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Driver Sessions

1: Browser Options
2: HTTP Client Configuration
3: Driver Service Class
4: Remote WebDriver

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 HTTP Client configuration (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

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);

View full example on GitHub

    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

            driver = new ChromeDriver(options);

View full example on GitHub

      driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, options: options

View full example on GitHub

    let driver = new Builder()
        .forBrowser(Browser.CHROME)
        .setChromeOptions(options)
        .setChromeService(service)
        .build();

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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

        driver.quit();

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    driver.quit()

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        driver.Quit();

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      driver.quit

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    await driver.quit();

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        driver.quit()

View full example on GitHub

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

Browser name is set by default when using an Options class instance.

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	String name = chromeOptions.getBrowserName();

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    assert options.capabilities['browserName'] == 'chrome'

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

browserVersion

This capability is optional, this is used to set the available browser version at remote end. In recent versions of Selenium, if the version is not found on the system, it will be automatically downloaded by Selenium Manager

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	String version = "latest";
	chromeOptions.setBrowserVersion(version);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.browser_version = 'stable'
    assert options.capabilities['browserVersion'] == 'stable'

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options.browser_version = 'latest'

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

Move Code

    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NORMAL);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.page_load_strategy = 'normal'
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

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();
      }
    }
  }
}

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.page_load_strategy = :normal

View full example on GitHub

    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser(Browser.CHROME)
      .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('normal'))
      .build();

    await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/blank.html');
    await driver.quit();

View full example on GitHub

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.

Move Code

    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.EAGER);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.page_load_strategy = 'eager'
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

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();
      }
    }
  }
}

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.page_load_strategy = :eager

View full example on GitHub

    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser(Browser.CHROME)
      .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('eager'))
      .build();

    await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/blank.html');
    await driver.quit();

View full example on GitHub

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.

Move Code

    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setPageLoadStrategy(PageLoadStrategy.NONE);
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.page_load_strategy = 'none'
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

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();
      }
    }
  }
}

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.page_load_strategy = :none

View full example on GitHub

    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser(Browser.CHROME)
      .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('none'))
      .build();

    await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/blank.html');
    await driver.quit();

View full example on GitHub

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.

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	String platform = "OS X 10.6";
	chromeOptions.setPlatformName(platform);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.platform_name = 'any'
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.firefox
      options.platform_name = 'Windows 10'

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.accept_insecure_certs = True
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.accept_insecure_certs = true

View full example on GitHub

    let driver = new Builder()
      .forBrowser(Browser.CHROME)
      .setChromeOptions(options.setAcceptInsecureCerts(true))
      .build();

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	Duration duration = Duration.of(5, ChronoUnit.SECONDS);
	chromeOptions.setScriptTimeout(duration);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.timeouts = { 'script': 5000 }
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.timeouts = {script: 40_000}

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	Duration duration = Duration.of(5, ChronoUnit.SECONDS);
	chromeOptions.setPageLoadTimeout(duration);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.timeouts = { 'pageLoad': 5000 }
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.timeouts = {page_load: 400_000}

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	Duration duration = Duration.of(5, ChronoUnit.SECONDS);
	chromeOptions.setImplicitWaitTimeout(duration);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.timeouts = { 'implicit': 5000 }
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.timeouts = {implicit: 1}

View full example on GitHub

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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

	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
	chromeOptions.setUnhandledPromptBehaviour(UnexpectedAlertBehaviour.DISMISS_AND_NOTIFY);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.unhandled_prompt_behavior = 'accept'
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.unhandled_prompt_behavior = :accept

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

setWindowRect

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

   	ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
   	chromeOptions.setCapability(CapabilityType.SET_WINDOW_RECT, true);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
    options.set_window_rect = True # Full support in Firefox
    driver = webdriver.Firefox(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.firefox
      options.set_window_rect = true

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

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.

    ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
    chromeOptions.setCapability(CapabilityType.STRICT_FILE_INTERACTABILITY, true);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.strict_file_interactability = True
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.strict_file_interactability = true

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

proxy

A proxy server acts as an intermediary for requests between a client and a server. In simple terms, 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:

Move Code

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();
  }
}

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.proxy = Proxy({ 'proxyType': ProxyType.MANUAL, 'httpProxy' : 'http.proxy:1234'})
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

View full example on GitHub

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/");
}
}

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
      options.proxy = Selenium::WebDriver::Proxy.new(http: 'myproxy.com:8080')

View full example on GitHub

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 - HTTP Client Configuration

These allow you to set various parameters for the HTTP library

package dev.selenium.drivers;

import dev.selenium.BaseTest;

import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.ClientConfig;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;

import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManagerFactory;
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.net.URL;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.cert.CertificateFactory;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
import java.time.Duration;

import org.openqa.selenium.UsernameAndPassword;

import static java.net.http.HttpClient.Version.HTTP_1_1;

public class HttpClientTest extends BaseTest {
    URL gridUrl;

    @BeforeEach
    public void startGrid() {
        gridUrl = startStandaloneGridAdvanced();
    }

    @Test
    public void remoteWebDriverWithClientConfig() throws Exception {
        ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.defaultConfig()
                .withRetries()
                .sslContext(createSSLContextWithCA(Path.of("src/test/resources/tls.crt").toAbsolutePath().toString()))
                .connectionTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(300))
                .readTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(3600))
                .authenticateAs(new UsernameAndPassword("admin", "myStrongPassword"))
                .version(HTTP_1_1.toString());
        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.setEnableDownloads(true);
        driver = RemoteWebDriver.builder()
                .oneOf(options)
                .address(gridUrl)
                .config(clientConfig)
                .build();
        driver.quit();
    }

    @Test
    public void remoteWebDriverIgnoreSSL() throws Exception {
        ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.defaultConfig()
                .withRetries()
                .sslContext(createIgnoreSSLContext())
                .connectionTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(300))
                .readTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(3600))
                .authenticateAs(new UsernameAndPassword("admin", "myStrongPassword"))
                .version(HTTP_1_1.toString());
        ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
        options.setEnableDownloads(true);
        driver = RemoteWebDriver.builder()
                .oneOf(options)
                .address(gridUrl)
                .config(clientConfig)
                .build();
        driver.quit();
    }

    public static SSLContext createSSLContextWithCA(String caCertPath) throws Exception {
        FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(caCertPath);
        CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
        X509Certificate caCert = (X509Certificate) cf.generateCertificate(fis);
        KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
        keyStore.load(null, null);
        keyStore.setCertificateEntry("caCert", caCert);
        TrustManagerFactory tmf = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(TrustManagerFactory.getDefaultAlgorithm());
        tmf.init(keyStore);
        SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        sslContext.init(null, tmf.getTrustManagers(), null);
        return sslContext;
    }

    public static SSLContext createIgnoreSSLContext() throws Exception {
        TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[]{
                new X509TrustManager() {
                    public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
                        return null;
                    }

                    public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                    }

                    public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                    }
                }
        };
        SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        sslContext.init(null, trustAllCerts, new java.security.SecureRandom());
        return sslContext;
    }
}

View full example on GitHub

import os
import pytest
import sys
from urllib3.util import Retry, Timeout
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.proxy import Proxy
from selenium.webdriver.common.proxy import ProxyType
from selenium.webdriver.remote.client_config import ClientConfig


@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="Gets stuck on Windows, passes locally")
def test_start_remote_with_client_config(grid_server):
    proxy = Proxy({"proxyType": ProxyType.AUTODETECT})
    retries = Retry(connect=2, read=2, redirect=2)
    timeout = Timeout(connect=300, read=3600)
    client_config = ClientConfig(remote_server_addr=grid_server,
                                 proxy=proxy,
                                 init_args_for_pool_manager={
                                     "init_args_for_pool_manager": {"retries": retries, "timeout": timeout}},
                                 ca_certs=_get_resource_path("tls.crt"),
                                 username="admin", password="myStrongPassword")
    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Remote(command_executor=grid_server, options=options, client_config=client_config)
    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev")
    driver.quit()


@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="Gets stuck on Windows, passes locally")
def test_start_remote_ignore_certs(grid_server):
    proxy = Proxy({"proxyType": ProxyType.AUTODETECT})
    client_config = ClientConfig(remote_server_addr=grid_server,
                                 proxy=proxy,
                                 timeout=3600,
                                 ignore_certificates=True,
                                 username="admin", password="myStrongPassword")
    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Remote(command_executor=grid_server, options=options, client_config=client_config)
    driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev")
    driver.quit()


def _get_resource_path(file_name: str):
    if os.path.abspath("").endswith("tests"):
        path = os.path.abspath(f"resources/{file_name}")
    else:
        path = os.path.abspath(f"tests/resources/{file_name}")
    return path

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

    client = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Http::Default.new(open_timeout: 30, read_timeout: 30)
    expect(client.open_timeout).to eq 30

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

3 - Driver Service Class

The Service classes are for managing the starting and stopping of local drivers. They cannot be used with a Remote WebDriver session.

Service classes allow you to specify information about the driver, like location and which port to use. They also let you specify what arguments get passed to the command line. Most of the useful arguments are related to logging.

Default Service instance

To start a driver with a default service instance:

    ChromeDriverService service = new ChromeDriverService.Builder().build();
    driver = new ChromeDriver(service);

View full example on GitHub

Note: Java Service classes only allow values to be set during construction with a Builder pattern.

Selenium v4.11

    service = webdriver.ChromeService()
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)

View full example on GitHub

Note: Python Service classes only allow values to be set as arguments to the constructor.

            var service = ChromeDriverService.CreateDefaultService();
            driver = new ChromeDriver(service);

View full example on GitHub

Note: .NET Service classes allow values to be set as properties.

    service = Selenium::WebDriver::Service.chrome
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome, service: service

View full example on GitHub

Note: Ruby Service classes allow values to be set either as arguments in the constructor or as attributes.

Add Example

Driver location

Note: If you are using Selenium 4.6 or greater, you shouldn’t need to set a driver location. If you cannot update Selenium or have an advanced use case, here is how to specify the driver location:

    ChromeDriverService service =
        new ChromeDriverService.Builder().usingDriverExecutable(driverPath).build();

View full example on GitHub

Selenium v4.11

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(executable_path=chromedriver_bin)

View full example on GitHub

Selenium v4.9

            var service = ChromeDriverService.CreateDefaultService(GetDriverLocation(options));

View full example on GitHub

Selenium v4.8

    service.executable_path = driver_path

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

Driver port

If you want the driver to run on a specific port, you may specify it as follows:

    ChromeDriverService service = new ChromeDriverService.Builder().usingPort(1234).build();

View full example on GitHub

Selenium v4.11

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(port=1234)

View full example on GitHub

            service.Port = 1234;

View full example on GitHub

Selenium v4.8

    service.port = 1234

View full example on GitHub

Add Example

Logging

Logging functionality varies between browsers. Most browsers allow you to specify location and level of logs. Take a look at the respective browser page:

4 - Remote WebDriver

Selenium lets you automate browsers on remote computers if there is a Selenium Grid running on them. The computer that executes the code is referred to as the client computer, and the computer with the browser and driver is referred to as the remote computer or sometimes as an end-node. To direct Selenium tests to the remote computer, you need to use a Remote WebDriver class and pass the URL including the port of the grid on that machine. Please see the grid documentation for all the various ways the grid can be configured.

Basic Example

The driver needs to know where to send commands to and which browser to start on the Remote computer. So an address and an options instance are both required.

    ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
    driver = new RemoteWebDriver(gridUrl, options);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    driver = webdriver.Remote(command_executor=server, options=options)

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            var options = new ChromeOptions();
            driver = new RemoteWebDriver(GridUrl, options);

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    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: grid_url, options: options

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Uploads

Uploading a file is more complicated for Remote WebDriver sessions because the file you want to upload is likely on the computer executing the code, but the driver on the remote computer is looking for the provided path on its local file system. The solution is to use a Local File Detector. When one is set, Selenium will bundle the file, and send it to the remote machine, so the driver can see the reference to it. Some bindings include a basic local file detector by default, and all of them allow for a custom file detector.

Java does not include a Local File Detector by default, so you must always add one to do uploads.

    ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).setFileDetector(new LocalFileDetector());
    WebElement fileInput = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type=file]"));
    fileInput.sendKeys(uploadFile.getAbsolutePath());
    driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).click();

View full example on GitHub

Python adds a local file detector to remote webdriver instances by default, but you can also create your own class.

    driver.file_detector = LocalFileDetector()
    file_input = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[type='file']")
    file_input.send_keys(upload_file)
    driver.find_element(By.ID, "file-submit").click()

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.NET adds a local file detector to remote webdriver instances by default, but you can also create your own class.

            ((RemoteWebDriver)driver).FileDetector = new LocalFileDetector();
            IWebElement fileInput = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("input[type=file]"));
            fileInput.SendKeys(uploadFile);
            driver.FindElement(By.Id("file-submit")).Click();

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Ruby adds a local file detector to remote webdriver instances by default, but you can also create your own lambda:

    driver.file_detector = ->((filename, *)) { filename.include?('selenium') && filename }
    file_input = driver.find_element(css: 'input[type=file]')
    file_input.send_keys(upload_file)
    driver.find_element(id: 'file-submit').click

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Downloads

Chrome, Edge and Firefox each allow you to set the location of the download directory. When you do this on a remote computer, though, the location is on the remote computer’s local file system. Selenium allows you to enable downloads to get these files onto the client computer.

Enable Downloads in the Grid

Regardless of the client, when starting the grid in node or standalone mode, you must add the flag:

--enable-managed-downloads true

Enable Downloads in the Client

The grid uses the se:downloadsEnabled capability to toggle whether to be responsible for managing the browser location. Each of the bindings have a method in the options class to set this.

    ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
    options.setEnableDownloads(true);
    driver = new RemoteWebDriver(gridUrl, options);

View full example on GitHub

    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.enable_downloads = True
    driver = webdriver.Remote(command_executor=server, options=options)

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            ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions
            {
                EnableDownloads = true
            };

            driver = new RemoteWebDriver(GridUrl, options);

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    options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome(enable_downloads: true)
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: grid_url, options: options

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List Downloadable Files

Be aware that Selenium is not waiting for files to finish downloading, so the list is an immediate snapshot of what file names are currently in the directory for the given session.

    List<String> files = ((HasDownloads) driver).getDownloadableFiles();

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    files = driver.get_downloadable_files()

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            IReadOnlyList<string> names = ((RemoteWebDriver)driver).GetDownloadableFiles();

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    files = driver.downloadable_files

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Download a File

Selenium looks for the name of the provided file in the list and downloads it to the provided target directory.

    ((HasDownloads) driver).downloadFile(downloadableFile, targetDirectory);

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    driver.download_file(downloadable_file, target_directory)

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            ((RemoteWebDriver)driver).DownloadFile(downloadableFile, targetDirectory);

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    driver.download_file(downloadable_file, target_directory)

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Delete Downloaded Files

By default, the download directory is deleted at the end of the applicable session, but you can also delete all files during the session.

    ((HasDownloads) driver).deleteDownloadableFiles();

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    driver.delete_downloadable_files()

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            ((RemoteWebDriver)driver).DeleteDownloadableFiles();

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    driver.delete_downloadable_files

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Browser specific functionalities

Each browser has implemented special functionality that is available only to that browser. Each of the Selenium bindings has implemented a different way to use those features in a Remote Session

Java requires you to use the Augmenter class, which allows it to automatically pull in implementations for all interfaces that match the capabilities used with the RemoteWebDriver

    driver = new Augmenter().augment(driver);

View full example on GitHub

Of interest, using the RemoteWebDriverBuilder automatically augments the driver, so it is a great way to get all the functionality by default:

        RemoteWebDriver.builder()
            .address(gridUrl)
            .oneOf(new ChromeOptions())
            .setCapability("ext:options", Map.of("key", "value"))
            .config(ClientConfig.defaultConfig())
            .build();

View full example on GitHub

Implementation Missing

.NET uses a custom command executor for executing commands that are valid for the given browser in the remote driver.

            var customCommandDriver = driver as ICustomDriverCommandExecutor;
            customCommandDriver.RegisterCustomDriverCommands(FirefoxDriver.CustomCommandDefinitions);

            var screenshotResponse = customCommandDriver
                .ExecuteCustomDriverCommand(FirefoxDriver.GetFullPageScreenshotCommand, null);

View full example on GitHub

Ruby uses mixins to add applicable browser specific methods to the Remote WebDriver session; the methods should always just work for you.

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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:

OpenTelemetry: https://opentelemetry.io
Configuring OpenTelemetry: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/tree/main/sdk-extensions/autoconfigure
Jaeger: https://www.jaegertracing.io
Selenium Grid Observability

Driver Sessions

Creating Sessions

Local Driver

Remote Driver

Quitting Sessions

1 - Browser Options

browserName

browserVersion

pageLoadStrategy

normal (default)

eager

none

platformName

acceptInsecureCerts

timeouts

Script Timeout

Page Load Timeout

Implicit Wait Timeout

unhandledPromptBehavior

User Prompt Handler

setWindowRect

strictFileInteractability

proxy

2 - HTTP Client Configuration

3 - Driver Service Class

Default Service instance

Driver location

Driver port

Logging

4 - Remote WebDriver

Basic Example

Uploads

Downloads

Enable Downloads in the Grid

Enable Downloads in the Client

List Downloadable Files

Download a File

Delete Downloaded Files

Browser specific functionalities

Tracing client requests

Add the required dependencies

Add/pass the required system properties while running the client

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