- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION

- Element Locators
- Element Filters

- METHODS

- SEE ALSO
- BUGS
- AUTHOR
- LICENSE

# NAME

WWW::Selenium - Perl Client for the Selenium Remote Control test tool

# SYNOPSIS

        use WWW::Selenium;

        my $sel = WWW::Selenium->new( host => "localhost",
                                          port => 4444,
                                          browser => "*iexplore",
                                          browser_url => "http://www.google.com",
                                        );

        $sel->start;
        $sel->open "http://www.google.com";
        $sel->type "q", "hello world";
        $sel->click "btnG";
        $sel->wait_for_page_to_load 5000;
        print $sel->get_title;
        $sel->stop;

# DESCRIPTION

Selenium Remote Control (SRC) is a test tool that allows you to write automated web application UI tests in any programming language against any HTTP website using any mainstream JavaScript-enabled browser. SRC provides a Selenium Server, which can automatically start/stop/control any supported browser. It works by using Selenium Core, a pure-HTML+JS library that performs automated tasks in JavaScript; the Selenium Server communicates directly with the browser using AJAX (XmlHttpRequest).

http://www.openqa.org/selenium-rc/

This module sends commands directly to the Server using simple HTTP GET/POST requests. Using this module together with the Selenium Server, you can automatically control any supported browser.

To use this module, you need to have already downloaded and started the Selenium Server. (The Selenium Server is a Java application.)

### Element Locators

Element Locators tell Selenium which HTML element a command refers to. The format of a locator is: locatorType=argument We support the following strategies for locating elements:

identifier=id

  Select the element with the specified @id attribute. If no match is found, select the first element whose @name attribute is id. (This is normally the default; see below.)

id=id

  Select the element with the specified @id attribute.

name=name

  Select the first element with the specified @name attribute.

- username
- name=username

The name may optionally be followed by one or more element-filters, separated from the name by whitespace. If the filterType is not specified, value is assumed.

- name=flavour value=chocolate

dom=javascriptExpression

  Find an element using JavaScript traversal of the HTML Document Object Model. DOM locators must begin with ``document.''.

- dom=document.forms['myForm'].myDropdown
- dom=document.images[56]

xpath=xpathExpression

  Locate an element using an XPath expression.

- xpath=//img[@alt='The image alt text']
- xpath=//table[@id='table1']//tr[4]/td[2]

link=textPattern

  Select the link (anchor) element which contains text matching the specified pattern.

- link=The link text

Without an explicit locator prefix, Selenium uses the following default strategies:

- dom, for locators starting with ``document.''
- xpath, for locators starting with ``//''
- identifier, otherwise

### Element Filters

Element filters can be used with a locator to refine a list of candidate elements. They are currently used only in the 'name' element-locator. Filters look much like locators, ie. filterType=argumentSupported element-filters are: value=valuePattern

Matches elements based on their values. This is particularly useful for refining a list of similarly-named toggle-buttons.index=index

Selects a single element based on its position in the list (offset from zero). =head3 String-match Patterns

Various Pattern syntaxes are available for matching string values:

glob:pattern

  Match a string against a ``glob'' (aka ``wildmat'') pattern. ``Glob'' is a kind of limited regular-expression syntax typically used in command-line shells. In a glob pattern, ``*'' represents any sequence of characters, and ``?'' represents any single character. Glob patterns match against the entire string.

regexp:regexp

  Match a string using a regular-expression. The full power of JavaScript regular-expressions is available.

exact:string

  Match a string exactly, verbatim, without any of that fancy wildcard stuff.

If no pattern prefix is specified, Selenium assumes that it's a ``glob'' pattern.

## METHODS

The following methods are available:

$sel = WWW::Selenium->new( %args )

  Constructs a new `WWW::Selenium` object, specifying a Selenium Server host/port, a command to launch the browser, and a starting URL for the browser.

  Options:

- `host`

  host is the host name on which the Selenium Server resides.

- `port`

  port is the port on which the Selenium Server is listening.

- `browser_url`

  browser_url is the starting URL including just a domain name. We'll start the browser pointing at the Selenium resources on this URL, e.g. ``http://www.google.com'' would send the browser to ``http://www.google.com/selenium-server/SeleneseRunner.html''

- `browser` or `browser_start_command`

  This is the command string used to launch the browser, e.g. ``*firefox'', ``*iexplore'' or ``/usr/bin/firefox''

  This option may be any one of the following:

  - `*firefox [absolute path]`

    Automatically launch a new Firefox process using a custom Firefox profile. This profile will be automatically configured to use the Selenium Server as a proxy and to have all annoying prompts (``save your password?'' ``forms are insecure'' ``make Firefox your default browser?'' disabled. You may optionally specify an absolute path to your firefox executable, or just say ``*firefox''. If no absolute path is specified, we'll look for firefox.exe in a default location (normally c:\program files\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe), which you can override by setting the Java system property `firefoxDefaultPath` to the correct path to Firefox.

  - `*iexplore [absolute path]`

    Automatically launch a new Internet Explorer process using custom Windows registry settings. This process will be automatically configured to use the Selenium Server as a proxy and to have all annoying prompts (``save your password?'' ``forms are insecure'' ``make Firefox your default browser?'' disabled. You may optionally specify an absolute path to your iexplore executable, or just say ``*iexplore''. If no absolute path is specified, we'll look for iexplore.exe in a default location (normally c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe), which you can override by setting the Java system property `iexploreDefaultPath` to the correct path to Internet Explorer.

  - `/path/to/my/browser [other arguments]`

    You may also simply specify the absolute path to your browser executable, or use a relative path to your executable (which we'll try to find on your path). Warning: If you specify your own custom browser, it's up to you to configure it correctly. At a minimum, you'll need to configure your browser to use the Selenium Server as a proxy, and disable all browser-specific prompting.

  $sel->`click($locator)`

    Clicks on a link, button, checkbox or radio button. If the click action causes a new page to load (like a link usually does), call waitForPageToLoad.

    $locator is an element locator.

$sel->fire_event($locator, $event_name)

  Explicitly simulate an event, to trigger the corresponding ``onevent'' handler.

  $locator is an element locator. $event_name is the event name, e.g. ``focus'' or ``blur''.

$sel->key_press($locator, $keycode)

  Simulates a user pressing and releasing a key.

  $locator is an element locator. $keycode is the numeric keycode of the key to be pressed, normally the ASCII value of that key..

$sel->key_down($locator, $keycode)

  Simulates a user pressing a key (without releasing it yet).

  $locator is an element locator. $keycode is the numeric keycode of the key to be pressed, normally the ASCII value of that key..

$sel->key_up($locator, $keycode)

  Simulates a user releasing a key.

  $locator is an element locator. $keycode is the numeric keycode of the key to be released, normally the ASCII value of that key..

$sel->`mouse_over($locator)`

  Simulates a user hovering a mouse over the specified element.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`mouse_down($locator)`

  Simulates a user pressing the mouse button (without releasing it yet) on the specified element.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->type($locator, $value)

  Sets the value of an input field, as though you typed it in.

  Can also be used to set the value of combo boxes, check boxes, etc. In these cases, value should be the value of the option selected, not the visible text.

  $locator is an element locator. $value is the value to type.

$sel->`check($locator)`

  Check a toggle-button (checkbox/radio)

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`uncheck($locator)`

  Uncheck a toggle-button (checkbox/radio)

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->select($select_locator, $option_locator)

  Select an option from a drop-down using an option locator.

  Option locators provide different ways of specifying options of an HTML Select element (e.g. for selecting a specific option, or for asserting that the selected option satisfies a specification). There are several forms of Select Option Locator.

label=labelPattern

  matches options based on their labels, i.e. the visible text. (This is the default.)

- label=regexp:^[Oo]ther

value=valuePattern

  matches options based on their values.

- value=other

id=id

  matches options based on their ids.

- id=option1

index=index

  matches an option based on its index (offset from zero).

- index=2

If no option locator prefix is provided, the default behaviour is to match on label.

$select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu. $option_locator is an option locator (a label by default).

$sel->add_selection($locator, $option_locator)

  Add a selection to the set of selected options in a multi-select element using an option locator.

  @see #doSelect for details of option locators

  $locator is an element locator identifying a multi-select box. $option_locator is an option locator (a label by default).

$sel->remove_selection($locator, $option_locator)

  Remove a selection from the set of selected options in a multi-select element using an option locator.

  @see #doSelect for details of option locators

  $locator is an element locator identifying a multi-select box. $option_locator is an option locator (a label by default).

$sel->`submit($form_locator)`

  Submit the specified form. This is particularly useful for forms without submit buttons, e.g. single-input ``Search'' forms.

  $form_locator is an element locator for the form you want to submit.

$sel->`open($url)`

  Opens an URL in the test frame. This accepts both relative and absolute URLs.

  The ``open'' command waits for the page to load before proceeding, ie. the ``AndWait'' suffix is implicit.

  Note: The URL must be on the same domain as the runner HTML due to security restrictions in the browser (Same Origin Policy). If you need to open an URL on another domain, use the Selenium Server to start a new browser session on that domain.

  $url is the URL to open; may be relative or absolute.

$sel->`select_window($window_i_d)`

  Selects a popup window; once a popup window has been selected, all commands go to that window. To select the main window again, use ``null'' as the target.

  $window_i_d is the JavaScript window ID of the window to select.

$sel->wait_for_pop_up($window_i_d, $timeout)

  Waits for a popup window to appear and load up.

  $window_i_d is the JavaScript window ID of the window that will appear. $timeout is a timeout in milliseconds, after which the action will return with an error.

$sel->`choose_cancel_on_next_confirmation()`

  By default, Selenium's overridden window.confirm() function will return true, as if the user had manually clicked OK. After running this command, the next call to `confirm()` will return false, as if the user had clicked Cancel.

$sel->`answer_on_next_prompt($answer)`

  Instructs Selenium to return the specified answer string in response to the next JavaScript prompt [window.prompt()].

  $answer is the answer to give in response to the prompt pop-up.

$sel->`go_back()`

  Simulates the user clicking the ``back'' button on their browser.

$sel->`refresh()`

  Simulates the user clicking the ``Refresh'' button on their browser.

$sel->`close()`

  Simulates the user clicking the ``close'' button in the titlebar of a popup window or tab.

$sel->`is_alert_present()`

  Has an alert occurred?

  This function never throws an exception

$sel->`is_prompt_present()`

  Has a prompt occurred?

  This function never throws an exception

$sel->`is_confirmation_present()`

  Has `confirm()` been called?

  This function never throws an exception

$sel->`get_alert()`

  Retrieves the message of a JavaScript alert generated during the previous action, or fail if there were no alerts.

  Getting an alert has the same effect as manually clicking OK. If an alert is generated but you do not get/verify it, the next Selenium action will fail. NOTE: under Selenium, JavaScript alerts will NOT pop up a visible alert dialog. NOTE: Selenium does NOT support JavaScript alerts that are generated in a page's `onload()` event handler. In this case a visible dialog WILL be generated and Selenium will hang until someone manually clicks OK.

$sel->`get_confirmation()`

  Retrieves the message of a JavaScript confirmation dialog generated during the previous action.

  By default, the confirm function will return true, having the same effect as manually clicking OK. This can be changed by prior execution of the chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation command. If an confirmation is generated but you do not get/verify it, the next Selenium action will fail.

  NOTE: under Selenium, JavaScript confirmations will NOT pop up a visible dialog.

  NOTE: Selenium does NOT support JavaScript confirmations that are generated in a page's `onload()` event handler. In this case a visible dialog WILL be generated and Selenium will hang until you manually click OK.

$sel->`get_prompt()`

  Retrieves the message of a JavaScript question prompt dialog generated during the previous action.

  Successful handling of the prompt requires prior execution of the answerOnNextPrompt command. If a prompt is generated but you do not get/verify it, the next Selenium action will fail. NOTE: under Selenium, JavaScript prompts will NOT pop up a visible dialog. NOTE: Selenium does NOT support JavaScript prompts that are generated in a page's `onload()` event handler. In this case a visible dialog WILL be generated and Selenium will hang until someone manually clicks OK.

$sel->`get_location()`

  Gets the absolute URL of the current page.

$sel->`get_title()`

  Gets the title of the current page.

$sel->`get_body_text()`

  Gets the entire text of the page.

$sel->`get_value($locator)`

  Gets the (whitespace-trimmed) value of an input field (or anything else with a value parameter). For checkbox/radio elements, the value will be ``on'' or ``off'' depending on whether the element is checked or not.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`get_text($locator)`

  Gets the text of an element. This works for any element that contains text. This command uses either the textContent (Mozilla-like browsers) or the innerText (IE-like browsers) of the element, which is the rendered text shown to the user.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`get_eval($script)`

  Gets the result of evaluating the specified JavaScript snippet. The snippet may have multiple lines, but only the result of the last line will be returned.

  Note that, by default, the snippet will run in the context of the ``selenium'' object itself, so `this` will refer to the Selenium object, and `window` will refer to the top-level runner test window, not the window of your application. If you need a reference to the window of your application, you can refer to `this.browserbot.getCurrentWindow()` and if you need to use a locator to refer to a single element in your application page, you can use `this.page().findElement("foo")` where ``foo'' is your locator.

  $script is the JavaScript snippet to run.

$sel->`is_checked($locator)`

  Gets whether a toggle-button (checkbox/radio) is checked. Fails if the specified element doesn't exist or isn't a toggle-button.

  $locator is an element locator pointing to a checkbox or radio button.

$sel->`get_table($table_cell_address)`

  Gets the text from a cell of a table. The cellAddress syntax tableLocator.row.column, where row and column start at 0.

  $table_cell_address is a cell address, e.g. ``foo.1.4''.

$sel->`get_selected_labels($select_locator)`

  Gets all option labels (visible text) for selected options in the specified select or multi-select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_label($select_locator)`

  Gets option label (visible text) for selected option in the specified select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_values($select_locator)`

  Gets all option values (value attributes) for selected options in the specified select or multi-select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_value($select_locator)`

  Gets option value (value attribute) for selected option in the specified select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_indexes($select_locator)`

  Gets all option indexes (option number, starting at 0) for selected options in the specified select or multi-select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_index($select_locator)`

  Gets option index (option number, starting at 0) for selected option in the specified select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_ids($select_locator)`

  Gets all option element IDs for selected options in the specified select or multi-select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_selected_id($select_locator)`

  Gets option element ID for selected option in the specified select element.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`is_something_selected($select_locator)`

  Determines whether some option in a drop-down menu is selected.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_select_options($select_locator)`

  Gets all option labels in the specified select drop-down.

  $select_locator is an element locator identifying a drop-down menu.

$sel->`get_attribute($attribute_locator)`

  Gets the value of an element attribute.

  $attribute_locator is an element locator followed by an.

$sel->`is_text_present($pattern)`

  Verifies that the specified text pattern appears somewhere on the rendered page shown to the user.

  $pattern is a pattern to match with the text of the page.

$sel->`is_element_present($locator)`

  Verifies that the specified element is somewhere on the page.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`is_visible($locator)`

  Determines if the specified element is visible. An element can be rendered invisible by setting the CSS ``visibility'' property to ``hidden'', or the ``display'' property to ``none'', either for the element itself or one if its ancestors. This method will fail if the element is not present.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`is_editable($locator)`

  Determines whether the specified input element is editable, ie hasn't been disabled. This method will fail if the specified element isn't an input element.

  $locator is an element locator.

$sel->`get_all_buttons()`

  Returns the IDs of all buttons on the page.

  If a given button has no ID, it will appear as ``'' in this array.

$sel->`get_all_links()`

  Returns the IDs of all links on the page.

  If a given link has no ID, it will appear as ``'' in this array.

$sel->`get_all_fields()`

  Returns the IDs of all input fields on the page.

  If a given field has no ID, it will appear as ``'' in this array.

$sel->`get_html_source()`

  Returns the entire HTML source between the opening and closing ``html'' tags.

$sel->set_cursor_position($locator, $position)

  Moves the text cursor to the specified position in the given input element or textarea. This method will fail if the specified element isn't an input element or textarea.

  $locator is an element locator pointing to an input element or textarea. $position is the numerical position of the cursor in the field; position should be 0 to move the position to the beginning of the field. You can also set the cursor to -1 to move it to the end of the field..

$sel->`get_cursor_position($locator)`

  Retrieves the text cursor position in the given input element or textarea; beware, this may not work perfectly on all browsers.

  Specifically, if the cursor/selection has been cleared by JavaScript, this command will tend to return the position of the last location of the cursor, even though the cursor is now gone from the page. This is filed as SEL-243.

  This method will fail if the specified element isn't an input element or textarea, or there is no cursor in the element.

  $locator is an element locator pointing to an input element or textarea.

$sel->set_context($context, $log_level_threshold)

  Writes a message to the status bar and adds a note to the browser-side log.

  If logLevelThreshold is specified, set the threshold for logging to that level (debug, info, warn, error). (Note that the browser-side logs will not be sent back to the server, and are invisible to the Client Driver.)

  $context is the message to be sent to the browser. $log_level_threshold is one of ``debug'', ``info'', ``warn'', ``error'', sets the threshold for browser-side logging.

$sel->`get_expression($expression)`

  Returns the specified expression.

  This is useful because of JavaScript preprocessing. It is used to generate commands like assertExpression and waitForExpression.

  $expression is the value to return.

$sel->wait_for_condition($script, $timeout)

  Runs the specified JavaScript snippet repeatedly until it evaluates to ``true''. The snippet may have multiple lines, but only the result of the last line will be considered.

  Note that, by default, the snippet will be run in the runner's test window, not in the window of your application. To get the window of your application, you can use the JavaScript snippet `selenium.browserbot.getCurrentWindow()`, and then run your JavaScript in there

  $script is the JavaScript snippet to run. $timeout is a timeout in milliseconds, after which this command will return with an error.

$sel->`set_timeout($timeout)`

  Specifies the amount of time that Selenium will wait for actions to complete.

  Actions that require waiting include ``open'' and the ``waitFor*'' actions.

  The default timeout is 30 seconds.

  $timeout is a timeout in milliseconds, after which the action will return with an error.

$sel->`wait_for_page_to_load($timeout)`

  Waits for a new page to load.

  You can use this command instead of the ``AndWait'' suffixes, ``clickAndWait'', ``selectAndWait'', ``typeAndWait'' etc. (which are only available in the JS API). Selenium constantly keeps track of new pages loading, and sets a ``newPageLoaded'' flag when it first notices a page load. Running any other Selenium command after turns the flag to false. Hence, if you want to wait for a page to load, you must wait immediately after a Selenium command that caused a page-load.

  $timeout is a timeout in milliseconds, after which this command will return with an error.

# SEE ALSO

For more information about Selenium Remote Control, visit the website at http://www.openqa.org/selenium-rc/.

# BUGS

The Selenium Remote Control JIRA issue tracking system is available online at http://jira.openqa.org/browse/SRC.

# AUTHOR

Maintained by Dan Fabulich <dfabulich@warpmail.net>

# LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2006 ThoughtWorks, Inc

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the ``License''); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an ``AS IS'' BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.