browser-automator

browser-automator

Puppeteer alternative for Chrome extensions.

Whether you are developing a Chrome extension or need to automate tasks in your favorite Chrome extension, browser-automator offers a Puppeteer-like experience tailored for Chrome extensions. It provides a simple and efficient way to interact with Chrome browser pages. It allows you to control the browser programmatically. Perfect for Chrome extension-based web scraping and automation purposes.

Table of Contents

• Install
• Usage
• API Reference
• Contributing
• License
• Author

Install

npm i browser-automator

Usage

A minimal example to automate Goolge search:

import automator from 'browser-automator'

const browser = automator.launch()
const page = await browser.newPage()

await page.goto('https://www.google.com')
await page.waitForSelector('textarea[type="search"]')
await page.input('textarea[type="search"]', 'Who owns Google?')
await page.click('input[type="submit"]')

await page.waitForSelector('[class*="header"]')
const result = await page.evaluate((selector) => {
	return document.querySelector(selector)?.innerText?.trim()
}, ['div[class*="header"]'])
console.log(result)

API Reference

Namespace: automator

A namespace that provides functions for launching the browser automation process.

• launch(): Browser

  Launches a new Browser instance for browser automation.

  • Returns: A new Browser instance for browser automation.

Class: Page

Represents a Page instance for interacting with Chrome browser pages.

Properties

• tabId (number) - The ID of the Chrome tab.
• windowId (number) - The ID of the Chrome window.
• tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts for waiting operations. Default: 50.
• delay (number) - The delay between attempts in milliseconds. Default: 750.
• onBeforeClose (Function) - Callback function to be executed before closing the page.

Constructor

• constructor(options: { tabId: number; windowId: number })

  Creates a new Page instance for a specific Chrome tab with the given tabId and windowId.

  • options (Object)
    • tabId (number) - The unique identifier of the Chrome tab associated with this Page instance.
    • windowId (number) - The unique identifier of the Chrome window containing the tab.

Methods

• goto(url: string, options?: { waitUntil: 'load' | 'domcontentloaded' }): Promise<void>

  Navigate to the specified URL.

  • url (string) - The URL to navigate to.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • waitUntil (string) - When to consider navigation as complete ('load' or 'domcontentloaded'). Default: 'domcontentloaded'.

• reload(): Promise<void>

  Reloads the current page.

• url(): Promise<string>

  Get the current URL of the page.

• close(): Promise<void>

  Close the current page.

• bringToFront(): Promise<void>

  Brings the Chrome browser window associated with the page to the front.

• hideFromFront(): Promise<void>

  Hides the Chrome browser window associated with the page.

• evaluate(options: object): Promise<any>

  Evaluates JavaScript code on the page.

  • options (Object)
    • func (Function, optional) - The function to evaluate.
    • files (string[], optional) - An array of script file paths to evaluate.
    • args (any[], optional) - Arguments to pass to the evaluated function.
    • world ('ISOLATED' | 'MAIN', optional) - The world context for evaluation (default is 'MAIN').
    • allFrames (boolean, optional) - Indicates whether to evaluate in all frames (default is false).
    • frameIds (number[], optional) - An array of frame identifiers where the evaluation should take place.
    • documentIds (string[], optional) - An array of document identifiers for the frames to evaluate in.

• evaluate(func: Function, args?: any[], options?: object): Promise<any>

  Evaluates a function on the page.

  • func (Function) - The function to evaluate.
  • args (any[], optional) - Arguments to pass to the function.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • world ('ISOLATED' | 'MAIN') - The world context for evaluation (default is 'MAIN').
    • allFrames (boolean) - Indicates whether to evaluate in all frames (default is false).
    • frameIds (number[]) - An array of frame identifiers where the evaluation should take place.
    • documentIds (string[]) - An array of document identifiers for the frames to evaluate in.

• evaluate(files: string[], args?: any[], options?: object): Promise<any>

  Evaluates JS files on the page.

  • files (string[]) - An array of script file paths to evaluate.
  • args (any[], optional) - Arguments to pass to the function.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • world ('ISOLATED' | 'MAIN') - The world context for evaluation (default is 'MAIN').
    • allFrames (boolean) - Indicates whether to evaluate in all frames (default is false).
    • frameIds (number[]) - An array of frame identifiers where the evaluation should take place.
    • documentIds (string[]) - An array of document identifiers for the frames to evaluate in.

• waitFor(func: Function, args: any[], options?: { tryLimit?: number; delay?: number }): Promise<any>

  Waits for a function to return a truthy value.

  • func (Function) - The function representing the condition to wait for.
  • args (any[]) - Arguments to pass to the function.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts to wait for the condition (default is this.tryLimit).
    • delay (number) - The delay in milliseconds between attempts (default is this.delay).

• waitForNavigation(options?: { tryLimit?: number; delay?: number }): Promise<void>

  Waits for the page to navigate to a new URL.

  • options (Object, optional)
    • tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts to wait for navigation (default is 50).
    • delay (number) - The delay between each attempt in milliseconds (default is 750).

• waitForSelector(selectors: string, options?: { tryLimit?: number; delay?: number }, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Waits for an element matching the given CSS selector to become available.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector to wait for.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts to find the element (default is 1000).
    • delay (number) - The delay between attempts in milliseconds (default is 750).
  • index (number, optional) - The index of the element if multiple elements match the selector.

• waitForSelectorMiss(selectors: string, options?: { tryLimit?: number; delay?: number }, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Waits for an element matching the given selector to disappear from the page.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression to check for element absence.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts (default is 1000).
    • delay (number) - The delay in milliseconds between attempts (default is 750ms).
  • index (number, optional) - The index of the element if there are multiple matches.

• waitForXPath(expression: any, options?: { tryLimit?: number; delay?: number }, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Waits for an element matching the given XPath expression to appear in the page.

  • expression (any) - The XPath expression to wait for.
  • options (Object, optional)
    • tryLimit (number) - The maximum number of attempts to find the element (default is 1000).
    • delay (number) - The delay in milliseconds between attempts (default is 750ms).
  • index (number, optional) - The index of the element to interact with.

• elementExists(selectors: string, index: number = -1): Promise<boolean>

  Checks if an element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression exists on the page.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression to check for existence.
  • index (number) - The index of the element to check.

• click(selectors: string, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Clicks on the element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression to click on.
  • index (number) - The index of the element to interact with.

• execCopy(text: string): void

  Copies text to the clipboard.

  • text (string) - The text to copy to the clipboard.

• execPasteTo(selectors: string, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Pastes text from the clipboard to an element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression of the target element.
  • index (number) - The index of the element to interact with (default is -1).

• triggerEvent(selectors: string, type: any, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Triggers an event on the element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression of the target element.
  • type (string) - The type of event to trigger.
  • index (number) - The index of the element to interact with.

• input(selectors: string, value: any, index: number = -1): Promise<void>

  Inputs a value into the element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression.

  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression of the target element.
  • value (any) - The value to input.
  • index (number) - The index of the element to interact with.

• uploadFiles(files: (File | { name: string, blob: Blob, dataUrl?: string, blobUrl?: string } | any)[], selectors: string, caughtElementIndex: number): Promise<void>

  Uploads files to an input element specified by the CSS selector or XPath expression.

  • files (Array) - An array of files to upload, where each file can be a File object or an object with name, blob, dataUrl, and blobUrl properties.
  • selectors (string) - The CSS selector or XPath expression of the input element.
  • caughtElementIndex (number) - The index of the element to interact with (default is -1).

• screenshot(options: { clip?: { x: number; y: number; width: number; height: number } }): Promise<string>

  Takes a screenshot of the visible area of the page.

  • options (Object, optional)
    • clip (Object) - Optional clipping parameters.

Class: Browser

Represents a Browser instance for interacting with Chrome browser pages.

Properties

• availablePages (Page[]) - An array of available Page instances within the browser.
• onPageAdded (Function) - A callback function that is invoked when a new page is added to the browser.
• onPageCloseListener (Function) - A function to listen for page close events.

Constructor

• constructor()

  Creates a new Browser instance.

Methods

• newPage({ tabId, windowId, originWindowId, activeInOrigin, windowOptions, tabOptions }): Promise<Page>

  Creates a new Page instance and associates it with the browser.

  • tabId (number, optional) - The ID of the tab to use for creating the Page instance. If not supplied, a tab will be created.

  • windowId (number, optional) - The ID of the window to open the page in. If not supplied, a window will be created.

  • originWindowId (number, optional) - The ID of the tab's origin window (if any).

  • activeInOrigin (boolean, optional) - Whether the page should be active in the origin window.

  • windowOptions (chrome.windows.CreateData, optional) - Options for creating the window.

  • tabOptions (chrome.tabs.CreateProperties | chrome.tabs.UpdateProperties, optional) - Options for creating or updating the tab.

  • Returns: A Promise that resolves with the new Page instance.

• pages(): Page[]

  Returns an array of available Page instances.

  • Returns: An array of available Page instances.

• onPageClose(closedTabId: number)

  Event listener for page close events.

  • closedTabId (number) - The ID of the closed tab.

• close(): Promise<void>

  Closes all associated pages in the Browser instance.

Contributing

You are welcome to contribute! If you are adding a feature or fixing a bug, please contribute to the GitHub repository.

License

browser-automator is licensed under the MIT license.

Author

@SheikhAminul