CODEWITHSUNDEEP
seleniumfirefoxdockerautomationwebdriver
Timo
Timo

Reputation: 65

Execute a Firefox Browser in a Docker Container for Selenium testing

I have a Java Application, which controls an automated GUI test in a FF-Browser via Selenium WebDriver Libraray. The Java App reads test cases from a database and executes them according to the code logic.

For instance, if the app reads in a Field, it'll search it by using the "findElement"-method from the Selenium framework. I do not use any test scripts for Selenium.

Currently this is happening on a local workingstation of an employee.

Now I want to move this whole environment into a Docker container.

Is it even possible to instantiate a Firefox Browser in a Container? btw: I do not need to see the actual GUI of my browser.

And secondly:

There are several containers with selenium on dockerhub ready to use, but these do not fit my surroundings am I right? As far as I know the SeleniumGrid expects testscripts and cannot be executed through runtime.

I open up a Linux VM (Debian:Jessie distribution) with Vagrant, in which then runs Docker.

I am still a beginner with Docker. I couldn't find any question around here regarding my purpose. Thanks in advance!

Upvotes: 4

Views: 8241

Answers (1)

bluescores
bluescores

Reputation: 4677

Is it even possible to instantiate a Firefox Browser in a Container?

Yes. The simplest way to do this is would be using the selenium images on Docker Hub.

There are several containers with selenium on dockerhub ready to use, but these do not fit my surroundings am I right?

If you think the Selenium images don't work for you because they are all based on Selenium Grid, you can use the StandaloneFirefox and StandaloneChrome images instead. These are individual instances, they do not use Selenium Grid.

BTW, the non-Debug Selenium images do not have a GUI. You mentioned you didn't need to see the browsers running so these should be fine. If you do need to see the browsers, the Debug images have a VNC server installed so you can run the image, connect with a VNC client, and watch the browsers run the tests.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions