In my Selenium tests I want to upload some files. However, due to security restrictions in the browser a JavaScript cannot fill in a path in the respective file input field by default. Fortunately, there exists a workaround (originally from http://lists.public.thoughtworks.org/pipermail/selenium-users/2005-March/000213.html).
In FireFox enter “about:config” in the address bar, and set the value of “signed.applets.codebase_principal_support” to “true”. This allows non-signed scripts to request higher privileges.
In Selenium we then have to request the privilege to upload local files by adding the following JavaScript snippet to the function “Selenium.prototype.doType” in the file “selenium-api.js”:
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege('UniversalFileRead');
Update 2009-01-04: Fixing links, fixing problem with quotes which got messed up by WordPress.
Would you be able to go into any detail about how to test uploading files(eg excel) into an on-line app using selenium and IE
Me again – is there any way to place the address of the file you are uploading into the text field – i tried type but got aunknown command error
@alex: Sorry, I am not able to say anything about IE as I do not use IE. Maybe you will have more luck in the selenium forums: http://forums.openqa.org/index.jspa
By default, it is not possible to place the address of the file you want to upload into the text field with “type” due to security restrictions, hence the workaround ;-) But I think this workaround is Mozilla-specific and does not work with IE…
Please help me about file upload section. I am trying to upload a file and store it into a folder not database.
another how to use GD using cakephp? please help me.my all try in vain.
@Surajit: Have a look at http://php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.php and my article about file uploads: http://cakebaker.42dh.com/2006/04/15/file-upload-with-cakephp/
I don’t have experience with GD, but maybe someone in the google group (http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php) has experience with it.
Hi ,
I have a browse button in my html which uploads the pdf file. used the command type which dosen’t work.
I also performed these steps:
1)Added pref(”signed.applets.codebase_principal_support”, true); into all.js file under firefox folder
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs.
2)Added to Selenium.prototype.doType = function(locator, value) {
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(’UniversalFileRead’);
Still it doesn’t work, please let me know what am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
With regards,
Manisha
@Manisha: I am not sure if this hack still works as this article is quite old, and I have switched to the Selenium IDE in the meantime. With the Selenium IDE, file uploads work without problems.
Hope that helps.
I know it’s an old thread, but I thought I’d weigh in because I was looking for a solution to this problem and found it here.
In addition to the IDE, I was able to upload files with Selenium Core v0.8.2 by using the hack as instructed. The relevant section of selenium-api.js looks like this:
Selenium.prototype.doType = function(locator, value) {
/**
* Sets the value of an input field, as though you typed it in.
*
* Can also be used to set the value of combo boxes, check boxes, etc. In these cases,
* value should be the value of the option selected, not the visible text.
*
* @param locator an element locator
* @param value the value to type
*/
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(“UniversalFileRead”);
if (this.browserbot.controlKeyDown || this.browserbot.altKeyDown || this.browserbot.metaKeyDown) {
throw new SeleniumError(“type not supported immediately after call to controlKeyDown() or altKeyDown() or metaKeyDown()”);
}
// TODO fail if it can’t be typed into.
var element = this.browserbot.findElement(locator);
if (this.browserbot.shiftKeyDown) {
value = new String(value).toUpperCase();
}
this.browserbot.replaceText(element, value);
};
Taylor Dorris
http://www.proace.com
@taylor: Thanks for this code snippet!
Selenium don’t work with “netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(”UniversalFileRead”);” modofoed =(
@shik: Hm, did you set “signed.applets.codebase_principal_support” to “true” in Firefox?
I don’t know, if you really want to set signed.applets.codebase_principal_support to true in your Firefox.
I have found another way to make change the security settings only for the Firefox instance started by
Selenium RC.
You have to patch the Selenium server by adding as user.js like this
to your selenium-server.jar in the directory customProfileDirCUSTFF.
As you can see, you can “register” multiple domains for your different test machines.
The effect is, that Selenium creates a custom Firefox profile in your temp directory
using the customProfileDirCUSTFF folder. So the user.js will be injected
to your Selenium Firefox instance and its configuration will extend or override the settings
of all.js and prefs.js.
Additionally this solutions should work with all Firefoxes started by the patched Selenium server.
@tony: Thanks for your explanations! Seems to be a good approach.
Hi,
I did both the steps as you said but then its just opening the browser and nothing else is happening after that. Not even a single command is exceuted after that.
Any help??
Am using FF3 and sel v0.9.2 [2006], with Core v0.8.3 [1879] and v1.0-beta-1 [2201], with Core v1.0-beta-1 [1994]
@Jaya: Thanks for your comment!
I just tested it with FF 3.0.5 and Selenium Core 0.8.3, and it worked fine. However, if you copied the JavaScript snippet from this article, you have to replace the quotes with those quotes used by JavaScript (somehow the quotes got messed up by WordPress). It should be fixed now.
Hope this helps!
Hi cakebaker, thankx for the comment.
But i actually did that and it worked :) .
SO vats up with FF2, do we need to follow the above steps or just modifying the about:config should help?
@Jaya: You have to follow both steps.
thanks for ur post.
it was great .. after long struggle i got the answer..
u rock man..
but we need to follow both steps
@Maruthiprasath: You are welcome! And yes, you have to follow both steps.
Good browser independent solution can be found here:
http://gusiev.com/?p=3 files with Selenium IDE
@Bogdan: Thanks for the link! However, if you use the Selenium IDE the file upload should work without any “hacks”.
This works :)
http://seleniumdeal.blogspot.com/2009/05/uploading-files-using-selenium-with-c.html
@Amit: Thanks for the link!
I use selenium with ruby and firefox 3.5
I modified the user_pref of firefox as specified, but I don’t know how to deal with the step involving
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(”UniversalFileRead”);
It seems this is only applicable for the selenium java client.
Is there a way to do it from Ruby?
I found the relevant code in selenium-api.js in selenium-server.jar and put in netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(’UniversalFileRead’);
but it seemed to have no effect. I still see no upload in firefox after it clicks the submit button. Has anyone tried it in firefox 3.5+?
Hey Levent! Did you get this working in firefox 3.5+ ?? This is shame, it does not seem to work with 3.5 at all. I am using an older version of selenium core though – 0.8.
I have done everything that cakebaker tells me to do. Am I missing something?
Hi How can I upload a file in selenium , as it gives a security error .
I am using command
Sel.selenium.type(“attachment_upload_data”,”file”);
It gives error -Security error
What can I Do ??
No, we could not get it working. For uploads, we either use IDE or some special JS code in the application.
public bool TypeIntoFileUpload(string controlId, string filePath)
{
try
{
string newFilePath = filePath.Replace(‘\\’, ‘/’);
_selObj.WindowFocus();
_selObj.Focus(controlId);
string jscript=”";
jscript += “if(selenium.browserbot.getCurrentWindow().clipboardData){window.clipboardData.setData(‘Text’,'” + newFilePath + “‘);}”;
_selObj.GetEval(jscript);
byte VK_CONTROL = 0×11;
byte VK_V = 0×56;
_selObj.KeyDownNative(Convert.ToString(VK_CONTROL));
_selObj.KeyPressNative(Convert.ToString(VK_V));
_selObj.KeyUpNative(Convert.ToString(VK_CONTROL));
return true;
}
catch (Exception exc)
{
return false;
}
}
Uploading Files using Selenium RC in C#
After googling all around to overcome the Selenium incapability of handling File Upload control finally I could write a simple function in C# which will do my job. In the function given below _selObj is the object of DefaultSelenium class.
public bool TypeIntoFileUpload(string controlId, string filePath)
{
try
{
string newFilePath = filePath.Replace(‘\\’, ‘/’);
_selObj.WindowFocus();
_selObj.Focus(controlId);
string jscript=”";
jscript += “if(selenium.browserbot.getCurrentWindow().clipboardData){window.clipboardData.setData(‘Text’,'” + newFilePath + “‘);}”;
_selObj.GetEval(jscript);
byte VK_CONTROL = 0×11;
byte VK_V = 0×56;
_selObj.KeyDownNative(Convert.ToString(VK_CONTROL));
_selObj.KeyPressNative(Convert.ToString(VK_V));
_selObj.KeyUpNative(Convert.ToString(VK_CONTROL));
return true;
}
catch (Exception exc)
{
return false;
}
}