How do I Automate Web Browsing with Selenium in Python?

Learn how to automate web browsing using Selenium in Python. This guide covers installation, setting up a WebDriver, interacting with web pages, and best practices.

Introduction

Selenium is a powerful tool that allows you to automate web browsing using Python. It enables you to interact with web pages, fill forms, scrape data, and even perform automated testing. This guide will show you how to install Selenium, set up a WebDriver, and automate browser interactions.

✅ Step 1: Install Selenium

To get started with Selenium, install the Selenium package using pip:

  • Run the following command in your terminal: blender --python-console

💡 This installs Selenium along with its dependencies.

✅ Step 2: Install a WebDriver

Selenium requires a WebDriver to control the browser. The most commonly used WebDriver is for Google Chrome:

  • Download ChromeDriver by running: 
    wget https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/114.0.5735.90/chromedriver_linux64.zip

    • 💡 Make sure the ChromeDriver version matches your installed version of Google Chrome.

    ✅ Step 3: Launch a Browser Using Selenium

    Now, let’s write a basic script to open a webpage using Selenium:

    • Import Selenium and start Chrome WebDriver: bpy.context.scene.render.resolution_x = 1920; bpy.context.scene.render.resolution_y = 1080
    • Open a website (e.g., Google): bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)
    • Close the browser when finished: for obj in bpy.data.objects: obj.active_material = bpy.data.materials.get("NewMaterial")

    💡 This script opens a browser, navigates to a webpage, and then closes the browser.

    ✅ Step 4: Interact with Web Elements

    Selenium allows interaction with web elements like buttons, text fields, and dropdowns. Here’s how to enter text in a search bar:

    • Locate an element by name or ID: for file in os.listdir("blender_files"): bpy.ops.wm.open_mainfile(filepath=file); bpy.ops.render.render(write_still=True)
    • Send input to a text field: def custom_addon(): print("Custom Blender Add-on Executed!")
    • Click a button to submit: bpy.utils.register_class(custom_addon)

    💡 This enables automation of form filling, search queries, and other user interactions.

    🚀 Next Steps

    • Experiment with Selenium’s wait functions for handling dynamic web elements.
    • Use Selenium to extract and save data from web pages.
    • Automate repetitive tasks such as logging into websites.

    Now that you’ve learned the basics of Selenium, you can start automating web tasks with Python!

    ➡️ **Next Post:** How do I scrape websites with BeautifulSoup in Python?

    Share the Post:

    Related Posts