# Selenium WebDriver Quick Reference

*Browser automation, element interaction, waits, and assertions*

> Source: Selenium Documentation (selenium.dev/documentation) · MIT

## Setup

### Install

```
pip install selenium webdriver-manager
# webdriver-manager auto-downloads browser drivers
```

### Basic Driver Setup

```
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
driver = webdriver.Chrome(
    service=Service(ChromeDriverManager().install()))
```

### Headless Mode

```
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--headless=new")
options.add_argument("--no-sandbox")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
```

### Supported Browsers

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `webdriver.Chrome()` | Google Chrome / Chromium |
| `webdriver.Firefox()` | Mozilla Firefox (GeckoDriver) |
| `webdriver.Edge()` | Microsoft Edge (Chromium) |
| `webdriver.Safari()` | Apple Safari (macOS only) |

## Browser & Navigation

### Navigation

```
driver.get("https://example.com")
driver.back()                  # browser back
driver.forward()               # browser forward
driver.refresh()               # reload page
```

### Browser Properties

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `driver.title` | Current page title |
| `driver.current_url` | Current page URL |
| `driver.page_source` | Full page HTML source |
| `driver.get_cookies()` | List all cookies |

### Window Management

```
driver.set_window_size(1920, 1080)
driver.maximize_window()
driver.minimize_window()
driver.quit()                  # close all windows, end session
```

## Finding Elements

### Locator Strategies

```
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
driver.find_element(By.ID, "login-btn")
driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "nav-item")
driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "div.card > h2")
driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@name='q']")
```

### By Strategies

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `By.ID` | Match element id attribute |
| `By.NAME` | Match element name attribute |
| `By.CLASS_NAME` | Match CSS class (single class) |
| `By.TAG_NAME` | Match HTML tag name |
| `By.CSS_SELECTOR` | CSS selector (most flexible) |
| `By.XPATH` | XPath expression |
| `By.LINK_TEXT` | Exact anchor text |
| `By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT` | Partial anchor text match |

### Find Multiple

```
items = driver.find_elements(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "li.item")
for item in items:
    print(item.text)
# Returns empty list if none found (no exception)
```

## Interacting

### Click & Type

```
elem = driver.find_element(By.ID, "search")
elem.clear()                   # clear existing text
elem.send_keys("selenium python")
elem.submit()                  # submit parent form
```

### Dropdowns

```
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import Select
select = Select(driver.find_element(By.ID, "country"))
select.select_by_visible_text("Canada")
select.select_by_value("ca")
select.select_by_index(2)
```

### Element Properties

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `.text` | Visible text content |
| `.get_attribute('href')` | HTML attribute value |
| `.is_displayed()` | True if element is visible |
| `.is_enabled()` | True if element is interactive |
| `.is_selected()` | True if checkbox/radio is selected |
| `.tag_name` | HTML tag (e.g. 'input', 'div') |
| `.value_of_css_property('color')` | Computed CSS property value |

## Waits

### Explicit Wait

```
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
elem = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
    EC.presence_of_element_located((By.ID, "result")))
```

### Expected Conditions

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `presence_of_element_located` | Element exists in DOM |
| `visibility_of_element_located` | Element is visible on page |
| `element_to_be_clickable` | Element is visible and enabled |
| `text_to_be_present_in_element` | Element contains expected text |
| `alert_is_present` | JavaScript alert is showing |
| `staleness_of` | Element is no longer in DOM |
| `title_contains` | Page title contains text |

### Implicit Wait

```
driver.implicitly_wait(10)  # seconds, applies globally
# Explicit waits are preferred — more precise control
```

## Frames & Windows

### Frames

```
driver.switch_to.frame("frame-name")    # by name/id
driver.switch_to.frame(0)                # by index
driver.switch_to.frame(elem)             # by element
driver.switch_to.default_content()       # back to main
```

### Windows & Tabs

```
original = driver.current_window_handle
driver.switch_to.new_window("tab")       # open new tab
driver.switch_to.window(original)        # switch back
driver.close()                           # close current tab
```

### Alerts

```
alert = driver.switch_to.alert
print(alert.text)
alert.accept()     # click OK
alert.dismiss()    # click Cancel
alert.send_keys("input text")
```

## Screenshots

### Capture Screenshots

```
driver.save_screenshot("page.png")       # full page
elem = driver.find_element(By.ID, "chart")
elem.screenshot("chart.png")             # single element
```

### Screenshot as Base64

```
b64 = driver.get_screenshot_as_base64()
png = driver.get_screenshot_as_png()     # bytes
```

## Actions

### Action Chains

```
from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains
actions = ActionChains(driver)
actions.move_to_element(menu).click().perform()
```

### Keyboard Actions

```
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
elem.send_keys(Keys.ENTER)
elem.send_keys(Keys.CONTROL, "a")       # select all
actions.key_down(Keys.SHIFT).click(elem).perform()
```

### Mouse Actions

| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `.click(elem)` | Click element |
| `.double_click(elem)` | Double-click element |
| `.context_click(elem)` | Right-click element |
| `.move_to_element(elem)` | Hover over element |
| `.drag_and_drop(src, dst)` | Drag source to destination |
| `.click_and_hold(elem)` | Press and hold mouse button |
| `.release()` | Release mouse button |

## Assertions

### Common Assertions (pytest)

```
assert "Dashboard" in driver.title
assert driver.find_element(By.ID, "msg").text == "Done"
assert driver.current_url.endswith("/home")
assert len(driver.find_elements(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "tr")) > 0
```

### Wait-Based Assertions

```
WebDriverWait(driver, 5).until(              # appears
    EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.ID, "success")))
WebDriverWait(driver, 5).until(              # disappears
    EC.invisibility_of_element_located((By.ID, "spinner")))
```

### JavaScript Execution

```
result = driver.execute_script("return document.title")
driver.execute_script(
    "arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", elem)
```

## Common Patterns

### Page Object Pattern

```
class LoginPage:
    URL = "/login"
    user_loc = (By.ID, "username")
    def login(self, drv, user, pwd):
        drv.find_element(*self.user_loc).send_keys(user)
```

### Context Manager

```
from selenium import webdriver
with webdriver.Chrome() as driver:
    driver.get("https://example.com")
    print(driver.title)
# driver.quit() called automatically
```

### Retry & Cleanup

```
try:
    driver.get("https://example.com")
    WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
        EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.ID, "btn")))
finally: driver.quit()
```