Now, you can follow these steps to download the Microsoft webdriver: First check the version of your OS build. Based on your OS version build, you have to download the corresponding Edge driver. Selenium is a set of different software tools each with a different approach to supporting browser automation. These tools are highly flexible, allowing many options for locating and manipulating elements within a browser, and one of its key features is the support for automating multiple browser platforms. This package contains the.NET bindings for the concise and object-based Selenium.
This page documents how to start using ChromeDriver for testing your website on desktop (Windows/Mac/Linux).
You can also read Getting Started with Android or Getting Started with ChromeOS
Setup
ChromeDriver is a separate executable that Selenium WebDriver uses to control Chrome. It is maintained by the Chromium team with help from WebDriver contributors. If you are unfamiliar with Selenium WebDriver, you should check out the Selenium site.
Follow these steps to setup your tests for running with ChromeDriver:
- Ensure Chromium/Google Chrome is installed in a recognized location
ChromeDriver expects you to have Chrome installed in the default location for your platform. You can also force ChromeDriver to use a custom location by setting a special capability.
- Download the ChromeDriver binary for your platform under the downloads section of this site
- Help WebDriver find the downloaded ChromeDriver executable
- include the ChromeDriver location in your PATH environment variable
- (Java only) specify its location via the webdriver.chrome.driver system property (see sample below)
- (Python only) include the path to ChromeDriver when instantiating webdriver.Chrome (see sample below)
Sample test
Java:
Python:
Controlling ChromeDriver's lifetime
The ChromeDriver class starts the ChromeDriver server process at creation and terminates it when quit is called. This can waste a significant amount of time for large test suites where a ChromeDriver instance is created per test. There are two options to remedy this:
1. Use the ChromeDriverService. This is available for most languages and allows you to start/stop the ChromeDriver server yourself. See here for a Java example (with JUnit 4):
Python:
2. Start the ChromeDriver server separately before running your tests, and connect to it using the Remote WebDriver.
Terminal:
Java:
Selenium WebDriver is one of the most popular browser-based test automation tools out there, providing an easy way of automatically interacting with websites using a multitude of browsers, from Chrome and Firefox to good old Internet Explorer.
Its flexibility in terms of programming languages that it can be used with, not to mention the wide array of support found online make it the best choice if you're trying to test out any web application.
Given the project's long history, however, it can be a bit tricky to figure out just which version to use, not to mention how to download or install it. This article will explain the differences between the old and new Selenium versions, as well as how to get the version most suitable for your web automation project.
Selenium versions and their purpose 🔎
Browsing the official SeleniumHQ page, you can see that there are two main versions of Selenium – IDE
and WebDriver
.
Selenium IDE is available just as an extension for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers. It can help in exploratory testing but, if you are serious about automating your web application, it will soon prove inefficient.
Selenium WebDriver is the much more important version of the popular tool, as it includes a variety of methods through which you can 'drive' (as in control) a browser. These methods are translated in a variety of programming languages, from Java to JavaScript, Ruby, C#, and Python. Microsoft office word 2011 free download for mac.
There's also Selenium Server, which is useful when running tests written with WebDriver on a cloud-based platform. It can also be used to emulate the functions of the older, now deprecated Selenium Grid. Besides Grid, another now outdated version is Selenium Remote Control (RC).
Download the right version for you 🔀
On the official download page, you can see several listings that can help you in your automation journey but it can get confusing. Fortunately, here's a brief overview of every option, as of January 2019.
Selenium Standalone Server
This version is useful only when running tests written with WebDriver on a cloud platform. If you're just running the tests on a single machine, either your own or through Jenkins, this version won't be of uses.
The Internet Explorer Driver Server
Like it or not, Internet Explorer is still a very popular web browser, so you may have to include tests that verify your website's performance when displayed in it. This server, once downloaded, needs to be added to your system's PATH
. In case you don't know how to do that, follow the steps below.
You can do this by running the following commands, replacing PATH_TO_YOUR_IE_ DRIVER_FOLDER
with your actual path, for example C:IEDriverServer_x64_3.14.0IEDriverServer.exe
:
- Open the Start menu
- Type
Environment
and select the option to Edit System Variables - A new window should appear with options for Performance, User Profiles, and so on. Press the button marked
Environment Variables
- In this new window, in the System Variables section, select the Path variable and press
Edit
. - Depending on the Windows version, you'll see a long list of paths separated by semi-colon (;) or a table with the values on each row.
- Add the
PATH_TO_YOUR_IE_ DRIVER_FOLDER
at the end of the list or on a new row and hitOK
.
Selenium Client & WebDriver Language Bindings
This is the most important section of the download page, as you'll be using the WebDriver bindings to actually write your automated tests. There are multiple versions depending on the programming language you're writing your tests in. The core languages are Java, C#, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript. Thanks to the great community, there are also user-made versions for languages like Perl, PHP, R, and much more. These, however, are not developed or supported officially by SeleniumHQ.
It's important to note that some of the official languages have multiple ways of obtaining the latest version of Selenium WebDriver.
Firefox Driver For Selenium Webdriver Download For Mac
For Java, you can download a .zip
archive that contains the .jar
files needed to use Selenium WebDriver's methods in your own classes. However, the preferred way to get it is through Maven. In case you're not familiar with the build management tool, you can read our own introduction for beginners to Maven.
For C# you can also download a .zip
archive but, once again, there is a preferredway, by using the NuGet service, which is linked further down the page.
The Ruby, Python, and JavaScript download links take you to those languages' official repositories, in the form of RubyGems, PyPi, and NPM.
SafariDriver Deprecation and Apple's Official SafariDriver
SeleniumHQ made a version of SafariDriver that enables WebDriver to interact with the browser on Apple platforms like Mac or iOS. However, in recent years the old implementation has been deprecated, replaced with a proprietary version made by Apple. You can read all about it on Apple's developer documentation.
Selenium IDE
I already talked about Selenium IDE, the extension for Chrome and Firefox. While it may be enough to record and play some website interactions, trying to do anything complex shows the limitations of the tool.
Third Party Browser Drivers
This is another important section of the downloads, as besides Selenium WebDriver, you need an actual browser driver that transfers the commands to the actual browser executable. To get a better idea, check out the diagram below.
In the example above, I start out with commands that I want to be executed as part of my test. I then write Java code that uses methods from the Selenium WebDriver library. I then use the ChromeDriver executable to transmit the Selenium commands to an instance of the Google Chrome browser.
In this section, you can download drivers for most popular browsers, starting with Firefox and Chrome and continuing to Edge or Safari. You also have options for lesser known browsers, but you'll probably stick to the more important ones.
Download Selenium Webdriver For Safari In Mac
Third Party Language Bindings
- include the ChromeDriver location in your PATH environment variable
- (Java only) specify its location via the webdriver.chrome.driver system property (see sample below)
- (Python only) include the path to ChromeDriver when instantiating webdriver.Chrome (see sample below)
Sample test
Java:
Python:
Controlling ChromeDriver's lifetime
The ChromeDriver class starts the ChromeDriver server process at creation and terminates it when quit is called. This can waste a significant amount of time for large test suites where a ChromeDriver instance is created per test. There are two options to remedy this:
1. Use the ChromeDriverService. This is available for most languages and allows you to start/stop the ChromeDriver server yourself. See here for a Java example (with JUnit 4):
Python:
2. Start the ChromeDriver server separately before running your tests, and connect to it using the Remote WebDriver.
Terminal:
Java:
Selenium WebDriver is one of the most popular browser-based test automation tools out there, providing an easy way of automatically interacting with websites using a multitude of browsers, from Chrome and Firefox to good old Internet Explorer.
Its flexibility in terms of programming languages that it can be used with, not to mention the wide array of support found online make it the best choice if you're trying to test out any web application.
Given the project's long history, however, it can be a bit tricky to figure out just which version to use, not to mention how to download or install it. This article will explain the differences between the old and new Selenium versions, as well as how to get the version most suitable for your web automation project.
Selenium versions and their purpose 🔎
Browsing the official SeleniumHQ page, you can see that there are two main versions of Selenium – IDE
and WebDriver
.
Selenium IDE is available just as an extension for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers. It can help in exploratory testing but, if you are serious about automating your web application, it will soon prove inefficient.
Selenium WebDriver is the much more important version of the popular tool, as it includes a variety of methods through which you can 'drive' (as in control) a browser. These methods are translated in a variety of programming languages, from Java to JavaScript, Ruby, C#, and Python. Microsoft office word 2011 free download for mac.
There's also Selenium Server, which is useful when running tests written with WebDriver on a cloud-based platform. It can also be used to emulate the functions of the older, now deprecated Selenium Grid. Besides Grid, another now outdated version is Selenium Remote Control (RC).
Download the right version for you 🔀
On the official download page, you can see several listings that can help you in your automation journey but it can get confusing. Fortunately, here's a brief overview of every option, as of January 2019.
Selenium Standalone Server
This version is useful only when running tests written with WebDriver on a cloud platform. If you're just running the tests on a single machine, either your own or through Jenkins, this version won't be of uses.
The Internet Explorer Driver Server
Like it or not, Internet Explorer is still a very popular web browser, so you may have to include tests that verify your website's performance when displayed in it. This server, once downloaded, needs to be added to your system's PATH
. In case you don't know how to do that, follow the steps below.
You can do this by running the following commands, replacing PATH_TO_YOUR_IE_ DRIVER_FOLDER
with your actual path, for example C:IEDriverServer_x64_3.14.0IEDriverServer.exe
:
- Open the Start menu
- Type
Environment
and select the option to Edit System Variables - A new window should appear with options for Performance, User Profiles, and so on. Press the button marked
Environment Variables
- In this new window, in the System Variables section, select the Path variable and press
Edit
. - Depending on the Windows version, you'll see a long list of paths separated by semi-colon (;) or a table with the values on each row.
- Add the
PATH_TO_YOUR_IE_ DRIVER_FOLDER
at the end of the list or on a new row and hitOK
.
Selenium Client & WebDriver Language Bindings
This is the most important section of the download page, as you'll be using the WebDriver bindings to actually write your automated tests. There are multiple versions depending on the programming language you're writing your tests in. The core languages are Java, C#, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript. Thanks to the great community, there are also user-made versions for languages like Perl, PHP, R, and much more. These, however, are not developed or supported officially by SeleniumHQ.
It's important to note that some of the official languages have multiple ways of obtaining the latest version of Selenium WebDriver.
Firefox Driver For Selenium Webdriver Download For Mac
For Java, you can download a .zip
archive that contains the .jar
files needed to use Selenium WebDriver's methods in your own classes. However, the preferred way to get it is through Maven. In case you're not familiar with the build management tool, you can read our own introduction for beginners to Maven.
For C# you can also download a .zip
archive but, once again, there is a preferredway, by using the NuGet service, which is linked further down the page.
The Ruby, Python, and JavaScript download links take you to those languages' official repositories, in the form of RubyGems, PyPi, and NPM.
SafariDriver Deprecation and Apple's Official SafariDriver
SeleniumHQ made a version of SafariDriver that enables WebDriver to interact with the browser on Apple platforms like Mac or iOS. However, in recent years the old implementation has been deprecated, replaced with a proprietary version made by Apple. You can read all about it on Apple's developer documentation.
Selenium IDE
I already talked about Selenium IDE, the extension for Chrome and Firefox. While it may be enough to record and play some website interactions, trying to do anything complex shows the limitations of the tool.
Third Party Browser Drivers
This is another important section of the downloads, as besides Selenium WebDriver, you need an actual browser driver that transfers the commands to the actual browser executable. To get a better idea, check out the diagram below.
In the example above, I start out with commands that I want to be executed as part of my test. I then write Java code that uses methods from the Selenium WebDriver library. I then use the ChromeDriver executable to transmit the Selenium commands to an instance of the Google Chrome browser.
In this section, you can download drivers for most popular browsers, starting with Firefox and Chrome and continuing to Edge or Safari. You also have options for lesser known browsers, but you'll probably stick to the more important ones.
Download Selenium Webdriver For Safari In Mac
Third Party Language Bindings
If you want to use Selenium WebDriver with other programming languages besides the officially-supported ones, you can try the community-made bindings listed in this section.
Download Selenium Webdriver For Chrome
Selenium IDE Plugins
This final section includes a wide variety of plugins that help Selenium IDE, the browser extension, perform more tasks.
Conclusion 🏁
I hope that you now know a bit more about all the different Selenium options and downloads that the official website throws at you. More articles are coming about how to get started with Selenium, but at least you will be ready to start, now that you know what to download and what can be useful for you.