WebDriver

• 1: Getting started
• 1.1: Install a Selenium library
• 1.2: Write your first Selenium script
• 1.3: Organizing and Executing Selenium Code
• 2: Driver Sessions
• 2.1: Browser Options
• 2.2: HTTP Client Configuration
• 2.3: Driver Service Class
• 2.4: Remote WebDriver
• 3: Supported Browsers
• 3.1: Chrome specific functionality
• 3.2: Edge specific functionality
• 3.3: Firefox specific functionality
• 3.4: IE specific functionality
• 3.5: Safari specific functionality
• 4: Waiting Strategies
• 5: Web elements
• 5.1: File Upload
• 5.2: Locator strategies
• 5.3: Finding web elements
• 5.4: Interacting with web elements
• 5.5: Information about web elements
• 6: Browser interactions
• 6.1: Browser navigation
• 6.2: JavaScript alerts, prompts and confirmations
• 6.3: Working with cookies
• 6.4: Working with IFrames and frames
• 6.5: Working with windows and tabs
• 6.6: Virtual Authenticator
• 7: Actions API
• 7.1: Keyboard actions
• 7.2: Mouse actions
• 7.3: Pen actions
• 7.4: Scroll wheel actions
• 8: BiDirectional functionality
• 8.1: Chrome DevTools
• 8.1.1: Chrome DevTools Protocol Endpoint
• 8.1.2: Chrome DevTools Protocol API
• 8.1.3: Chrome Devtools Protocol with BiDi API
• 8.2: BiDirectional API (W3C compliant)
• 8.2.1: Browsing Context
• 8.2.2: Input
• 8.2.3: Log
• 8.2.4: Network
• 8.2.5: Script
• 9: Support features
• 9.1: Waiting with Expected Conditions
• 9.2: Command Listeners
• 9.3: Working With Colors
• 9.4: Working with select list elements
• 9.5: ThreadGuard
• 10: Troubleshooting Assistance
• 10.1: Understanding Common Errors
• 10.1.1: Unable to Locate Driver Error
• 10.2: Logging Selenium commands
• 10.3: Upgrade to Selenium 4

1 - Getting started

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
            <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
            <version>${selenium.version}</version>

    testImplementation 'org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:4.20.0'
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine:5.10.2'

pip install selenium

python setup.py install

selenium==4.20.0

Install-Package Selenium.WebDriver

dotnet add package Selenium.WebDriver

      <PackageReference Include="Selenium.WebDriver" Version="4.20.0" />

<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>
...

gem install selenium-webdriver

gem 'selenium-devtools', '= 0.124.0'

npm install selenium-webdriver

        "mocha": "10.4.0"

Next Step

Create your first Selenium script

1.2 - Write your first Selenium script

Once you have Selenium 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

Click on the link to “View full example on GitHub” to see the code in context.

1. Start the session

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

        IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome

    driver = await new Builder().forBrowser(Browser.CHROME).build();

        driver = ChromeDriver()

2. Take action on browser

In this example we are navigating to a web page.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        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');

        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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        driver.getTitle();

title = driver.title

        var title = driver.Title;

driver.title

    let title = await driver.getTitle();

        val title = driver.title

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        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});

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        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'));

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

6. Take action on element

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        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();

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

7. Request element information

Elements store a lot of information that can be requested.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        message.getText();

text = message.text

        var value = message.Text;

message.text

    let value = await message.getText();

        val value = 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. See Quitting Sessions.

• Java
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• Kotlin

        driver.quit();

driver.quit()

        driver.Quit();

driver.quit

    await driver.quit();

        driver.quit()

Running Selenium File

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

ruby example_script.rb

node example_script.spec.js

Next Steps

Most Selenium users execute many sessions and need to organize them to minimize duplication and keep the code more maintainable. Read on to learn about how to put this code into context for your use case with Using Selenium.

1.3 - Organizing and Executing Selenium Code

If you want to run more than a handful of one-off scripts, you need to be able to organize and work with your code. This page should give you ideas for how to actually do productive things with your Selenium code.

Common Uses

Most people use Selenium to execute automated tests for web applications, but Selenium supports any use case of browser automation.

Repetitive Tasks

Perhaps you need to log into a website and download something, or submit a form. You can create a Selenium script to run with a service at preset times.

Web Scraping

Are you looking to collect data from a site that doesn’t have an API? Selenium will let you do this, but please make sure you are familiar with the website’s terms of service as some websites do not permit it and others will even block Selenium.

Testing

Running Selenium for testing requires making assertions on actions taken by Selenium. So a good assertion library is required. Additional features to provide structure for tests require use of Test Runner.

IDEs

Regardless of how you use Selenium code, you won’t be very effective writing or executing it without a good Integrated Developer Environment. Here are some common options…

• Eclipse
• IntelliJ IDEA
• PyCharm
• RubyMine
• Rider
• WebStorm
• VS Code

Test Runner

Even if you aren’t using Selenium for testing, if you have advanced use cases, it might make sense to use a test runner to better organize your code. Being able to use before/after hooks and run things in groups or in parallel can be very useful.

Choosing

There are many different test runners available.

All the code examples in this documentation can be found in (or is being moved to) our example directories that use test runners and get executed every release to ensure all the code is correct and updated. Here is a list of test runners with links. The first item is the one that is used by this repository and the one that will be used for all examples on this page.

• Java
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• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

Installing

This is very similar to what was required in Install a Selenium Library. This code is only showing examples for what is being used in our Documentation Examples project.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

Asserting

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

    expect(value).to eq('Received!')

Setting Up and Tearing Down

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

	@BeforeEach
	public void setup() {
		driver = new ChromeDriver();
	}

	@AfterEach
	public void teardown() {
		driver.quit();
	}

  before do
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  end

  config.after { @driver&.quit }

Executing

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

mvn clean test

gradle clean test

bundle exec rspec

mocha runningTests.spec.js

Examples

In First script, we saw each of the components of a Selenium script. Here’s an example of that code using a test runner:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

package dev.selenium.getting_started;

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

import java.time.Duration;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
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;

public class UsingSeleniumTest {

	WebDriver driver;

	@BeforeEach
	public void setup() {
		driver = new ChromeDriver();
	}

	@Test
	public void eightComponents() {

		driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofMillis(500));
		driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/web-form.html");

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

		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);

	}

	@AfterEach
	public void teardown() {
		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 UsingSeleniumTest
    {

        [TestMethod]
        public void EightComponents()
        {
            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'
require 'selenium-webdriver'


RSpec.describe 'Using Selenium' do
  before do
    @driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  end

  it 'uses eight components' do
    @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!')
  end
end

const {By, Builder} = require('selenium-webdriver');
const assert = require("assert");

  describe('First script', function () {
    let driver;
    
    before(async function () {
      driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
    });
    
    it('First Selenium script with mocha', 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);
    });
  
    after(async () => await driver.quit());
  });

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.

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 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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

      driver.get(url)

2.1 - Browser Options

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

      options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome

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

• Java
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  end

pageLoadStrategy

Three types of page load strategies are available.

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

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

    it('Navigate using normal page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('normal'))
        .build();

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

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

    it('Navigate using eager page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('eager'))
        .build();

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

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

    it('Navigate using none page loading strategy', async function () {
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.setPageLoadStrategy('none'))
        .build();

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

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.

• Java
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• Kotlin

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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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.

• Java
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• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

setWindowRect

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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/");
}
}

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

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 - HTTP Client Configuration

These allow you to set various parameters for the HTTP library

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

2.3 - 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:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    driver = new ChromeDriver(service);
  }

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

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

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

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:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(executable_path=chromedriver_bin)

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

    service.executable_path = driver_path

Driver port

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(port=1234)

            service.Port = 1234;

    service.port = 1234

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:

• Chrome
• Edge
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

2.4 - 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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

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

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

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
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    ((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();

    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()

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

    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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

            ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions
            {
                EnableDownloads = true
            };

            driver = new RemoteWebDriver(GridUrl, options);

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

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

    files = driver.get_downloadable_files()

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

    files = driver.downloadable_files

Download a File

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

    driver.download_file(downloadable_file, target_directory)

    driver.download_file(downloadable_file, target_directory)

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.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    ((HasDownloads) driver).deleteDownloadableFiles();

    driver.delete_downloadable_files()

            ((RemoteWebDriver)driver).DeleteDownloadableFiles();

    driver.delete_downloadable_files

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
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

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

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

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

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

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

• Java

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

3 - Supported Browsers

Each browser has custom capabilities and unique features.

3.1 - Chrome specific functionality

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 and Chromium are documented at Google’s page for Capabilities & ChromeOptions

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

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
  }

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

            var options = new ChromeOptions();
            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();

Arguments

The args parameter is for a list of command line switches to be used when starting the browser. There are two excellent resources for investigating these arguments:

• Chrome Flags for Tooling
• List of Chromium Command Line Switches

Commonly used args include --start-maximized, --headless=new and --user-data-dir=...

Add an argument to options:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    options.add_argument("--start-maximized")

            options.AddArgument("--start-maximized");

      options.args << '--start-maximized'

      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:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    options.binary_location = chrome_bin

            options.BinaryLocation = GetChromeLocation();

      options.binary = chrome_location

      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:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    options.add_extension(extension_file_path)

            options.AddExtension(extensionFilePath);

      options.add_extension(extension_file_path)

      const options = new Chrome.Options();
      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.addExtensions(['./test/resources/extensions/webextensions-selenium-example.crx']))
        .build();

Keeping browser open

Setting the detach parameter to true will keep the browser open after the process has ended, so long as the quit command is not sent to the driver.

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    options.add_experimental_option("detach", True)

      options.detach = true

      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.detachDriver(true))
        .build();

Excluding arguments

Chromedriver has several default arguments it uses to start the browser. If you do not want those arguments added, pass them into excludeSwitches. A common example is to turn the popup blocker back on. A full list of default arguments can be parsed from the Chromium Source Code

Set excluded arguments on options:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

    options.add_experimental_option('excludeSwitches', ['disable-popup-blocking'])

            options.AddExcludedArgument("disable-popup-blocking");

      options.exclude_switches << 'disable-popup-blocking'

      let driver = await env
        .builder()
        .setChromeOptions(options.excludeSwitches('enable-automation'))
        .build();

Service

Examples for creating a default Service object, and for setting driver location and port can be found on the Driver Service page.

Log output

Getting driver logs can be helpful for debugging issues. The Service class lets you direct where the logs will go. Logging output is ignored unless the user directs it somewhere.

File output

To change the logging output to save to a specific file:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        new ChromeDriverService.Builder().withLogFile(logLocation).build();

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(log_output=log_path)

            service.LogPath = GetLogLocation();

      service.log = file_name

Console output

To change the logging output to display in the console as STDOUT:

• Java
• Python
• CSharp
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• Kotlin

        new ChromeDriverService.Builder().withLogOutput(System.out).build();

    service = webdriver.ChromeService(log_output=subprocess.STDOUT)