Python selenium webdriver - driver suddenly "dies" and can't quit, get current_url, open pages

Question

Sometimes, in the middle of my script, my webdriver instance will just die!

And thenceforth, I can't invoke any of its methods.

Some examples:

>>> spsel.driver.current_url
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 414, in current_url
    return self.execute(Command.GET_CURRENT_URL)['value']
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 151, in execute
    response = self.command_executor.execute(driver_command, params)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py", line 280, in execute
    return self._request(url, method=command_info[0], data=data)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py", line 321, in _request
    response = opener.open(request)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 391, in open
    response = self._open(req, data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 409, in _open
    '_open', req)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 369, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 1161, in http_open
    return self.do_open(httplib.HTTPConnection, req)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 1136, in do_open
    raise URLError(err)
urllib2.URLError: <urlopen error [Errno 111] Connection refused>



>>> spsel.driver.quit()

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 55, in quit
    RemoteWebDriver.quit(self)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 443, in quit
    self.execute(Command.QUIT)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 151, in execute
    response = self.command_executor.execute(driver_command, params)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py", line 280, in execute
    return self._request(url, method=command_info[0], data=data)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py", line 321, in _request
    response = opener.open(request)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 391, in open
    response = self._open(req, data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 409, in _open
    '_open', req)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 369, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 1161, in http_open
    return self.do_open(httplib.HTTPConnection, req)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/urllib2.py", line 1136, in do_open
    raise URLError(err)
urllib2.URLError: <urlopen error [Errno 111] Connection refused>

Any ideas why this might be the case? Any best practice solutions for overcoming?

I'm thinking of occasionally testing for liveness by driver.current_url in a try block, and if it throws an exception, then setting the driver to None, and then re-instantiating it... but it's an ugly hack and I don't understand why it's needed.

Answer 1

After endless struggles with selenium drivers and FF extensions breaking up. I've removed it completely.

I use http://www.phantomjs.org/ which is headless JS lib. Works like charm. (and I you want see the page, you can always make screen-shoot )

I mainly work in ruby so: have replace capybara-webkit with poltergeist (which is just a js_driver for capybara)

I'm quite sure there will be similar solution. Maybe this not answer your question but it will provide with a diffrent look about js testing.