Use WebDriver to automate Microsoft Edge - Microsoft Edge development (2023)

WebDriver lets you automate Microsoft Edge by simulating user interactions. Tests using WebDriver have a few advantages over JavaScript unit tests running in the browser:

• WebDriver accesses functions and information that are not available to JavaScript running in browsers.

• WebDriver simulates user events or operating system level events more accurately than JavaScript unit tests.

• WebDriver manages multiple windows, tabs, and web pages in a single testing session.

• WebDriver runs multiple sessions of Microsoft Edge on a given computer.

Relationship between WebDriver and other software

To automate Microsoft Edge with WebDriver to simulate user interactions, you need three components:

• Microsoft Edge.
• Microsoft Edge WebDriver.
• A WebDriver testing framework.

The functional relationship between these components is as follows:

The following sections describe how to get started with WebDriver for Microsoft Edge.

Download Microsoft Edge Web Driver

To start writing automated tests, make sure that the Edge WebDriver version you have installed matches your browser version, as follows:

1. Go toedge://settings/helpand note your version of Microsoft Edge.

   (Video) #16 Launching MS Edge Browser Using Selenium WebDriver | Selenium Tutorial for Beginners

   

2. Go toMicrosoft Edge WebDriver.

3. ImGet the latest versionIn the section of the page, select a platform in the channel that matches your Microsoft Edge version number.

   See Also

   Select the .NET version to use - .NETTerms of Service in Azure Active Directory - Microsoft EntraUse expressions in conditions in Power Automate - Power AutomateUsing a user-assigned managed identity for an Azure Automation account

   

4. After the download is complete, extract themsedgedriverexecutable at your preferred location. Add the folder where the executable is locatedAWAYenvironment variable.

Select a WebDriver test framework

After downloading Edge WebDriver, the last component you need to download is a WebDriver test framework. Test authors use WebDriver test frameworks to write end-to-end tests and automate browsers. A WebDriver testing framework provides a language-specific interface that translates your code into commands that Edge WebDriver runs in Microsoft Edge. WebDriver test frameworks exist for all major platforms and languages ​​such as Python, Java, C#, Ruby and JavaScript.

This article provides instructions for using the Selenium framework, but you can use any library, framework, or programming language that supports WebDriver. To perform the same tasks with a WebDriver testing framework other than Selenium, consult the official documentation for the framework of your choice.

use of selenium 4

Selenium WebDriver is an open-source testing framework that can be used on any platform and provides language bindings for Java, Python, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript. Note: Python 3 is required to run Selenium 4 tests. (Python 2.7 is not supported.)

To use WebDriver to automate Microsoft Edge, if using Selenium, you must use Selenium 4, which has built-in support for Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

To install Selenium 4, seeInstall a Selenium library. In case you need it, the Nuget packages page is thereSelenium.WebDriver.

Upgrading from Selenium 3

To use WebDriver to automate Microsoft Edge, if using Selenium, make sure you are using Selenium 4. Selenium 3 is no longer supported.

You need to upgrade existing Selenium 3 tests to Selenium 4. For more information on upgrading to Selenium 4, seeUpdate to Selenium 4.

If you useSelenium Tools for Microsoft EdgeTo add Microsoft Edge (Chromium) support to your Selenium 3 browser tests, update your tests as follows:

1. Remove Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge from your project. You do not need to use Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge with Selenium 4 as Selenium 4 already has built-in support for Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

2. Update your tests to use the built-in onesEdgeDriverand related classes that Selenium 4 provides instead.

3. Remove all uses ofEdgeOptions.UseChromiumProperty. This property is no longer present in Selenium 4, as Selenium 4 only supports Microsoft Edge (Chromium).

Automate Microsoft Edge with WebDriver

To automate a browser with WebDriver, you must first start a WebDriver session with a WebDriver test framework. A web drivermeetingis a single running instance of a browser controlled via WebDriver commands.

Start a WebDriver session to launch a new browser instance. The launched browser instance remains open until you close the WebDriver session.

The following section will guide you through using Selenium 4 to start a WebDriver session with Microsoft Edge.

Automate Microsoft Edge

Selenium uses theEdgeDriverClass for managing a Microsoft Edge session. The following code:

1. Starts a Microsoft Edge session.
2. Tells Microsoft Edge to switch to Bing.
3. Search for "WebDriver".
4. Sleeps for a few seconds so you can see the results.

To start automating Microsoft Edge with WebDriver, copy and paste the code snippet for your preferred language:

Using OpenQA.Selenium;Using OpenQA.Selenium.Edge;Using System.Threading;Namespace EdgeDriverSample{ class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { var driver = new EdgeDriver(); try { driver.Url = "https://bing.com"; var element = driver.FindElement(By.Id("sb_form_q")); element.SendKeys("WebDriver"); element.Submit(); Thread.Sleep(5000); } finally { driver. End (); } } }}

Manage and configure the Edge WebDriver service

When you create a new oneEdgeDriverObject to start a Microsoft Edge session, Selenium starts a new Edge WebDriver process that uses theEdgeDriverObject communicates with. The Edge WebDriver process closes when you invoke theEdgeDriverObjectStopMethod. let everyoneEdgeDriverObject management of your own driver process can be inefficient for many tests because each test has to wait for a new driver process to start. Instead, you can create a single Edge WebDriver process and then reuse it for multiple tests.

Selenium uses theEdgeDriverServiceclass for managing an Edge WebDriver process. You can create oneEdgeDriverServiceonce before you run your tests and then pass themEdgeDriverServiceopposition to theEdgeDriverconstructor when creating a new oneEdgeDriverObject. If you happen toEdgeDriverServiceto theEdgeDriverconstructor, theEdgeDriverobject will use thisEdgeDriverService, instead of creating a new one.

You can also useEdgeDriverServiceto configure command line options for the Edge WebDriver process as shown below.

The following snippet creates a new oneEdgeDriverServiceand enables verbose log output:

var service = EdgeDriverService.CreateDefaultService();service.UseVerboseLogging = true;var driver = new EdgeDriver(service);

Configure Microsoft Edge options

You can pass oneEdgeOptionsopposition to theEdgeDriver-Constructor to configure additional options for the Microsoft Edge browser process. The following section shows how to use itEdgeOptionsfor some common scenarios. For a full list of supported options seeAbilities and Edge Options.

Choose specific browser binaries

You can start a WebDriver session with specific Microsoft Edge binaries. For example, you can run tests with theMicrosoft Edge preview channels, wie Microsoft Edge Beta, Dev oder Canary.

var options = new EdgeOptions();options.BinaryLocation = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Beta\Application\msedge.exe";var driver = new EdgeDriver(options);

Pass additional command line arguments

You can useEdgeOptionsto configure command line arguments passed to the Microsoft Edge browser process when creating a session. For example, you can configure the browser to run in headless mode.

var options = new EdgeOptions();options.AddArgument("headless");var driver = new EdgeDriver(options);

Change the WebDriver Installation option

Docker

if you useDocker, run the following command to download a preconfigured image that has Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Edge WebDriver preinstalled.

docker run -d -p 9515:9515 mcr.microsoft.com/msedge/msedgedriver

For more information, seemsedgedriver container on Docker Hub.

application protection

Trusted websites using Microsoft Defender Application Guard can be automated with Edge WebDriver. Microsoft Defender Application Guard is also calledapplication protection, kurz.

Untrusted websites using Application Guard cannot be automated or manipulated with Edge WebDriver. Application Guard launches untrusted websites in a container, and this container doesn't expose the remote debugging port that Edge WebDriver needs to communicate with the website.

Your company administrator defines what are trusted sites, including cloud resources and internal networks. Websites that are not included in the list of trusted websites are taken into accountuntrustworthy. Edge WebDriver can automate both InPrivate windows and sites in the Trusted Sites list.

For more information on Application Guard, see:

• Microsoft Edge support for Microsoft Defender Application Guard.
• Microsoft Defender Application Guard overview.

Disable diagnostic data collection

By default, Edge WebDriver sends diagnostic data such as the status of theNew sessionWebDriver command to Microsoft. To disable the collection of diagnostic data for Edge WebDriver, set theMSEDGEDRIVER_TELEMETRY_OPTOUTenvironment variable too1. For more information about the data collected by Edge WebDriver, seeMicrosoft Edge Privacy White Paper.

Legacy Microsoft WebDriver for EdgeHTML

Microsoft WebDriver is the legacy WebDriver implementation for EdgeHTML-based Microsoft Edge. Microsoft WebDriver was distributed as an optional Windows component as the legacy Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) was updated with the operating system. Microsoft WebDriver is not compatible with the latest Chromium-based versions of Microsoft Edge. Microsoft WebDriver is still made available for developers who have written WebDriver-based tests for UWP apps since they are based on EdgeHTML, but Microsoft WebDriver is no longer recommended.

SeeWebDriver (EdgeHTML).

Troubleshooting

These are troubleshooting considerations when using WebDriver to automate Microsoft Edge.

Developer Tools Availability Policy

If your IT admin has theDeveloperToolsAvailabilitypolitics too2, Microsoft Edge WebDriver is prevented from controlling Microsoft Edge because the driver is usingMicrosoft Edge-DevTools. To automate Microsoft Edge, make sure that theDeveloperToolsAvailabilitypolicy is set0or1.

Upgrade from Selenium 3 to Selenium 4

To use WebDriver to automate Microsoft Edge, if using Selenium, make sure you are using Selenium 4. Selenium 3 is no longer supported.

If you are using Selenium 4, you do not need to use Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge. Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge is for Selenium 3 only. If you are trying to use Selenium 4 with Selenium Tools for Microsoft Edge and trying to install a newEdgeDriverexample, you receive the following error message:System.MissingMethodException: "Method not found: "OpenQA.Selenium.Remote.DesiredCapabilities OpenQA.Selenium.DriverOptions.GenerateDesiredCapabilities(Boolean)".

If you are using Selenium 4 and getting this error, removeMicrosoft.Edge.SeleniumToolsfrom your project and make sure you use the official oneEdgeOptionsandEdgeDriverclasses from theOpenQA.Selenium.Edgenamespace.

See also

• Das Selenium Browser Automation Project- Information about WebDriver in the context of Selenium and how to write automated WebDriver tests with Selenium.
• Contact the Microsoft Edge WebDriver teamto send feedback on using WebDriver, WebDriver testing frameworks (like Selenium) and Microsoft Edge.