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In this video we will cover the two part of installing Selenium WebDriver; Installing the WebDriver binding for your desired language and installing the browser driver for your operating system.
IMPORTANT UPDATE
The Node selenium-webdriver has gone to a new alpha version that changes the API.
To follow along with this course make sure you install selenium-webdriver like this:
npm install selenium-webdriver@3
Fixing Permissions Errors
If you get a permissions (EACCESS) error when running npm install, re-running the command with sudo will get it working. But you should only do this with trusted packages! If a package contains malicious code, running it with sudo could allow an attacker to take over your system.
Instead, consider installing Node using a version manager, which will allow you to install packages globally without using sudo. You can read more about this solution here.
Installation Instructions
Learn More
[MUSIC]
0:00
Okay, so let's get this party started.
0:04
Selenium-WebDriver has all sorts of client
level APIs that let you use just about any
0:06
programming language
that you can think of.
0:10
Now with that in mind, we decided to use
JavaScript since you're driving a web
0:13
browser and
JavaScript is the language of the web.
0:18
We figured, chances are you
probably have some level of
0:21
experience with JavaScript,
if you're here.
0:24
Now in order to get started,
0:26
we're going to need to make sure
that you have Node installed.
0:28
If you've never used Node before,
don't fear.
0:31
Node is a JavaScript run-time that allows
you to write JavaScript applications and
0:33
run them locally as well as on a server.
0:36
Let's make sure that we've
got everything installed.
0:38
All right, so I'm running on a Mac and
I've got my terminal open here.
0:42
So let's see if I have Node installed.
0:46
So I'm gonna type, which node,
and it turns out that I do.
0:48
On a PC you would type where node.
0:54
Now if you didn't find Node installed,
check the teachers notes for
0:56
installation instructions.
0:59
I'm just gonna verify what version of Node
I'm running, so I'm gonna have node- v,
1:01
and you'll see here that
I'm running version 6.9.4.
1:04
As long as we're on version 6, and
that's that first number here.
1:09
This is the major release, 6,
or greater we'll be good to go.
1:13
If you aren't there,
1:17
get a newer versioned installed using
the instructions in the teacher's notes.
1:18
Okay, so now I wanna make a directory or
1:21
folder to store the code that we'll
be working on in this course.
1:24
I'm gonna call it Selenium basics.
1:27
I'm gonna say, mkdir selenium-basics.
1:28
And I'm gonna change to that directory.
1:32
So change directory, selenium-basics.
1:36
Okay, and since we have Node installed,
we also have NPM.
1:39
NPM stands for
the Node Package Manager and
1:43
it allows you to install
Node based modules.
1:45
So, we want to install one of those open
source modules, the one for Selenium.
1:48
So we'll type npm install
selenium-webdriver.
1:52
It's gonna go and download that stuff and
it's gonna give us some warnings.
2:00
And basically, these warnings
are just because we haven't yet
2:04
made our folder a package.
2:06
But what it did do was install
a bunch of Node modules, and
2:09
we can see those if we do ls.
2:13
We can list those files in
the Node modules directory and
2:15
you'll see what was required to
get Selenium up and running.
2:18
So now that we have the package installed,
2:22
we actually need to install the web
driver, the browser specific web driver.
2:24
Let's start with the Chrome version.
2:28
So we'll install this globally, so you
don't need to do it over and over again.
2:29
So we'll say, npm install chromedriver -g.
2:33
And that's going to install it globally.
2:37
And you need to have
the right permissions.
2:40
I'm gonna show you what
happens if you don't, and
2:42
then I'll show you how to fix it.
2:43
So see it says I don't have it.
2:47
It says, please try running this
command as root administration.
2:48
So I'm just gonna do a sudo npm.
2:51
I'm gonna say,
sudo which is basically will log
2:53
you in as an administrator
to put that in there.
2:57
So, I will do that, put it as password.
3:01
There we go.
3:11
And so now that we've got it installed,
3:12
we can type chromedriver --version,
just to make sure it's working.
3:13
Awesome.
3:19
In the course,
3:20
DOM Scripting By Example, there is
an RSVP web application that's built.
3:21
Now, I've attached the workspace here.
3:26
Go ahead and launch that workspace.
3:28
So, this is what my workspace looks like.
3:30
I'm gonna go ahead and preview,
and then I'm gonna click this
3:34
eye here to open up the preview, so
it will launch the webpage for us.
3:37
And I'm gonna use this just a little bit
so you can kinda see how things work.
3:42
So I'm gonna type, Nathan.
3:44
I'm gonna submit.
3:46
I'm also gonna add Elizabeth here.
3:48
There we go.
3:50
So you see that they start adding up.
3:52
And you can confirm or not confirm,
or you can edit the person's name.
3:54
So add Nathan Menge.
3:57
So as you can see, there's a little bit of
interactivity that's going on here, and
3:59
we can automate it.
4:02
What do you say we give it a try?
4:03
So what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna copy the URL.
4:05
Now, note here that this
URL is pretty intense,
4:07
so yours is gonna look
different than mine.
4:09
So I'm gonna copy that and
I'm gonna flip back over to my terminal.
4:12
Node offers what is known as a REPL,
or a read eval print loop.
4:16
It basically let's you build a program
up as you go, and it's wonderful for
4:19
this sort of exploratory coding.
4:23
To start it, you just type Node.
4:25
So, first, we need to grab
the module that we installed.
4:28
So this is just JavaScript here, right?
4:32
So I'm gonna do a const selenium,
so this is the name of the package.
4:34
And we'll say,
4:37
require selenium-webdriver.
4:40
Okay, and the package lets
you use the builder design
4:45
pattern to configure the driver
that you exactly want.
4:50
You called build on the builder and
it returns the right version.
4:53
Here, let's do it.
4:56
So I'll say const,
we'll call our variable driver.
4:57
And we'll make a new selenium,
lowercased, .Builder, okay?
5:00
This is the pattern here, so
you describe what it is that you want.
5:06
For right now, we just wanna have Chrome,
so we'll say, forBrowser, chrome.
5:10
And then after you've set up all of
your options, you call build on it and
5:15
that's how the pattern works.
5:18
So we'll do build, all right.
5:19
And now, I am going to set up a URL and
5:22
then I'm gonna paste, and that's the
Treehouse preview that was up from before.
5:26
Okay, so I'm gonna do driver.get, cuz
that's how you go get the webpage, url.
5:32
And it put back a whole
bunch of information, but
5:38
it should have also
opened up a new RSVP app.
5:44
And you'll see it says that
Chrome is being controlled by
5:49
automated test software.
5:52
And also, it's made a new Chrome instance.
5:53
So I have Chrome up and running, but
it's a new Chrome one over here.
5:56
And that's nice [LAUGH] because
as you start doing these,
5:58
they'll start opening more and more.
6:01
And you'll probably wanna know this
because eventually you'll wanna close it,
6:03
so you say driver.close.
6:06
And then you'll see that it's gone.
6:11
And to get out of the REPL,
you can press CTRL + D.
6:13
Now don't worry, the REPL does a great
job of ruining what you just typed in, so
6:20
you won't need to type all that again.
6:23
Okay, why don't you take a quick break and
come back here and
6:26
we'll get started learning the basics
of how to manipulate these elements.
6:29
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