Webdriver Manager for Python

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The main idea is to simplify management of binary drivers for different browsers.

For now support:

• ChromeDriver
• EdgeChromiumDriver
• GeckoDriver
• IEDriver
• OperaDriver

Compatible with Selenium 4.x and below.

Before: You need to download the chromedriver binary, unzip it somewhere on your PC and set the path to this driver like this:

from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome('/home/user/drivers/chromedriver')

It’s boring!!! Moreover, every time a new version of the driver is released, you need to repeat all these steps again and again.

With webdriver manager, you just need to do two simple steps:

Install manager:

pip install webdriver-manager

Use with Chrome

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Chrome(ChromeDriverManager().install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromeService
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ChromeService(ChromeDriverManager().install()))

Use with Chromium

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import ChromeType

driver = webdriver.Chrome(ChromeDriverManager(chrome_type=ChromeType.CHROMIUM).install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as ChromiumService
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import ChromeType

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ChromiumService(ChromeDriverManager(chrome_type=ChromeType.CHROMIUM).install()))

Use with Brave

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import ChromeType

driver = webdriver.Chrome(ChromeDriverManager(chrome_type=ChromeType.BRAVE).install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service as BraveService
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import ChromeType

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=BraveService(ChromeDriverManager(chrome_type=ChromeType.BRAVE).install()))

Use with Edge

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import EdgeChromiumDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Edge(EdgeChromiumDriverManager().install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.edge.service import Service as EdgeService
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import EdgeChromiumDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Edge(service=EdgeService(EdgeChromiumDriverManager().install()))

Use with Firefox

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.firefox import GeckoDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=GeckoDriverManager().install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service as FirefoxService
from webdriver_manager.firefox import GeckoDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Firefox(service=FirefoxService(GeckoDriverManager().install()))

Use with IE

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import IEDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Ie(IEDriverManager().install())

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.ie.service import Service as IEService
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import IEDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Ie(service=IEService(IEDriverManager().install()))

Use with Opera

# selenium 3
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome import service
from webdriver_manager.opera import OperaDriverManager

webdriver_service = service.Service(OperaDriverManager().install())
webdriver_service.start()

driver = webdriver.Remote(webdriver_service.service_url, webdriver.DesiredCapabilities.OPERA)

# selenium 4
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome import service
from webdriver_manager.opera import OperaDriverManager

webdriver_service = service.Service(OperaDriverManager().install())
webdriver_service.start()

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_experimental_option('w3c', True)

driver = webdriver.Remote(webdriver_service.service_url, options=options)

If the Opera browser is installed in a location other than C:/Program Files or C:/Program Files (x86) on Windows and /usr/bin/opera for all unix variants and mac, then use the below code,

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.binary_location = "path/to/opera.exe"
driver = webdriver.Remote(webdriver_service.service_url, options=options)

Get browser version from path

To get the version of the browser from the executable of the browser itself:

from webdriver_manager.firefox import GeckoDriverManager

from webdriver_manager.core.utils import read_version_from_cmd 
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import PATTERN

version = read_version_from_cmd("/usr/bin/firefox-bin --version", PATTERN["firefox"])
driver_binary = GeckoDriverManager(version=version).install()

Custom Cache, File manager and OS Manager

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.file_manager import FileManager
from webdriver_manager.core.driver_cache import DriverCacheManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import OperationSystemManager

cache_manager = DriverCacheManager(file_manager=FileManager(os_system_manager=OperationSystemManager()))
manager = ChromeDriverManager(cache_manager=cache_manager)
os_manager = OperationSystemManager(os_type="win64")

Configuration

webdriver_manager has several configuration variables you can be interested in. Any variable can be set using either .env file or via python directly

GH_TOKEN

webdriver_manager downloading some webdrivers from their official GitHub repositories but GitHub has limitations like 60 requests per hour for unauthenticated users. In case not to face an error related to GitHub credentials, you need to create GitHub token and place it into your environment: (*)

Example:

export GH_TOKEN = "asdasdasdasd"

(*) access_token required to work with GitHub API more info.

There is also possibility to set same variable via ENV VARIABLES, example:

import os

os.environ['GH_TOKEN'] = "asdasdasdasd"

WDM_LOG

Turn off webdriver-manager logs use:

import logging
import os

os.environ['WDM_LOG'] = str(logging.NOTSET)

WDM_LOCAL

By default, all driver binaries are saved to user.home/.wdm folder. You can override this setting and save binaries to project.root/.wdm.

import os

os.environ['WDM_LOCAL'] = '1'

WDM_SSL_VERIFY

SSL verification can be disabled for downloading webdriver binaries in case when you have troubles with SSL Certificates or SSL Certificate Chain. Just set the environment variable WDM_SSL_VERIFY to "0".

import os

os.environ['WDM_SSL_VERIFY'] = '0'

version

Specify the version of webdriver you need. And webdriver-manager will download it from sources for your os.

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

ChromeDriverManager(driver_version="2.26").install()

cache_valid_range

Driver cache by default is valid for 1 day. You are able to change this value using constructor parameter:

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.driver_cache import DriverCacheManager

ChromeDriverManager("2.26", cache_manager=DriverCacheManager(valid_range=1)).install()

os_type

For some reasons you may use custom OS/arch. You are able to change this value using constructor parameter:

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.os_manager import OperationSystemManager

ChromeDriverManager(os_system_manager=OperationSystemManager(os_type="linux-mips64")).install()

`url

You may use any other repo with drivers and release URl. You are able to change this value using constructor parameters:

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager

ChromeDriverManager(url="https://custom-repo.url", latest_release_url="https://custom-repo.url/LATEST").install()

---

Custom Logger

If you need to use a custom logger, you can create a logger and set it with set_logger().

import logging
from webdriver_manager.core.logger import set_logger

logger = logging.getLogger("custom_logger")
logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
logger.addHandler(logging.FileHandler("custom.log"))

set_logger(logger)

---

Custom HTTP Client

If you need to add custom HTTP logic like session or proxy you can define your custom HttpClient implementation.

import os

import requests
from requests import Response

from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
from webdriver_manager.core.download_manager import WDMDownloadManager
from webdriver_manager.core.http import HttpClient
from webdriver_manager.core.logger import log

class CustomHttpClient(HttpClient):

    def get(self, url, params=None, **kwargs) -> Response:
        """
        Add you own logic here like session or proxy etc.
        """
        log("The call will be done with custom HTTP client")
        return requests.get(url, params, **kwargs)


def test_can_get_chrome_driver_with_custom_http_client():
    http_client = CustomHttpClient()
    download_manager = WDMDownloadManager(http_client)
    path = ChromeDriverManager(download_manager=download_manager).install()
    assert os.path.exists(path)

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This will make your test automation more elegant and robust!

Cheers