Chrome WebDriver

Chrome WebDriver is provided by Selenium2. To use it, you need to install Selenium2 via pip:

$ [sudo] pip install selenium

It’s important to note that you also need to have Google Chrome installed in your machine.

Chrome can also be used from a custom path. To do this pass the executable path as a dictionary to the **kwargs argument. The dictionary should be set up with executable_path as the key and the value set to the path to the executable file.

from splinter import Browser
executable_path = {'executable_path':'</path/to/chrome>'}

browser = Browser('chrome', **executable_path)

Setting up Chrome WebDriver

In order to use Google Chrome with Splinter, since we’re using Selenium 2.3.x, you need to setup Chrome webdriver properly.

Mac OS X

The recommended way is by using Homebrew:

$ brew cask install chromedriver

Linux

Go to the download page on the Chromium project and choose the correct version for your Linux installation. Then extract the downloaded file in a directory in the PATH (e.g. /usr/bin). You can also extract it to any directory and add that directory to the PATH:

Linux 64bits

$ cd $HOME/Downloads
$ wget https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/2.41/chromedriver_linux64.zip
$ unzip chromedriver_linux64.zip

$ mkdir -p $HOME/bin
$ mv chromedriver $HOME/bin
$ echo "export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin" >> $HOME/.bash_profile

Windows

Note: We don’t provide official support for Windows, but you can try it by yourself.

All you need to do is go to download page on Selenium project and choose “ChromeDriver server for win”. Your browser will download a zip file, extract it and add the .exe file to your PATH.

If you don’t know how to add an executable to the PATH on Windows, check these link out:

Using Chrome WebDriver

To use the Chrome driver, all you need to do is pass the string chrome when you create the Browser instance:

from splinter import Browser
browser = Browser('chrome')

Note: if you don’t provide any driver to the Browser function, firefox will be used.

Note: if you have trouble with $HOME/.bash_profile, you can try $HOME/.bashrc.

Using headless option for Chrome

Starting with Chrome 59, we can run Chrome as a headless browser. Make sure you read google developers updates

from splinter import Browser
browser = Browser('chrome', headless=True)

Using incognito option for Chrome

We can run Chrome as a incognito browser.

from splinter import Browser
browser = Browser('chrome', incognito=True)

Using emulation mode in Chrome

Chrome options can be passed to customize Chrome’s behaviour; it is then possible to leverage the experimental emulation mode.

from selenium import webdriver
from splinter import Browser

mobile_emulation = {"deviceName": "Google Nexus 5"}
chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.add_experimental_option("mobileEmulation",
                                       mobile_emulation)
browser = Browser('chrome', options=chrome_options)

refer to chrome driver documentation

API docs

class splinter.driver.webdriver.chrome.WebDriver(options=None, user_agent=None, wait_time=2, fullscreen=False, incognito=False, headless=False, **kwargs)
attach_file(name, value)

Fill the field identified by name with the content specified by value.

back()

Back to the last URL in the browsing history.

If there is no URL to back, this method does nothing.

check(name)

Checks a checkbox by its name.

Example:

>>> browser.check("agree-with-terms")

If you call browser.check n times, the checkbox keeps checked, it never get unchecked.

To unckech a checkbox, take a look in the uncheck method.

choose(name, value)

Chooses a value in a radio buttons group.

Suppose you have the two radio buttons in a page, with the name gender and values ‘F’ and ‘M’. If you use the choose method the following way:

>>> browser.choose('gender', 'F')

Then you’re choosing the female gender.

Clicks in a link by its href attribute.

Clicks in a link by id.

Clicks in a link by looking for partial content of href attribute.

Clicks in a link by partial content of its text.

Clicks in a link by its text.

cookies

A CookieManager instance.

For more details, check the cookies manipulation section.

evaluate_script(script, *args)

Similar to execute_script method.

Executes javascript in the browser and returns the value of the expression.

e.g.: ::
>>> assert 4 == browser.evaluate_script('2 + 2')
execute_script(script, *args)

Executes a given JavaScript in the browser.

e.g.: ::
>>> browser.execute_script('document.getElementById("body").innerHTML = "<p>Hello world!</p>"')
fill(name, value)

Fill the field identified by name with the content specified by value.

fill_form(field_values, form_id=None, name=None)

Fill the fields identified by name with the content specified by value in a dict.

Currently, fill_form supports the following fields: text, password, textarea, checkbox, radio and select.

Checkboxes should be specified as a boolean in the dict.

find_by_css(css_selector)

Returns an instance of ElementList, using a CSS selector to query the current page content.

find_by_id(id)

Finds an element in current page by its id.

Even when only one element is find, this method returns an instance of ElementList

find_by_name(name)

Finds elements in current page by their name.

Returns an instance of ElementList.

find_by_tag(tag)

Find all elements of a given tag in current page.

Returns an instance of ElementList

find_by_text(text)

Finds elements in current page by their text.

Returns an instance of ElementList

find_by_value(value)

Finds elements in current page by their value.

Returns an instance of ElementList

find_by_xpath(xpath, original_find=None, original_query=None)

Returns an instance of ElementList, using a xpath selector to query the current page content.

Find all elements of a given tag in current page.

Returns an instance of ElementList

Find links by looking for a partial str in their href attribute.

Returns an instance of ElementList

Find links by looking for a partial str in their text.

Returns an instance of ElementList

Find links querying for their text.

Returns an instance of ElementList

find_option_by_text(text)

Finds <option> elements by their text.

Returns an instance of ElementList

find_option_by_value(value)

Finds <option> elements by their value.

Returns an instance of ElementList

forward()

Forward to the next URL in the browsing history.

If there is no URL to forward, this method does nothing.

get_alert()

Changes the context for working with alerts and prompts.

For more details, check the docs about iframes, alerts and prompts

get_iframe(**kwds)

Changes the context for working with iframes.

For more details, check the docs about iframes, alerts and prompts

html

Source of current page.

is_element_not_present_by_css(css_selector, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by css, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_id(id, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by id, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_name(name, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by name, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_tag(tag, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by tag, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_text(text, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by text, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_value(value, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by value, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_not_present_by_xpath(xpath, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is not present in the current page by xpath, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is not present and False if is present.

is_element_present_by_css(css_selector, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by css, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_id(id, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by id, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_name(name, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by name, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_tag(tag, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by tag, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_text(text, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by text, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_value(value, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by value, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_element_present_by_xpath(xpath, wait_time=None)

Verify if the element is present in the current page by xpath, and wait the specified time in wait_time.

Returns True if the element is present and False if is not present.

is_text_present(text, wait_time=None)

Searchs for text in the browser and wait the seconds specified in wait_time.

Returns True if finds a match for the text and False if not.

quit()

Quits the browser, closing its windows (if it has one).

After quit the browser, you can’t use it anymore.

reload()

Revisits the current URL

screenshot(name='', suffix='.png', full=False)

Takes a screenshot of the current page and saves it locally.

select(name, value)

Selects an <option> element in an <select> element using the name of the <select> and the value of the <option>.

Example:

>>> browser.select("state", "NY")
title

Title of current page.

type(name, value, slowly=False)

Types the value in the field identified by name.

It’s useful to test javascript events like keyPress, keyUp, keyDown, etc.

If slowly is True, this function returns an iterator which will type one character per iteration.

uncheck(name)

Unchecks a checkbox by its name.

Example:

>>> browser.uncheck("send-me-emails")

If you call brower.uncheck n times, the checkbox keeps unchecked, it never get checked.

To check a checkbox, take a look in the check method.

url

URL of current page.

visit(url)

Visits a given URL.

The url parameter is a string.