appium-chromedriver

What is appium-chromedriver?

The appium-chromedriver npm package is a Node.js wrapper around the Chromedriver binary, which is used to automate Chrome-based browsers for testing purposes. It is primarily used in conjunction with Appium to facilitate automated testing of web applications on mobile devices.

What are appium-chromedriver's main functionalities?

Install Chromedriver

This feature allows you to install the Chromedriver binary required for automating Chrome-based browsers. The code sample demonstrates how to set up Chromedriver using the appium-chromedriver package.

const Chromedriver = require('appium-chromedriver');
const driver = new Chromedriver();
driver.setupChromedriver().then(() => console.log('Chromedriver installed successfully'));

Start Chromedriver

This feature allows you to start the Chromedriver server. The code sample demonstrates how to start Chromedriver using the appium-chromedriver package.

const Chromedriver = require('appium-chromedriver');
const driver = new Chromedriver();
driver.start().then(() => console.log('Chromedriver started successfully'));

Stop Chromedriver

This feature allows you to stop the Chromedriver server. The code sample demonstrates how to stop Chromedriver using the appium-chromedriver package.

const Chromedriver = require('appium-chromedriver');
const driver = new Chromedriver();
driver.stop().then(() => console.log('Chromedriver stopped successfully'));

Get Chromedriver Status

This feature allows you to get the status of the Chromedriver server. The code sample demonstrates how to retrieve the status using the appium-chromedriver package.

const Chromedriver = require('appium-chromedriver');
const driver = new Chromedriver();
driver.status().then(status => console.log('Chromedriver status:', status));

Other packages similar to appium-chromedriver

selenium-webdriver

The selenium-webdriver package is a popular tool for automating web browsers. It provides a high-level API for controlling browsers and is widely used for web application testing. Unlike appium-chromedriver, which is focused on mobile automation, selenium-webdriver supports a broader range of browsers and platforms.

webdriverio

WebdriverIO is a powerful automation framework for web and mobile applications. It provides a rich set of features for browser automation and integrates well with various testing frameworks. Compared to appium-chromedriver, WebdriverIO offers more extensive support for different browsers and testing environments.

nightwatch

Nightwatch is an end-to-end testing framework for web applications and websites. It uses the W3C WebDriver API to perform browser automation and provides a simple syntax for writing tests. While appium-chromedriver is focused on mobile automation, Nightwatch is designed for web application testing and offers built-in support for various browsers.

README

appium-chromedriver

Node.js wrapper around Chromedriver

This module is written using Traceur which is essentially ECMAscript6 along with the proposed await command for es7.

Local installation

Because of the oddities of npm's lifecycle hooks, installing locally the first time will fail, saying Project does not appear to built yet. Please run gulp transpile first.. This is because we transpile in the prepublish phase, but run the install script in the install phase. Any other way would make development dependencies necessary on user's machines, or make the binary not install, unfortunately.

The solution, however, is simple. Simple run gulp transpile and then npm install. The former will build the project and the latter will simply install the binary.

Usage

import Chromedriver from 'appium-chromedriver';

// 'sync'-like await/Promise usage
async function runSession() {
    let driver = new Chromedriver();
    const desiredCaps = {browserName: 'chrome'};
    await driver.start(desiredCaps);
    let status = await driver.sendCommand('/status', 'GET');
    await driver.stop();
}

// EventEmitter usage
function runSession2() {
    let driver = new Chromedriver();
    const desiredCaps = {browserName: 'chrome'};
    driver.start(desiredCaps);
    driver.on(Chromedriver.EVENT_CHANGED, function (msg) {
        if (msg.state === Chromedriver.STATE_ONLINE) {
            driver.sendCommand('/status', 'GET').then(function (status) {
                driver.stop();
            });
        }
    });
    driver.on(Chromedriver.EVENT_ERROR, function (err) {
        // :-(
    });
}

States

Here's what the Chromedriver state machine looks like:

Here are the events you can listen for:

• Chromedriver.EVENT_ERROR: gives you an error object
• Chromedriver.EVENT_CHANGED: gives you a state change object, with a state property that can be one of:
  • Chromedriver.STATE_STOPPED
  • Chromedriver.STATE_STARTING
  • Chromedriver.STATE_ONLINE
  • Chromedriver.STATE_STOPPING
  • Chromedriver.STATE_RESTARTING

Custom Chromedriver version

To use a version of Chromedriver not set in the code, use npm config property chromedriver_version.

npm install appium-chromedriver --chromedriver_version="2.16"

Or add the property into your .npmrc file.

chromedriver_version=2.16

Custom binaries url

To use a mirror of the ChromeDriver binaries use npm config property chromedriver_cdnurl. Default is http://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com.

npm install appium-chromedriver --chromedriver_cdnurl=http://npm.taobao.org/mirrors/chromedriver

Or add the property into your .npmrc file.

chromedriver_cdnurl=http://npm.taobao.org/mirrors/chromedriver

Another option is to use PATH variable CHROMEDRIVER_CDNURL.

CHROMEDRIVER_CDNURL=http://npm.taobao.org/mirrors/chromedriver npm install appium-chromedriver

Dev

We use Gulp for building/transpiling.

Watch

npm run watch

Run Tests

npm test