Jenkins & TestNG start browsers

Question

Is it possible to make Jenkins use actual browser instead of headless browser? I a running some tests written in TestNG (using Selenium webdriver). When I run the testng.xml file in Eclipse, the browser starts and the tests run. But when I use Jenkins and run the tests with maven, it doesn't start any browsers.

Answer 1

If your jenkins is hosted in a Windows machine, there are some special configurations you should know about services that are allow to use the interface.

By the way, the easiest way to see the browsers running is starting jenkins using the command line:

java -jar jenkins.war

In linux you could use the same command or use xvfb plugin to run browsers in background.

Hope helps

In addition to this, the main reason for not launching the browser is JNLP (java network launch protocol) , when we execute the war we can interact with the desktop applications.

Answer 2

Using Selenium Grid will allow you to execute the test on Jenkins but open the browser on a remote slave.

To achieve this you need to create an instance RemoteWebdriver than ChromeDriver, IEDriver etc I

Answer 3

For linux. If jenkins is running as a daemon, you could specify active display to connect to and run your browser on it. Check what display you could connect to:

ps e | grep -Po " DISPLAY=[\.0-9A-Za-z:]* " | sort -u

My output is:

DISPLAY=:10.0 
DISPLAY=:2 
DISPLAY=:2.0 

Then go to your jenkins project -> Configure -> Build and add the next string above your main build configuration through "Add build step -> Execute shell"

/bin/bash -c "export DISPLAY=:10"

Edited: I've encountered the issue again recently. To resolve it:

1. I've given for the jenkins' user ability to interact with the desktop of my current user:

   xhost +si:localuser:jenkins
   

so if I connect to my linux system through ssh using jenkins' user credentials, export display of my current user (export DISPLAY=:10) and run, for example google-chrome or firefox inside of putty's terminal, they are launching on my current user's desktop. After this I've checked If I could start "mvn test" command inside of workspace/MyTests folder from my putty so it will start browser and execute tests. At the end I've created simple script in the root of my current user:

vi ~/.startup.sh

#!/bin/bash
xhost +si:localuser:jenkins

and added it to my Xfce4 GUI: Application -> Settings -> Session and Startup -> Application Autostart, specifying command field as:

sh -c $HOME/.startup.sh

It's because of this script should work only when desktop is loaded to share my current user's display with jenkins' user. After reboot and connecting to this server through RDC desktop loads with xhost command applied. And after this jenkins could interract with desktop even when I close the RDP connection but leaving current user's session alive.

2. I've removed Build step in my jenkins' project configuration that was stated "Invoke top-level Maven targets". It could not start my browsers.

3. I've changed my "Add build step -> Execute shell" to:

   export DISPLAY=:10
   cd /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/MyTests
   mvn test
   

I've tried grid also, turning selenium-server-standalone -hub and -node into daemons. But it was slower than launching browsers with WebDriver in the such way.