Why web driver

In general, its always a good idea to code against interfaces wherever possible. He has extensive experience in the field of Software Testing.

Furthermore, he loves to be with his wife and a cute little kid 'Freedom'. Hi Ramani, Yes FirefoxDriver is a class. Even I mentioned that in my post. Also check why I mentioned FirefoxDriver is a constructor. Hope you didnt go through the complete post. Please read it again. If you still have any queries, please comment here.

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Next Continue. Similar Posts. Adding flexibility to web developers to work on any programming language that they are comfortable with. Using their solution suite, a customized testing suite can be created, which can be used over any platform.

WebDriver makes it possible for you to create a test case on Windows and execute it on Mac. Cross-Browser Compatibility Testing : Unlike its previous versions, benefits of automation testing with Selenium WebDriver has expanded the support for automated cross-browser testing. When you are executing cross-browser testing of a website, WebDriver provides you with an automated solution. For application testing and reporting, it can also be integrated with testing frameworks like TestNG to ease automation testing with Selenium WebDriver.

It can even integrate with Jenkins for Continuous Integration or Continuous Delivery automated build and deployment. Cross-Device Testing : Support across multiple devices is another major benefit of automation testing with Selenium WebDriver.

Automated test cases can now be written for testing on iPhones, Blackberry, and Android, thereby helping in addressing cross-device issues. Community Support : The support of Selenium is mostly community-based, thereby enabling regular upgrades and updates. All the updates are available whenever required and do not require any specific training, making Selenium WebDriver budget friendly as well as resourceful.

The tool being open source, it allows users to script their personalized extensions, which allows them to develop actions that are customized and can be manipulated once the user reaches an advanced level. Add-ons and Reusability : The scripts written using Selenium WebDriver supports cross-browser testing. Thus, it is possible for a tester to run multiple testing scenarios with WebDriver since it covers every functionality testing aspects.

The add-ons that can be customized widens the scope of testing an application, serving great benefits of automation testing with Selenium WebDriver. Mouse Cursor and Keyboard Simulation : An important feature of WebDriver is that it can mimic a real user scenario by handling mouse and keyboard events.

The API, Advanced User Interactions, consists the action classes required when those events are needed to be executed. You can automate simple scenarios like a mouse click or keypress event as well as complex events like drag and drop, click and hold, multiple items selection, etc.

Leveraging the Code : Another one of the major benefits of automation testing with Selenium WebDriver also provides the advantage of speeding up the test cycles by leveraging the development code. Testers can utilize the language used by developers. For example, if a tester wants to verify the date field which is updated in the database, instead of performing an indirect verification by browsing to another page, the tester can pull the data model utilized by the application without the worry of automating the data flow.

The commands written in the code are interpreted directly into Webservices and the remote driver receives them via HTTP requests, which can then be executed into the browser, consequently sending the response. Advanced Browser Interactions : WebDriver also makes it possible for you to simulate advanced interactions like clicking the browser back and front buttons. A timeouts configuration is a record of the different timeouts that control the behavior of script evaluation , navigation , and element retrieval :.

A null value implies that scripts should never be interrupted, but instead run indefinitely. Provides the timeout limit used to interrupt an explicit navigation attempt. Specifies a time to wait for the element location strategy to complete when locating an element. The timeouts object for a timeouts configuration timeouts is an object initalized with the following properties:.

To JSON deserialize an input value into a timeouts configuration record:. Let timeouts be a new timeouts configuration. If script duration is a number and less than 0 or greater than maximum safe integer , or it is not null , return error with error code invalid argument.

If page load duration is less than 0 or greater than maximum safe integer , return error with error code invalid argument. If implicit duration is less than 0 or greater than maximum safe integer , return error with error code invalid argument. Return success with data timeouts.

The remote end step are:. The commands in this section allow navigation of the current top-level browsing context to new URLs and introspection of the document currently loaded in this browsing context.

The normal state causes it to return after the load event fires on the new page, eager causes it to return after the DOMContentLoaded event fires , and none causes it to return immediately. Navigation actions are also affected by the value of the session page load timeout , which determines the maximum time that commands will block before returning with a timeout error.

The following is the table of page load strategies that links the pageLoadStrategy capability keyword to a page loading strategy state, and shows which document readiness state that corresponds to it:.

When asked to deserialize as a page load strategy with argument value :. If there is no entry in the table of page load strategies with keyword value return an error with error code invalid argument. Return success with data value. When asked to wait for navigation to complete , run the following steps:.

If the current session has a page loading strategy of none , return success with data null. If the current browsing context is no longer open , return success with data null.

Start a timer. If there is an ongoing attempt to navigate the current browsing context that has not yet matured , wait for navigation to mature. If the previous step completed by the session page load timeout being reached and the browser does not have an active user prompt , return error with error code timeout. When asked to run the post-navigation checks , run the substeps of the first matching statement:.

Return error with error code unknown error. A "network error" in this case is not an HTTP response with a status code indicating an unsuccessful result, but could be a problem occurring lower in the OSI model, or a failed DNS lookup. Otherwise return error with error code insecure certificate. Irrespective of how a possible authentication challenge is handled, return success with data null.

The command causes the user agent to navigate the current top-level browsing context to a new location. If the session is not in a secure TLS state, no certificate errors that would normally cause the user agent to abort and show a security warning are to hinder navigation to the requested address. If the current top-level browsing context is no longer open , return error with error code no such window. Let url be the result of getting the property url from the parameters argument.

If url is not an absolute URL or is not an absolute URL with fragment or not a local scheme , return error with error code invalid argument. Handle any user prompts and return its value if it is an error. Navigate the current top-level browsing context to url. Try to wait for navigation to complete. Try to run the post-navigation checks.

Set the current browsing context with the current top-level browsing context. If the current top-level browsing context contains a refresh state pragma directive of time 1 second or less, wait until the refresh timeout has elapsed, a new navigate has begun, and return to the first step of this algorithm.

Return success with data url. This command causes the browser to traverse one step backward in the joint session history of the current top-level browsing context.

This is equivalent to pressing the back button in the browser chrome or invoking window. Traverse the history by a delta —1 for the current browsing context. If the previous step completed results in a pageHide event firing , wait until pageShow event fires or for the session page load timeout milliseconds to pass, whichever occurs sooner. If the previous step completed by the session page load timeout being reached, and user prompts have been handled , return error with error code timeout.

This command causes the browser to traverse one step forwards in the joint session history of the current top-level browsing context.

This is equivalent to pressing the forward button in the browser chrome or invoking window. Traverse the history by a delta 1 for the current browsing context. If the previous step completed results in a pageHide event firing, wait until pageShow event fires or for the session page load timeout milliseconds to pass, whichever occurs sooner.

This command causes the browser to reload the page in the current top-level browsing context. If url is special except for file :. Set the current browsing context with current top-level browsing context. This command returns the document title of the current top-level browsing context , equivalent to calling document.

Return success with data title. Many WebDriver commands happen in the context of either the current browsing context or current top-level browsing context. The current top-level browsing context is represented in the protocol by its associated window handle.

When a top-level browsing context is selected using the Switch To Window command, a specific browsing context can be selected using the Switch to Frame command. A browsing context is said to be no longer open if it has been discarded.

Each browsing context has an associated window handle which uniquely identifies it. This must be a String and must not be " current ". The web window identifier is the string constant " window-fcce5-b4fa88ab9d7f ". The web frame identifier is the string constant " frameb-4da1-b6ba-ec2da ". The WindowProxy reference object with WindowProxy object window is given by:. Let identifier be the web window identifier if the associated browsing context of window is a top-level browsing context.

Otherwise let it be the web frame identifier. When required to set the current browsing context given a context , an implementation must follow the following steps:. When required to set the current top-level browsing context given a context , an implementation must follow the following steps:. In accordance with the focus section of the [ HTML ] specification, commands are unaffected by whether the operating system window has focus or not. Return success with data being the window handle associated with the current top-level browsing context.

Close the current top-level browsing context. If there are no more open top-level browsing contexts , then try to close the session. Switching window will select the current top-level browsing context used as the target for all subsequent commands. In a tabbed browser, this will typically make the tab containing the browsing context the selected tab. Let handle be the result of getting the property " handle " from the parameters argument.

If handle is undefined , return error with error code invalid argument. If there is an active user prompt , that prevents the focussing of another top-level browsing context , return error with error code unexpected alert open.

If handle is equal to the associated window handle for some top-level browsing context in the current session , let context be the that browsing context, and set the current top-level browsing context with context.

Otherwise, return error with error code no such window. Update any implementation-specific state that would result from the user selecting the current browsing context for interaction, without altering OS-level focus. For each top-level browsing context in the remote end , push the associated window handle onto handles. Create a new top-level browsing context. If the implementation does not support creating new top-level browsing contexts, return error with error code unsupported operation.

Let type hint be the result of getting the property " type " from the parameters argument. Create a new top-level browsing context by running the window open steps with url set to " about:blank ", target set to the empty string, and features set to " noopener " and the user agent configured to create a new browsing context.

This must be done without invoking the focusing steps for the created browsing context. If type hint has the value " tab ", and the implementation supports multiple browsing context in the same OS window, the new browsing context should share an OS window with the current browsing context. If type hint is " window ", and the implementation supports multiple browsing contexts in separate OS windows, the created browsing context should be in a new OS window.

In all other cases the details of how the browsing context is presented to the user are implementation defined. Let handle be the associated window handle of the newly created window. Let type be " tab " if the newly created window shares an OS-level window with the current browsing context , or " window " otherwise. Return success with data result. The Switch To Frame command is used to select the current top-level browsing context or a child browsing context of the current browsing context to use as the current browsing context for subsequent commands.

Let id be the result of getting the property " id " from the parameters argument. If id is not null , a Number object, or an Object that represents a web element , return error with error code invalid argument. If id is less than 0 or greater than 2 16 — 1, return error with error code invalid argument. If the current browsing context is no longer open , return error with error code no such window. If id is not a supported property index of window , return error with error code no such frame.

Let child window be the WindowProxy object obtained by calling window. Let element be the result of trying to get a known element by web element reference id. If element is stale , return error with error code stale element reference. If element is not a frame or iframe element, return error with error code no such frame. WebDriver is not bound by the same origin policy, so it is always possible to switch into child browsing contexts, even if they are different origin to the current browsing context.

The Switch to Parent Frame command sets the current browsing context for future commands to the parent of the current browsing context.

Run the substeps if the current browsing context is already the top-level browsing context :. If the current parent browsing context is no longer open , return error with error code no such window. If the current session 's current parent browsing context is not null , set the current browsing context with the current parent browsing context.

WebDriver provides commands for interacting with the operating system window containing the current top-level browsing context.

Where a command is not supported, an unsupported operation error is returned. The top-level browsing context has an associated window state which describes what visibility state its OS widget window is in.

It can be in one of the following states:. The WindowRect object for a WindowProxy , window is a object initalised with the following properties:. To maximize the window , given an operating system level window with an associated top-level browsing context , run the implementation-specific steps to transition the operating system level window into the maximized window state.

If the window manager supports window resizing but does not have a concept of window maximization, the window dimensions must be increased to the maximum available size permitted by the window manager for the current screen.

Return when the window has completed the transition, or within an implementation-defined timeout. To iconify the window , given an operating system level window with an associated top-level browsing context , run implementation-specific steps to iconify, minimize, or hide the window from the visible screen.

To restore the window , given an operating system level window with an associated top-level browsing context , run implementation-specific steps to restore or unhide the window to the visible screen. The Get Window Rect command returns the size and position on the screen of the operating system window corresponding to the current top-level browsing context. Return success with data set to the WindowRect object for the current top-level browsing context.

The Set Window Rect command alters the size and the position of the operating system window corresponding to the current top-level browsing context. Let width be the result of getting a property named width from the parameters argument, else let it be null. Let height be the result of getting a property named height from the parameters argument, else let it be null.

Let x be the result of getting a property named x from the parameters argument, else let it be null. Let y be the result of getting a property named y from the parameters argument, else let it be null.

If the remote end does not support the Set Window Rect command for the current top-level browsing context for any reason, return error with error code unsupported operation.

Fully exit fullscreen. Restore the window. If width and height are not null :. Set the width, in CSS pixels , of the operating system window containing the current top-level browsing context , including any browser chrome and externally drawn window decorations to a value that is as close as possible to width.

Set the height, in CSS pixels , of the operating system window containing the current top-level browsing context , including any browser chrome and externally drawn window decorations to a value that is as close as possible to height. If x and y are not null :.

Run the implementation-specific steps to set the position of the operating system level window containing the current top-level browsing context to the position given by the x and y coordinates. This typically increases the window to the maximum available size without going full-screen. If the remote end does not support the Maximize Window command for the current top-level browsing context for any reason, return error with error code unsupported operation.

Maximize the window of the current top-level browsing context. This typically hides the window in the system tray. If the remote end does not support the Minimize Window command for the current top-level browsing context for any reason, return error with error code unsupported operation. Iconify the window. If the remote end does not support fullscreen return error with error code unsupported operation. A web element is an abstraction used to identify an element when it is transported via the protocol , between remote - and local ends.

The web element identifier is the string constant " elemente4-a52e-4fcecf ". Each element has an associated web element reference that uniquely identifies the element across all browsing contexts. The web element reference for every element representing the same element must be the same. It must be a string, and should be the result of generating a UUID. Each browsing context has an associated list of known elements. When the browsing context is discarded , the list of known elements is discarded along with it.

To get a known element with argument reference , run the following steps:. To get a known connected element with argument reference , run the following steps:. To get or create a web element reference with element :. Add element to the list of known elements of the current browsing context. The web element reference object for element is given by:. Let identifier be the web element identifier. Let reference be the result of get or create a web element reference given element.

If object has no own property web element identifier , return error with error code invalid argument. Let reference be the result of getting the web element identifier property from object.

Let element be the result of trying to get a known element with argument reference. Return success with data element. An element is stale if its node document is not the active document or if it is not connected. To scroll into view an element perform the following steps only if the element is not already in view :. Let options be the following ScrollIntoViewOptions :.

Run Function. Editable elements are those that can be used for typing and clearing , and they fall into two subcategories:. Denotes input elements that are mutable e. And the textarea element. Denotes elements that are editing hosts or content editable. An element is said to have pointer events disabled if the resolved value of its " pointer-events " style property is " none ".

An element is to be considered read only if it is an input element whose readOnly attribute is set. In order to determine if an element can be interacted with using pointer actions, WebDriver performs hit-testing to find if the interaction will be able to reach the requested element. An interactable element is an element which is either pointer-interactable or keyboard-interactable. A pointer-interactable element is defined to be the first element , defined by the paint order found at the center point of its rectangle that is inside the viewport , excluding the size of any rendered scrollbars.

A keyboard-interactable element is any element that has a focusable area , is a body element , or is the document element. Given an element that is known to be in view , it can be calculated this way:. An element is in view if it is a member of its own pointer-interactable paint tree , given the pretense that its pointer events are not disabled. An element is obscured if the pointer-interactable paint tree at its center point is empty, or the first element in this tree is not an inclusive descendant of itself.

Let center point be the in-view center point of the first indexed element in rectangles. Return the elements from point given the coordinates center point. A shadow root is an abstraction used to identify a shadow root when it is transported via the protocol , between remote and local ends. The shadow root identifier is the string constant " shadowe4-a52e-4fcecf ". Each shadow root has an associated shadow root reference that uniquely identifies the shadow root across all browsing contexts.

The shadow root reference for every shadow root representing the same shadow root must be the same. Each browsing context has an associated list of known shadow roots. When the browsing context is discarded , the list of known shadow roots is discarded along with it. To get a known shadow root with argument reference , run the following steps:. To get or create a shadow root reference with shadow root :. Add shadow to the list of known shadow roots of the current browsing context.

The shadow root reference object for shadow root is given by:. Let identifier be the shadow root identifier. Let reference be the result of get or create a shadow root reference given shadow root. If object has no own property shadow root identifier , return error with error code invalid argument. Let reference be the result of getting the shadow root identifier property from object.

Let shadow be the result of trying to get a known shadow root with argument reference. Return success with data shadow. A shadow root is detached if its node document is not the active document or if the element node referred to as its document fragment host is stale. When required to find with arguments start node , using and value , a remote end must run the following steps:.

Let end time be the current time plus the session implicit wait timeout. Let elements returned be the result of trying to call the relevant element location strategy with arguments start node , and selector.

If elements returned is empty and the current time is less than end time return to step 4. Otherwise, continue to the next step.

For each element in elements returned , append the web element reference object for element , to result. An element location strategy is an enumerated attribute deciding what technique should be used to search for elements in the current browsing context. The following table of location strategies lists the keywords and states defined for this attribute:. To find a web element with the CSS Selector strategy the following steps need to be completed:.

Let elements be the result of calling querySelectorAll with start node as this and selector as the argument. If this causes an exception to be thrown, return error with error code invalid selector. Return success with data elements. To find a web element with the Link Text strategy the following steps need to be completed:. Let elements be the result of calling querySelectorAll with start node as this and " a " as the argument.

If this throws an exception, return error with error code unknown error. Let result be an empty NodeList. Let rendered text be the value that would be returned via a call to Get Element Text for element. Let trimmed text be the result of removing all whitespace from the start and end of the string rendered text. If trimmed text equals selector , append element to result. The Partial link text strategy is very similar to the Link Text strategy , but rather than matching the entire string, only a substring needs to match.

That is, return all a elements with rendered text that contains the selector expression. To find a web element with the Partial Link Text strategy the following steps need to be completed:. If rendered text contains selector , append element to result.

To find a web element with the Tag Name strategy return success with data set to the result of calling getElementsByTagName with start node as this and selector as the argument. To find a web element with the XPath Selector strategy the following steps need to be completed:. Let length be the result of getting the property " snapshotLength " from evaluateResult. If this throws an XPathException return error with error code invalid selector , otherwise if this throws any other exception return error with error code unknown error.

If node is not an element return an error with error code invalid selector. Let location strategy be the result of getting a property called " using ".

If location strategy is not present as a keyword in the table of location strategies , return error with error code invalid argument. Let selector be the result of getting a property called " value ". If selector is undefined , return error with error code invalid argument. If start node is null , return error with error code no such element. Let result be the result of trying to Find with start node , location strategy , and selector. If result is empty, return error with error code no such element.

Otherwise, return the first element of result. Let start node be the result of trying to get a known connected element with url variable element id.

Let start node be the result of trying to get a known shadow root with url variable shadow id. If active element is a non-null element , return success with data set to web element reference object for active element.

Otherwise, return error with error code no such element. Let element be the result of trying to get a known connected element with url variable element id. Let shadow root be element 's shadow root. If shadow root is null, return error with error code no such shadow root. Let serialized be the shadow root reference object for shadow root. Return success with data serialized. To calculate the absolute position of element :. Let rect be the value returned by calling getBoundingClientRect.

Let window be the associated window of current top-level browsing context. To determine if node is not in the same tree as another node , other , run the following substeps:. Let datalist parent be the first datalist element reached by traversing the tree in reverse order from element , or undefined if the root of the tree is reached. Let select parent be the first select element reached by traversing the tree in reverse order from element , or undefined if the root of the tree is reached.

If datalist parent is undefined , the element context is select parent. Otherwise, the element context is datalist parent. The container is the element itself. The Is Element Selected command determines if the referenced element is selected or not. This operation only makes sense on input elements of the Checkbox - and Radio Button states, or on option elements. Return success with data selected.

Let element be the result of trying to get a known element with url variable element id. The result of getting an attribute by name name. Please note that the behavior of this command deviates from the behavior of getAttribute in [ DOM ], which in the case of a set boolean attribute would return an empty string. The reason this command returns true as a string is because this evaluates to true in most dynamically typed programming languages, but still preserves the expected type information.

Let property be the result of calling the Object. Let result be the value of property if not undefined , or null. Let rendered text be the result of performing implementation-specific steps whose result is exactly the same as the result of a Function. Return success with data rendered text. Return success with data qualified name. Calculate the absolute position of element and let it be coordinates.

Set enabled to false if a form control is disabled. Return success with data enabled. Return success with data role. Return success with data label. The element interaction commands provide a high-level instruction set for manipulating form controls. Unlike Actions , they will implicitly scroll elements into view and check that it is an interactable element. Some resettable elements define their own clear algorithm.

Unlike their associated reset algorithms , changes made to form controls as part of these algorithms do count as changes caused by the user and thus, e. When the clear algorithm is invoked for an element that does not define its own clear algorithm , its reset algorithm must be invoked instead. The clear algorithm for textarea elements is to set the dirty value flag back to false, and set the raw value of element to an empty string. Let element be the result of trying to get a known connected element with argument element id.

If the element is an input element in the file upload state return error with error code invalid argument. Fire a mouseOver event at parent node. Fire a mouseMove event at parent node. Fire a mouseDown event at parent node. Run the focusing steps on parent node. If element is not disabled :. Fire an input event at parent node. Let previous selectedness be equal to element selectedness. If previous selectedness is false, fire a change event at parent node.

Fire a mouseUp event at parent node. Fire a click event at parent node. Let mouse be a new pointer input source. Set a property x to 0 on pointer move action. Set a property y to 0 on pointer move action. Set a property origin to element on pointer move action. Set a property button to 0 on pointer down action. Set a property button to 0 on pointer up action. Remove mouse from the list of active input sources.

Wait until the user agent event loop has spun enough times to process the DOM events generated by the previous step. Perform implementation-defined steps to allow any navigations triggered by the click to start. It is not always clear how long this will cause the algorithm to wait, and it is acknowledged that some implementations may have unavoidable race conditions.

The intention is to allow a new attempt to navigate to begin so that the next step in the algorithm is meaningful. It is possible the click does not cause an attempt to navigate , in which case the implementation-defined steps can return immediately, and the next step will also return immediately. To clear a content editable element :. Run the focusing steps for element. Run the unfocusing steps for the element.

To clear a resettable element :. If element is a candidate for constraint validation it satisfies its constraints , and empty is true, abort these substeps. Invoke the focusing steps for element. Invoke the clear algorithm for element.

Invoke the unfocusing steps for the element. The remote end steps for Element Clear are:. If element is not editable , return an error with error code invalid element state. Scroll into view the element. Wait in an implementation-specific way up to the session implicit wait timeout for element to become interactable. If element is not interactable , return error with error code element not interactable. Invoke the steps to clear a resettable element. Invoke the steps to clear a content editable element.

Return error with error code invalid element state. The Element Send Keys command scrolls into view the form control element and then sends the provided keys to the element. In case the element is not keyboard-interactable , an element not interactable error is returned. A non-typeable form control is an input element whose type attribute state causes the primary input mechanism not to be through means of a keyboard, whether virtual or physical.

Non-typeable form controls means to refer to form control elements rendered by the user agent as something other than as a text input control. When targetting an input element in the color state being presented as a color wheel, interaction with it will be simulated, rather than typed using key emulation with actions.

Other examples of non-typeable form controls include form controls interacted with via system-native widgets, such as a scrolled option list for select elements and a number keypad for input elements in the number state on non-desktop devices.

When required to clear the modifier key state with an argument of undo actions and keyboard a remote end must run the following steps:. If keyboard is not a key input source return error with error code invalid argument.

Let action be the value of undo actions equal to the key entry key. If action is not an action object of type " key " and subtype " keyUp ", return error with error code invalid argument. An extended grapheme cluster is typeable if it consists of a single unicode code point and the code is not undefined. In order to dispatch the events for a typeable string with arguments text and keyboard , a remote end must for each char corresponding to an indexed property in text :.

Let keyup action be a copy of keydown action with the subtype property changed to " keyUp ". When required to dispatch a composition event with arguments type and cluster , the remote end must perform implementation-specific action dispatch steps equivalent to sending composition events in accordance with the requirements of [ UI-EVENTS ], and producing the following event with the specified properties.

When required to dispatch actions for a string with arguments text and keyboard , a remote end must run the following steps:. Let clusters be an array created by breaking text into extended grapheme clusters. For each cluster corresponding to an indexed property in clusters run the substeps of the first matching statement:. Dispatch the events for a typeable string with arguments current typeable text and keyboard.

Reset current typeable text to an empty string. Clear the modifier key state with arguments being undo actions and keyboard.