CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phantomjsheadless-browsergoogle-chrome-headlessfirefox-headless
user1947700
user1947700

Reputation: 69

Chrome Headless - Firefox

I'm working on a monitoring tool for my website to log data. The actual logging is made on server. My goal is to calculate stats based on how long the user stays on the website.

Main question: I used chrome headless command --remote-debugging-port=80. I got logs for up to 10 minutes. Works perfectly. But how long will it work if left working? Is there a default timeout? If yes, how can I change it? If I want to run it exactly 30 minutes after page finished loading?

I'm trying to do the same on firefox (tried using PhantomJS but it wasn't loading the page correctly even though useragent was set to firefox) but firefox just throws an bank page when I'm trying to start a headless mode. I used "firefox -headless" and tried capturing an screenshot. It was just exiting my currently open firefox tabs without capturing any image. Any idea? Using firefox quantum 59.0. I don't want to use selenium.

Also PhantomJS solution would be great. Currently I just want to collect logs. So, it only have to run all javascript (an jquery) code on the page which then sends the data using ajax. I tried page.onLoadFinished and then a wait function to make it stay on the page for the exact time after page loading.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 496

Answers (1)

user1947700
user1947700

Reputation: 69

Since no one answered, I will try to answer my own question after even more research and logical thinking.

Main question: Seems that there is no timeout but if need can be used --timeout X. Even though it's not perfect because it runs independently if the page if fully loaded or not.

As for the firefox, it's buggy. -new-instance (make headless run while you are already on firefox) is not working and -no-remote didn't help. Firefox is only working if running only one instance. So, if it's the PC you are working on and you want to run tests too, firefox is not for you. Headless runs only when no other instances of firefox are running, while chrome runs fine.

PhantomJS didn't work even though tried multiple solutions.

Best solution? Use chrome. Need portable? Use chromium and use headless. Or write your soft to use cefsharp which is based on chromium. Your browser with all libs will be around 120-200MB. Pretty big for portable but do it's work. Same as portable chrome or chromium. CefSharp have a privilege of integrating whatever you like into the browser since it's a... browser.

Upvotes: 1

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