Question

When I use Selenium 2 code (Java) to open Firefox (or any other browser) for some automated tests, the new window opens without my bookmarks, or for that matter the bookmark bar. Additionally, I suspect that cookies aren’t retrieved either, because sites I normally log into do not remember certain things from my previous history.

The relevant code:

//WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver();
String baseUrl = "http://localhost:8080/";
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

//Navigate to login page
driver.navigate().to(baseUrl + "/myApp");

//obtain the username and password elements
WebElement username = driver.findElement(By.name("username"));
WebElement password = driver.findElement(By.name("password"));

//log in
username.sendKeys("myTestLogin");
password.sendKeys("myTestPwd");
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input.btnStyle")).click();
...

Answer 1

I think by default Selenium (WebDriver) will try to use as “clean” of a profile as possible. This is so the browser’s settings that a user set up don’t cause testing failures. You can modify these settings if you need to. Check out http://code.google.com/p/selenium/wiki/TipsAndTricks and see if that helps get you on the right track. I haven’t done this with IE before though. I think with Firefox you can even have Selenium use an existing profile if you really need it to.