgb(255, 105, 180)')
  
// This feature is not implemented - Help us by sending a pr to implement this feature
  
assert(loginButtonBackgroundColour.asHex().equals("#ff69b4"))
assert(loginButtonBackgroundColour.asRgba().equals("rgba(255, 105, 180, 1)"))
assert(loginButtonBackgroundColour.asRgb().equals("rgb(255, 105, 180)"))
  

Colours are no longer a problem.

9.2 - Working with select list elements

Select lists have special behaviors compared to other elements.

The Select object will now give you a series of commands that allow you to interact with a <select> element.

If you are using Java or .NET make sure that you’ve properly required the support package in your code. See the full code from GitHub in any of the examples below.

Note that this class only works for HTML elements select and option. It is possible to design drop-downs with JavaScript overlays using div or li, and this class will not work for those.

Types

Select methods may behave differently depending on which type of <select> element is being worked with.

Single select

This is the standard drop-down object where one and only one option may be selected.

<select name="selectomatic">
    <option selected="selected" id="non_multi_option" value="one">One</option>
    <option value="two">Two</option>
    <option value="four">Four</option>
    <option value="still learning how to count, apparently">Still learning how to count, apparently</option>
</select>

Multiple select

This select list allows selecting and deselecting more than one option at a time. This only applies to <select> elements with the multiple attribute.

<select name="multi" id="multi" multiple="multiple">
    <option selected="selected" value="eggs">Eggs</option>
    <option value="ham">Ham</option>
    <option selected="selected" value="sausages">Sausages</option>
    <option value="onion gravy">Onion gravy</option>
</select>

Create class

First locate a <select> element, then use it to initialize a Select object. Note that as of Selenium 4.5, you can’t create a Select object if the <select> element is disabled.

        WebElement selectElement = driver.findElement(By.name("selectomatic"));
        Select select = new Select(selectElement);
    select_element = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'selectomatic')
    select = Select(select_element)
            var selectElement = driver.FindElement(By.Name("selectomatic"));
            var select = new SelectElement(selectElement);
  it 'select options' do
    select_element = driver.find_element(name: 'selectomatic')
      const selectElement = await driver.findElement(By.name('selectomatic'))
      const select = new Select(selectElement)
    val selectElement = driver.findElement(By.name("selectomatic"))
    val select = Select(selectElement)

List options

There are two lists that can be obtained:

All options

Get a list of all options in the <select> element:

        List<WebElement> optionList = select.getOptions();
    option_list = select.options
            IList<IWebElement> optionList = select.Options;
    option_elements = select_element.find_elements(tag_name: 'option')
      const optionList = await select.getOptions()
    val optionList = select.getOptions()

Selected options

Get a list of selected options in the <select> element. For a standard select list this will only be a list with one element, for a multiple select list it can contain zero or many elements.

        List<WebElement> selectedOptionList = select.getAllSelectedOptions();
    selected_option_list = select.all_selected_options
            IList<IWebElement> selectedOptionList = select.AllSelectedOptions;
      const selectedOptionList = await select.getAllSelectedOptions()
    val selectedOptionList = select.getAllSelectedOptions()

Select option

The Select class provides three ways to select an option. Note that for multiple select type Select lists, you can repeat these methods for each element you want to select.

Text

Select the option based on its visible text

        select.selectByVisibleText("Four");
    select.select_by_visible_text('Four')
            select.SelectByText("Four");
      await select.selectByVisibleText('Four')
    select.selectByVisibleText("Four")

Value

Select the option based on its value attribute

        select.selectByValue("two");
    select.select_by_value('two')
            select.SelectByValue("two");
      await select.selectByValue('two')
    select.selectByValue("two")

Index

Select the option based on its position in the list

        select.selectByIndex(3);
    select.select_by_index(3)
            select.SelectByIndex(3);
      await select.selectByIndex(3)
    select.selectByIndex(3)

Disabled options

Selenium v4.5

Options with a disabled attribute may not be selected.

    <select name="single_disabled">
      <option id="sinlge_disabled_1" value="enabled">Enabled</option>
      <option id="sinlge_disabled_2" value="disabled" disabled="disabled">Disabled</option>
    </select>
        Assertions.assertThrows(UnsupportedOperationException.class, () -> {
            select.selectByValue("disabled");
        });
    with pytest.raises(NotImplementedError):
        select.select_by_value('disabled')
            Assert.ThrowsException<InvalidOperationException>(() => select.SelectByValue("disabled"));

    expect {
      select.select_by(:value, 'disabled')
      await assert.rejects(async () => {
        await select.selectByValue("disabled")
      }, {
        name: 'UnsupportedOperationError',
    Assertions.assertThrows(UnsupportedOperationException::class.java) {
      select.selectByValue("disabled")
    }

De-select option

Only multiple select type select lists can have options de-selected. You can repeat these methods for each element you want to select.

        select.deselectByValue("eggs");
    select.deselect_by_value('eggs')
            select.DeselectByValue("eggs");
      await select.deselectByValue('eggs')
    select.deselectByValue("eggs")

9.3 - ThreadGuard

This class is only available in the Java Binding

ThreadGuard checks that a driver is called only from the same thread that created it. Threading issues especially when running tests in Parallel may have mysterious and hard to diagnose errors. Using this wrapper prevents this category of errors and will raise an exception when it happens.

The following example simulate a clash of threads:

public class DriverClash {
  //thread main (id 1) created this driver
  private WebDriver protectedDriver = ThreadGuard.protect(new ChromeDriver()); 

  static {
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "<Set path to your Chromedriver>");
  }
  
  //Thread-1 (id 24) is calling the same driver causing the clash to happen
  Runnable r1 = () -> {protectedDriver.get("https://selenium.dev");};
  Thread thr1 = new Thread(r1);
   
  void runThreads(){
    thr1.start();
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    new DriverClash().runThreads();
  }
}

The result shown below:

Exception in thread "Thread-1" org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException:
Thread safety error; this instance of WebDriver was constructed
on thread main (id 1)and is being accessed by thread Thread-1 (id 24)
This is not permitted and *will* cause undefined behaviour

As seen in the example:

  • protectedDriver Will be created in Main thread
  • We use Java Runnable to spin up a new process and a new Thread to run the process
  • Both Thread will clash because the Main Thread does not have protectedDriver in it’s memory.
  • ThreadGuard.protect will throw an exception.

Note:

This does not replace the need for using ThreadLocal to manage drivers when running parallel.

10 - Troubleshooting Assistance

How to get manage WebDriver problems.

It is not always obvious the root cause of errors in Selenium.

  1. The most common Selenium-related error is a result of poor synchronization. Read about Waiting Strategies. If you aren’t sure if it is a synchronization strategy you can try temporarily hard coding a large sleep where you see the issue, and you’ll know if adding an explicit wait can help.

  2. Note that many errors that get reported to the project are actually caused by issues in the underlying drivers that Selenium sends the commands to. You can rule out a driver problem by executing the command in multiple browsers.

  3. If you have questions about how to do things, check out the Support options for ways get assistance.

  4. If you think you’ve found a problem with Selenium code, go ahead and file a Bug Report on GitHub.

10.1 - Understanding Common Errors

How to get deal with various problems in your Selenium code.

Invalid Selector Exception

CSS and XPath Selectors are sometimes difficult to get correct.

Likely Cause

The CSS or XPath selector you are trying to use has invalid characters or an invalid query.

Possible Solutions

Run your selector through a validator service:

Or use a browser extension to get a known good value:

No Such Element Exception

The element can not be found at the exact moment you attempted to locate it.

Likely Cause

  • You are looking for the element in the wrong place (perhaps a previous action was unsuccessful).
  • You are looking for the element at the wrong time (the element has not shown up in the DOM, yet)
  • The locator has changed since you wrote the code

Possible Solutions

  • Make sure you are on the page you expect to be on, and that previous actions in your code completed correctly
  • Make sure you are using a proper Waiting Strategy
  • Update the locator with the browser’s devtools console or use a browser extension like:

Stale Element Reference Exception

An element goes stale when it was previously located, but can not be currently accessed. Elements do not get relocated automatically; the driver creates a reference ID for the element and has a particular place it expects to find it in the DOM. If it can not find the element in the current DOM, any action using that element will result in this exception.

Common Causes

This can happen when:

  • You have refreshed the page, or the DOM of the page has dynamically changed.
  • You have navigated to a different page.
  • You have switched to another window or into or out of a frame or iframe.

Common Solutions

The DOM has changed

When the page is refreshed or items on the page have moved around, there is still an element with the desired locator on the page, it is just no longer accessible by the element object being used, and the element must be relocated before it can be used again. This is often done in one of two ways:

  • Always relocate the element every time you go to use it. The likelihood of the element going stale in the microseconds between locating and using the element is small, though possible. The downside is that this is not the most efficient approach, especially when running on a remote grid.

  • Wrap the Web Element with another object that stores the locator, and caches the located Selenium element. When taking actions with this wrapped object, you can attempt to use the cached object if previously located, and if it is stale, exception can be caught, the element relocated with the stored locator, and the method re-tried. This is more efficient, but it can cause problems if the locator you’re using references a different element (and not the one you want) after the page has changed.

The Context has changed

Element objects are stored for a given context, so if you move to a different context — like a different window or a different frame or iframe — the element reference will still be valid, but will be temporarily inaccessible. In this scenario, it won’t help to relocate the element, because it doesn’t exist in the current context. To fix this, you need to make sure to switch back to the correct context before using the element.

The Page has changed

This scenario is when you haven’t just changed contexts, you have navigated to another page and have destroyed the context in which the element was located. You can’t just relocate it from the current context, and you can’t switch back to an active context where it is valid. If this is the reason for your error, you must both navigate back to the correct location and relocate it.

10.2 - Logging Selenium commands

Getting information about Selenium execution.

Turning on logging is a valuable way to get extra information that might help you determine why you might be having a problem.

Getting a logger

Java logs are typically created per class. You can work with the default logger to work with all loggers. To filter out specific classes, see Filtering

Get the root logger:

    Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("");

Java Logging is not exactly straightforward, and if you are just looking for an easy way to look at the important Selenium logs, take a look at the Selenium Logger project

Python logs are typically created per module. You can match all submodules by referencing the top level module. So to work with all loggers in selenium module, you can do this:

    logger = logging.getLogger('selenium')
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

If you want to see as much debugging as possible in all the classes, you can turn on debugging globally in Ruby by setting $DEBUG = true.

For more fine-tuned control, Ruby Selenium created its own Logger class to wrap the default Logger class. This implementation provides some interesting additional features. Obtain the logger directly from the #loggerclass method on the Selenium::WebDriver module:

      logger = Selenium::WebDriver.logger
const logging = require('selenium-webdriver/lib/logging')
logger = logging.getLogger('webdriver')

Logger level

Logger level helps to filter out logs based on their severity.

Java has 7 logger levels: SEVERE, WARNING, INFO, CONFIG, FINE, FINER, and FINEST. The default is INFO.

You have to change both the level of the logger and the level of the handlers on the root logger:

    logger.setLevel(Level.FINE);
    Arrays.stream(logger.getHandlers()).forEach(handler -> {
      handler.setLevel(Level.FINE);
    });

Python has 6 logger levels: CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG, and NOTSET. The default is WARNING

To change the level of the logger:

    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

Things get complicated when you use PyTest, though. By default, PyTest hides logging unless the test fails. You need to set 3 things to get PyTest to display logs on passing tests.

To always output logs with PyTest you need to run with additional arguments. First, -s to prevent PyTest from capturing the console. Second, -p no:logging, which allows you to override the default PyTest logging settings so logs can be displayed regardless of errors.

So you need to set these flags in your IDE, or run PyTest on command line like:

pytest -s -p no:logging

Finally, since you turned off logging in the arguments above, you now need to add configuration to turn it back on:

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.WARN)
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

Ruby logger has 5 logger levels: :debug, :info, :warn, :error, :fatal. As of Selenium v4.9.1, The default is :info.

To change the level of the logger:

      logger.level = :debug

JavaScript has 9 logger levels: OFF, SEVERE, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG, FINE, FINER, FINEST, ALL. The default is OFF.

To change the level of the logger:

logger.setLevel(logging.Level.INFO)

Actionable items

Things are logged as warnings if they are something the user needs to take action on. This is often used for deprecations. For various reasons, Selenium project does not follow standard Semantic Versioning practices. Our policy is to mark things as deprecated for 3 releases and then remove them, so deprecations may be logged as warnings.

Java logs actionable content at logger level WARN

Example:

May 08, 2023 9:23:38 PM dev.selenium.troubleshooting.LoggingTest logging
WARNING: this is a warning

Python logs actionable content at logger level — WARNING Details about deprecations are logged at this level.

Example:

WARNING  selenium:test_logging.py:23 this is a warning
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

Ruby logs actionable content at logger level — :warn. Details about deprecations are logged at this level.

For example:

2023-05-08 20:53:13 WARN Selenium [:example_id] this is a warning 

Because these items can get annoying, we’ve provided an easy way to turn them off, see filtering section below.

Useful information

This is the default level where Selenium logs things that users should be aware of but do not need to take actions on. This might reference a new method or direct users to more information about something

Java logs useful information at logger level INFO

Example:

May 08, 2023 9:23:38 PM dev.selenium.troubleshooting.LoggingTest logging
INFO: this is useful information

Python logs useful information at logger level — INFO

Example:

INFO     selenium:test_logging.py:22 this is useful information
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

Ruby logs useful information at logger level — :info.

Example:

2023-05-08 20:53:13 INFO Selenium [:example_id] this is useful information 

Logs useful information at level: INFO

Debugging Details

The debug log level is used for information that may be needed for diagnosing issues and troubleshooting problems.

Java logs most debug content at logger level FINE

Example:

May 08, 2023 9:23:38 PM dev.selenium.troubleshooting.LoggingTest logging
FINE: this is detailed debug information

Python logs debugging details at logger level — DEBUG

Example:

DEBUG    selenium:test_logging.py:24 this is detailed debug information
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

Ruby only provides one level for debugging, so all details are at logger level — :debug.

Example:

2023-05-08 20:53:13 DEBUG Selenium [:example_id] this is detailed debug information 

Logs debugging details at level: FINER and FINEST

Logger output

Logs can be displayed in the console or stored in a file. Different languages have different defaults.

By default all logs are sent to System.err. To direct output to a file, you need to add a handler:

    Handler handler = new FileHandler("selenium.xml");
    logger.addHandler(handler);

By default all logs are sent to sys.stderr. To direct output somewhere else, you need to add a handler with either a StreamHandler or a FileHandler:

    log_path = "selenium.log"
    handler = logging.FileHandler(log_path)
    logger.addHandler(handler)
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

By default, logs are sent to the console in stdout.
To store the logs in a file:

      logger.output = file_name

JavaScript does not currently support sending output to a file.

To send logs to console output:

logging.installConsoleHandler()

Logger filtering

Java logging is managed on a per class level, so instead of using the root logger (Logger.getLogger("")), set the level you want to use on a per-class basis:

    Logger.getLogger(RemoteWebDriver.class.getName()).setLevel(Level.FINEST);
    Logger.getLogger(SeleniumManager.class.getName()).setLevel(Level.SEVERE);
Because logging is managed by module, instead of working with just "selenium", you can specify different levels for different modules:
    logging.getLogger('selenium.webdriver.remote').setLevel(logging.WARN)
    logging.getLogger('selenium.webdriver.common').setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
.NET does not currently have a Logging implementation

Ruby’s logger allows you to opt in (“allow”) or opt out (“ignore”) of log messages based on their IDs. Everything that Selenium logs includes an ID. You can also turn on or off all deprecation notices by using :deprecations.

These methods accept one or more symbols or an array of symbols:

      logger.ignore(:jwp_caps, :logger_info)

or

      logger.allow(%i[selenium_manager example_id])