Access to file download dialog in Firefox

Question

Is there any kind of API that can allow me to manipulate a file download dialog in Firefox? (I want to access the one that appears when user does something, not initiate one

Answer 1

I had the same problem, I wanted no access of Save Dialogue.

Below code can help:

    FirefoxProfile fp = new FirefoxProfile();
    fp.setPreference("browser.download.folderList",2);
    fp.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting",false);
    fp.setPreference("browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force", false);
    // Below you have to set the content-type of downloading file(I have set simple CSV file)
    fp.setPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk","text/csv");

According to the file type which is being downloaded, You need to specify content types.

You can specify multiple content-types separated with ' ; '

e.g:

    fp.setPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk","text/csv;application/vnd.ms-excel;application/msword");

Answer 2

I was stuck with the same problem, but I found a solution. I did it the same way as this blog did.

Of course this was Java, I've translated it to Python:

fp = webdriver.FirefoxProfile()

fp.set_preference("browser.download.folderList",2)
fp.set_preference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting",False)
fp.set_preference("browser.download.dir",getcwd())
fp.set_preference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk","text/csv")

browser = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_profile=fp)

In my example it was a CSV file. But when you need more, there are stored in the ~/.mozilla/$USER_PROFILE/mimeTypes.rdf

Answer 3

Instead of triggering the native file-download dialog like so:

By DOWNLOAD_ANCHOR = By.partialLinkText("download");
driver.findElement(DOWNLOAD_ANCHOR).click();

I usually do this instead, to bypass the native File Download dialog. This way it works on ALL browsers:

String downloadURL = driver.findElement(DOWNLOAD_ANCHOR).getAttribute("href");
File downloadedFile = getFileFromURL(downloadURL);

This just requires that you implement method getFileFromURL that uses Apache HttpClient to download a file and return a File reference to you.

Similarly, if you happen to be using Selenide, it works the same way using the built-in download() function for handling file downloads.

Answer 4

Most browsers (in mine case Firefox) select the OK button by default. So I managed to solve this by using the following code. It basically presses enter for you and the file is downloaded.

Robot robot = new Robot();

// A short pause, just to be sure that OK is selected
Thread.sleep(3000);

robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

Answer 5

I have a solution for this issue, check the code:

FirefoxProfile firefoxProfile = new FirefoxProfile();

firefoxProfile.setPreference("browser.download.folderList",2);
firefoxProfile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting",false);
firefoxProfile.setPreference("browser.download.dir","c:\\downloads");
firefoxProfile.setPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk","text/csv");

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(firefoxProfile);//new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://localhost:4444/wd/hub"), capability);

driver.navigate().to("http://www.myfile.com/hey.csv");

Answer 6

Web Applications generate 3 different types of pop-ups; namely,

 1| JavaScript PopUps
 2| Browser PopUps
 3| Native OS PopUps [e.g., Windows Popup like Upload/Download]

In General, the JavaScript pop-ups are generated by the web application code. Selenium provides an API to handle these JavaScript pop-ups, such as Alert.

Eventually, the simplest way to ignore Browser pop-up and download files is done by making use of Browser profiles; There are couple of ways to do this:

• Manually involve changes on browser properties (or)
• Customize browser properties using profile setPreference

Method1

Before you start working with pop-ups on Browser profiles, make sure that the Download options are set default to Save File.

(Open Firefox) Tools > Options > Applications

Method2

Make use of the below snippet and do edits whenever necessary.

FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();

String path = "C:\\Test\\";
profile.setPreference("browser.download.folderList", 2);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.dir", path);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
profile.setPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "application/msword, application/csv, application/ris, text/csv, image/png, application/pdf, text/html, text/plain, application/zip, application/x-zip, application/x-zip-compressed, application/download, application/octet-stream");
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting", false);  
profile.setPreference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", true);
profile.setPreference("browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force", false);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone", true);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete", false);
profile.setPreference("browser.download.manager.useWindow", false);
profile.setPreference("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
profile.setPreference("pdfjs.disabled", true);
       
driver = new FirefoxDriver(profile);