Import the Selenium library

You can get Selenium from here.

from selenium import webdriver

common imports

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.common.exceptions import TimeoutException
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

Start the webdriver and the browser
Starting the webdriver and the Chrome browser.

You can get ChromeDriver from here.

chromedriver = "C:/tests/chromedriver.exe"
driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path = chromedriver)

Starting the webdriver and the Firefox browser.

You can get GeckoDriver from here.

geckodriver = "C:/tests/geckodriver.exe"
driver = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path = geckodriver)

Starting the webdriver and the Internet Explorer browser.

You can get IEDriverServer from here.

iedriver = "C:/tests/IEDriverServer.exe"
driver = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path = iedriver)

Starting the webdriver and the Safari browser.

Nothing to download. The SafariDriver is integrated in Safari.

driver = webdriver.Safari()

Instead of having machines with all those browsers, I just use Endtest.

It’s a platform for Codeless Automated Testing where you can create, manage and execute tests on real browsers on Windows and macOS machines and mobile devices.

Browser Arguments:

–headless

To open browser in headless mode. Works in both Chrome and Firefox browser

–start-maximized

To start browser maximized to screen. Requires only for Chrome browser. Firefox by default starts maximized

–incognito

To open private chrome browser

–disable-notifications

To disable notifications, works Only in Chrome browser

Example:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Optionsoptions = Options()
options.add_argument("--headless")
options.add_argument("--start-maximized")
options.add_argument("--disable-notifications")
options.add_argument("--incognito")driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=options, executable_path="Path to driver")

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Optionsoptions = Options()options.add_argument("--incognito","--start-maximized","--headless")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=options, executable_path="Path to driver")

Retrieve Browser Details

driver.title
driver.window_handles
driver.current_window_handles
driver.current_url
driver.page_source

Navigation

driver.get(url)
driver.back()
driver.forward()
driver.refresh()

Open a website

the_url = "https://example.com"
driver.get(the_url)

Find an element

Let’s try to find this element:

<a href="/sign-up" id="register" name="register" class="cta nav-link">Sign Up</a>

Find element by ID

the_id = 'register'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)

Find element by Name

the_name = 'register'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_name)

Find element by Class Name

the_class_name = 'nav-link'
element = driver.find_element_by_class_name(the_class_name)

Find element by Tag Name

the_tag_name = 'a'
element = driver.find_element_by_tag_name(the_tag_name)

Find element by Link Text

Works only for anchor elements.

the_link_text = 'Sign Up'
element = driver.find_element_by_link_text(the_link_text)

Find element by Partial Link Text

Works only for anchor elements.

the_partial_link_text = 'Sign'
element = driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text(the_partial_link_text)

Find element by CSS Selector

You can extract the CSS Selector from the browser.

Or you can write your own by using an attribute from the element:

*[attribute="attribute_value"]

For our element, a custom CSS Selector would be:

a[href="/sign-up"]

the_css_selector = 'a[href="/sign-up"]'
element = driver.find_element_by_css_selector(the_css_selector)

Find element by XPath

You can extract the XPath from the browser.

Or you can write your own by using an attribute from the element:

//*[@attribute = "attribute_value"]

For our element, a custom XPath would be:

//a[@href = "/sign-up"]

You can read more about that here.

the_xpath = '//a[@href = "/sign-up"]'
element = driver.find_element_by_xpath(the_xpath)

Click on an element

the_id = 'register'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
element.click()

Write text inside an element

Works only for inputs and textareas.

the_id = 'email'
the_email = 'klaus@werner.de'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
element.send_keys(the_email)

Select an option

Works only for select elements.

<select id="country">
<option value="US">United States</option>
<option value="CA">Canada</option>
<option value="MX">Mexico</option>
</select>

Let’s select Canada. 🇨🇦
You can use the visible text:

the_id = 'country'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
select_element = Select(element)
select_element.select_by_visible_text('Canada')

You can use the value:

the_id = 'country'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
select_element = Select(element)
select_element.select_by_value('CA')

You can also use the index:

the_id = 'country'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
select_element = Select(element)
select_element.select_by_index(1)

Take a screenshot

the_path = 'C:/tests/screenshots/1.png'
driver.save_screenshot(the_path)

Selenium does not offer Screenshot Comparison but we know who does.
9. Upload a file

This works by using the send_keys method to write the local path of the file in the input type=“file” element.

Let’s use this example:

<input type="file" multiple="" id="upload_button">

the_file_path = 'C:/tests/files/example.pdf'
the_id = 'upload_button'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
element.send_keys(the_file_path)

You can read more about uploading files in a test here.
10. Execute JavaScript

In some cases, you might need to execute some JavaScript code.

This works exactly like you would execute it in your browser console.

js_code = 'document.getElementById("pop-up").remove()'
driver = execute_script(js_code)

Switch to iframe

<iframe id="payment_section">
   <input id="card_number">
   <input id="card_name">
   <input id="expiration_date">
   <input id="cvv">
</iframe>

the_iframe_id = 'payment_section'
the_element_id = 'card_number'
the_iframe = driver.find_element_by_id(the_iframe_id)
driver.switch_to.frame(the_iframe)
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_element_id)
element.send_keys('41111111111111')
driver.switch_to.default_content()

Endtest also supports iframes and it even supports Shadow DOM.
12. Switch to the next tab

You have to store the handle of your current tab in a global variable.

If you have only one tab open, the handle is 0.

global nextTab
global currentTab
nextTab = currentTab + 1
driver.switch_to_window(driver.window_handles[nextTab])
currentTab = currentTab + 1

Switch to the previous tab

global previousTab
global currentTab
previousTab = currentTab - 1
driver.switch_to_window(driver.window_handles[previousTab])
currentTab = currentTab - 1

Close tab

driver.close()

Close alert

driver.switch_to.alert.accept()

Refresh

driver.refresh()

Hover

the_id = "register"
the_element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
hover = ActionChains(driver).move_to_element(the_element)
hover.perform()

Right Click

the_id = "register"
the_element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
right_click = ActionChains(driver).context_click(the_element)
right_click.perform()

Click with offset

In order to precisely click on a certain position in a canvas element, you have to provide the offset.

The offset represents the number of pixels to the right and down, starting from the top left corner of your canvas element.

the_id = "register"
the_element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
x = 30
y = 20
offset = ActionChains(driver).move_to_element_with_offset(the_element,x,y)
offset.click()
offset.perform()

You can read how to do this with Endtest here.
20. Press Key

the_id = 'register'
element = driver.find_element_by_id(the_id)
element.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)

Drag and drop

element_to_drag_id = 'ball'
target_element_id = 'goal'
element_to_drag = driver.find_element_by_id(element_to_drag_id)
target_element = driver.find_element_by_id(target_element_id)
ActionChains(driver).drag_and_drop(element_to_drag_id, target_element).perform()

Get Page Source

the_page_source = driver.page_source

Get Cookies

cookies_list = driver.get_cookies()

Delete Cookies

cookie_item = 'shopping_cart'
# delete one cookie
driver.delete_cookie(cookie_item)
# delete all cookies
driver.delete_all_cookies()

Get first element from list

the_id = 'register'
list_of_elements = driver.find_elements_by_id(the_id)
first_element = list_of_elements[0]

Configure Page Load Timeout

driver.set_page_load_timeout(20)

Configure Element Load Timeout

from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait

the_id = 'register'
WebDriverWait(driver,10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.ID, the_id)))

Set window size

driver.set_window_size(1600, 1200)

Change the user agent string

the_user_agent = 'hello'
chromedriver = 'C:/tests/chromedriver.exe'
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument('--user-agent = '+ the_user_agent)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(
   executable_path = chromedriver, 
   chrome_options = options)

Simulate webcam and microphone

chromedriver = 'C:/tests/chromedriver.exe'
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--use-fake-ui-for-media-stream")
options.add_argument("--use-fake-device-for-media-stream")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(
   executable_path = chromedriver, 
   chrome_options = options)

Add Chrome Extension

chromedriver = 'C:/tests/chromedriver.exe'
extension_path = 'C:/tests/my_extension.zip'
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_extension(extension_path)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(
   executable_path = chromedriver, 
   chrome_options = options)

Emulate mobile device

google_pixel_3_xl_user_agent = 'Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 9.0; Pixel 3 XL Build/OPD3.170816.012) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/61.0.3163.98 Mobile Safari/537.36'
pixel_3_xl_emulation = {
   "deviceMetrics": {
      "width": 411, 
      "height": 731, 
      "pixelRatio": 3
   },
   "userAgent": google_pixel_3_xl_user_agent
}
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_experimental_option("mobileEmulation", pixel_3_xl_emulation)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(
   executable_path = chromedriver, 
   chrome_options = options)

Waits

Implicit Waits

An implicit wait instructs Selenium WebDriver to poll DOM for a certain amount of time, this time can be specified, when trying to find an element or elements that are not available immediately.

from selenium import webdriverdriver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.implicitly_wait(10)
driver.get("https://www.google.com")
driver.find_element_by_name("q").click()

Explicit Waits

Explicit wait make the webdriver wait until certain conditions are fulfilled . Example of a wait

try:
    element = WebDriverWait(driver, 5).until(
        EC.presence_of_element_located((By.NAME, "q")))    # Type "selenium"
    element.send_keys("selenium")    # Type Enter
    element.send_keys(Keys.ENTER)except TimeoutException:
    print("Failed to load search bar at www.google.com")

List of explicit waits

title_is
title_contains
presence_of_element_located
visibility_of_element_located
visibility_of
presence_of_all_elements_located
text_to_be_present_in_element
text_to_be_present_in_element_value
frame_to_be_available_and_switch_to_it
invisibility_of_element_located
element_to_be_clickable
staleness_of
element_to_be_selected
element_located_to_be_selected
element_selection_state_to_be
element_located_selection_state_to_be
alert_is_present

Loading a list of elements like li and selecting one of the element

searchButton_css = "button.btn.Searchbox__searchButton.Searchbox__searchButton--active[data-selenium='searchButton']"
inputDestination_css = "input[data-selenium='textInput']"
suggestedDestinationList_css = "ul.AutocompleteList"
stringBali = "Bali"
# Create a new chromedriver instance
driver = webdriver.Chrome()# Go to www.agoda.com
driver.get("https://www.agoda.com")try:
    element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, searchButton_css)))
    driver.find_element_by_css_selector(inputDestination_css).send_keys("Bali Indonesia")
except TimeoutException:
    print("Failed to load page")
try:
    elements = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, suggestedDestinationList_css)))
    items = driver.find_element_by_css_selector(suggestedDestinationList_css)
    elementsList = items.find_elements_by_tag_name("li")    for item in elementsList:
        print (item.text +"\n")
        if item.text in stringBali:
            item.click()
            break
except TimeoutException:    print("Failed to load list")

34 Read Attribute

print(“Title of searchbar : “+ chromedriver.find_element_by_name(“q”).get_attribute(“jsaction”))

35 Get CSS

import the webdriver

from selenium import webdriver# set exe path and open the browser.
driver = webdriver.Chrome()# open website
driver.get(“https://google.com”)# get the css value
cssValue = driver.find_element_by_name(“q”).value_of_css_property(“font-size”)
print(“font size searchbar : “+ cssValue)

Capture Screenshot

# import the webdriver
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get(url)
driver.get_screenshot_as_file('sample_screenshot_2.png')
driver.save_screenshot('screenshot1.png')

save_screenshot(“filename”) and get_screenshot_as_file(“filename) will work only when the extension of file is “png”. Otherwise the content cannot be viewed.

Methods

is_selected()

is_selected() method in selenium verifies if an element (such as checkbox) is selected or not. is_selected() method returns a boolean.

# import the webdriver
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome();# open website
driver.get("https://google.com/")# get css value
isSelected = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@id='selected']").is_selected()
print("Is checkbox selected : ", isSelected)
Output : Is checkbox selected : ", False

is_displayed()

is_displayed() method in selenium webdriver verifies and returns a boolean based on the state of the element (such as button) whether it is displayed or not.

# import the webdriver
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()# open website
driver.get("https://google.com")# get css value
isDisplayed = driver.find_element_by_name("q").is_displayed()
print("Is Searchbar Displayed : ", isDisplayed)

is_enabled()

is_enabled() method in selenium python verifies and returns a boolean based on the state of the element (such as button) whether it is enabled or not.

# import the webdriver
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()# open website
driver.get("https://google.com")# element enabled
isEnabled = driver.find_element_by_name("q").is_enabled()
print("Is searchbar enabled : ", isEnabled)

Python - Selenium Basics

import the webdriver

See Also