Setting default download directory and headless chrome

Question

I have a rails app, and am running capybara & selenium, and using chrome for end-to-end testing. I want to set the default download directory while running chrome headless.

Here's how I have it setup in my support/env.rb:

Capybara.register_driver :chrome do |app|
  Capybara::Selenium::Driver.new(app, :browser => :chrome)
end

Capybara.register_driver :headless_chrome do |app|
capabilities = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.chrome(
  'chromeOptions' =>  {
    'args' => %w(headless disable-gpu window-size=1920,1080),
    'prefs' => {
      'download.default_directory' => DownloadHelpers::PATH.to_s
    }
  }
)
Capybara::Selenium::Driver.new app,
  browser: :chrome,
  #args: ["--window-size=1024,768"], #UNCOMMENT TO HAVE BROWSER WINDOW POP UP
  desired_capabilities: capabilities
end

I have noticed that if I leave off

'args' => %w(headless disable-gpu window-size=1920,1080)

Then the default download directory is set, however, the browser automatically pops up, which I want to disable.

When I have both:

    'args' => %w(headless disable-gpu window-size=1920,1080),
'prefs' => {
  'download.default_directory' => DownloadHelpers::PATH.to_s
}

It runs headless, but the default download path is not set.

I have the following versions:

capybara (2.14.2)

selenium-webdriver (3.6.0)

chromedriver-helper (1.1.0)

This is a nice hack to set the download directory for headless chrome. bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=696481#c78 — Barney
Guess what, I happened to go through all those yesterday to implement the same in Javascript. :) — Barney

user43395 user43395 · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-15T17:21:50

I used https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=696481#c78 and

Changed my setup to:

Capybara.register_driver :selenium do |app|
  options = Selenium::WebDriver::Chrome::Options.new

  options.add_argument('--headless')
  options.add_argument('--no-sandbox')
  options.add_argument('--disable-gpu')
  options.add_argument('--disable-popup-blocking')
  options.add_argument('--window-size=1366,768')

  options.add_preference(:download, directory_upgrade: true,
                                prompt_for_download: false,
                                default_directory: 
 '/User/paulo/projects/app/tmp')

  options.add_preference(:browser, set_download_behavior: { behavior: 'allow' })

  driver = Capybara::Selenium::Driver.new(app, browser: :chrome, options: options)

  bridge = driver.browser.send(:bridge)

  path = '/session/:session_id/chromium/send_command'
  path[':session_id'] = bridge.session_id

  bridge.http.call(:post, path, cmd: 'Page.setDownloadBehavior',
                                params: {
                                  behavior: 'allow',
                                  downloadPath: '/User/paulo/projects/app/tmp'
                            })

  driver
end

Note you will have to put in your own downloadPath.

Setting default download directory and headless chrome

2 Answers