W3C Browser Automation Specification Tests

This repository defines a set of conformance tests for the W3C web browser automation specification known as WebDriver. The purpose is for the different driver implementations to be tested to determine whether they meet the recognized standard.

How to run the tests

1. It is highly recommended that you use a virtual Python environment. This allows you to safely make changes to your Python environment for WebDriver tests without affecting other software projects on your system. Install it using either <sudo> easy_install virtualenv, <sudo> pip install virtualenv, or <sudo> apt-get install python-virtualenv
2. Create and enter the directory for your Python virtual environment. This directory can be anywhere. It is recommended that you keep it separate from the webdriver tests folder, to avoid confusion with source control 2a. Go to the directory where you store Python virtual environments. For example cd ~; mkdir python-virtualenv; cd python-virtualenv 2b. Create a virtual env configuration and directory: virtualenv webdriver-tests 2c. Enter the directory: cd webdriver-tests
3. source bin/activate to activate the local Python installation
4. Install Selenium: pip install selenium or easy_install selenium
5. Go to the WebDriver tests: cd _WEBDRIVER_TEST_ROOT_
6. Run the tests: python runtests.py
7. Run the test against a different config specified in webdriver.cfg: WD_BROWSER=chrome python runtests.py

To be run a specific test file you can just run python test_file.py

Similarly you can specify a different browser to run against if in webdriver.cfg: WD_BROWSER=chrome python ecmascript/ecmascript_test.py

Note: that you will need likely need to start the driver's server before running.

Updating configuration

The webdriver.cfg file holds any configuration that the tests might require. Change the value of browser to your needs. This will then be picked up by WebDriverBaseTest when tests are run.

Be sure not to commit your webdriver.cfg changes when your create or modify tests.

How to write tests

1. Create a test file per section from the specification.
2. For each test there needs to be one or more corresponding HTML files that will be used for testing. HTML files are not to be reused between tests. HTML files and other support files should be stored in a folder named 'res'.
3. Test name should explain the intention of the test e.g. def test_navigate_and_return_title(self):