Tag: selenium

using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace MySeleniumApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize the Chrome Driver
            using (IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver())
            {
                // Navigate to a website
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

                // Find element by its id
                IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.Id("element_id_here"));

                // Perform actions on the element (e.g., click, send keys, etc.)
                string elementText = element.Text;

                // Output the text of the element
                Console.WriteLine($"Element text is: {elementText}");

                // Close the driver
                driver.Quit();
            }
        }
    }
}

Running Selenium tests in a virtual desktop environment on Linux can be particularly useful for isolating the browser and running tests as if they were in a GUI, without interfering with the actual display. A common tool for creating a virtual desktop on Linux is Xvfb (X Virtual FrameBuffer).

First, you need to install Xvfb. You can install it using your distribution’s package manager. For Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y xvfb

Start Xvfb on a particular display

Xvfb :99 -ac &

Export DISPLAY Environment Variable

You need to tell your terminal session to send any graphical output to the virtual frame buffer set up by Xvfb. You can do this by setting the DISPLAY environment variable.

export DISPLAY=:99

Run Your Selenium Test

Now you can run your Selenium test as you would normally, and it will send its output to the virtual frame buffer instead of trying to use a physical display.

Here is a sample C# code snippet that opens Google in Chrome. Make sure you have the Selenium WebDriver NuGet package and ChromeDriver installed.

using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace MySeleniumApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize ChromeDriver
            using (IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver())
            {
                // Navigate to Google
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");
                
                // Do your test logic here
                
                // Close the driver
                driver.Quit();
            }
        }
    }
}

Stop Xvfb

After you’ve finished running your tests, you can stop the Xvfb process.

killall Xvfb

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace MySeleniumApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Start Xvfb on display 99
            Process xvfbProcess = new Process();
            xvfbProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "Xvfb";
            xvfbProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = ":99 -ac";
            xvfbProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
            xvfbProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
            xvfbProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
            xvfbProcess.Start();

            // Wait for Xvfb to initialize
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);

            // Set the DISPLAY environment variable
            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("DISPLAY", ":99");

            // Initialize ChromeDriver
            using (IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver())
            {
                // Navigate to Google
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");

                // Do your test logic here

                // Close the driver
                driver.Quit();
            }

            // Stop Xvfb process
            xvfbProcess.Kill();
        }
    }
}

Running Selenium without a GUI is known as running it in “headless” mode. In this mode, the browser doesn’t display a user interface, which is particularly useful for automated tests that run on servers or other environments where a graphical display is not available.

using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace MySeleniumApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize ChromeDriver options
            ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
            options.AddArgument("--headless");  // Run headless
            
            // Initialize the Chrome Driver with options
            using (IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(options))
            {
                // Navigate to Google
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");

                // Optionally, capture the page title to verify
                Console.WriteLine("Page title is: " + driver.Title);

                // Close the driver
                driver.Quit();
            }
        }
    }
}

Chrome will run in headless mode, performing all the actions but without displaying the browser GUI. You should see the page title printed in the console if everything works correctly.

The ability to run tests in headless mode can be particularly useful in an automated testing environment or a CI/CD pipeline.

Run the following command to install the Selenium WebDriver NuGet package:

dotnet add package Selenium.WebDriver

You’ll also need to download the WebDriver executable for the browser you intend to use. For example, if you are planning to use Chrome, you’ll need to download ChromeDriver.

You can download it from the official site and place the executable in a directory that is in your system’s PATH, or specify its location in your code.

Write Your Test Code

Now you can write your Selenium test code in the Program.cs file. Here’s a simple example to open Google’s homepage:

using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace MySeleniumApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize the Chrome Driver
            using (IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver())
            {
                // Navigate to Google
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");

                // Close the driver
                driver.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}