I have a working script that logs into a site using selenium like this:
script.py
from pyvirtualdisplay import Display
from selenium import webdriver
display = Display(visible=0, size=(1024, 768))
display.start()
browser = webdriver.Firefox()
actions = webdriver.ActionChains(browser)
browser.get('some_url_I_need')
content = browser.find_element_by_id('content') # Error on this line
running that script on an amazon ubuntu box through ssh where I installed firefox the following way:
sudo apt-get install firefox
The error I get is:
selenium.common.exceptions.NoSuchElementException: Message: u'Unable to locate element: {"method":"id","selector":"content"}'
If I run the same script on another ubuntu box through ssh too, it runs fine, no error, but I don't know how firefox was installed on that box, what could be the cause of that error. Is is related firefox installation and how to properly install it to be used with pyvirtualdisplay and selenium ?
If there is some dynamic content on the website you need to wait some time until you can retrieve the wished element. Try to following code examples:
Check Configuration
Did you install a backend for pyvirtualdisplay like xvfb and xephyr?
If not,
try: sudo apt-get install xvfb xserver-xephyr
First try: Add a simple time.sleep()
import time
from pyvirtualdisplay import Display
from selenium import webdriver
display = Display(visible=0, size=(1024, 768))
display.start()
browser = webdriver.Firefox()
actions = webdriver.ActionChains(browser)
browser.get('some_url_I_need')
time.sleep(5) # sleep for 5 seconds
content = browser.find_element_by_id('content') # Error on this line
Second try: Add browser.implicitly_wait(30) to your Selenium webdriver.
from pyvirtualdisplay import Display
from selenium import webdriver
display = Display(visible=0, size=(1024, 768))
display.start()
browser = webdriver.Firefox()
browser.implicitly_wait(30) # seconds
actions = webdriver.ActionChains(browser)
browser.get('some_url_I_need')
content = browser.find_element_by_id('content') # Error on this line