Selenium IDE, Legacy Components & Upgrading to Selenium 4

{
  "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000001",
  "version": "2.0",
  "name": "Bookshelf",
  "url": "http://localhost:3917",
  "tests": [
    {
      "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000010",
      "name": "search finds a book",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000011",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "open",
          "target": "/books",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000012",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "type",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=search-input]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": "quiet"
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000013",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "click",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=search-submit]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000014",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "waitForText",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=result-count]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": "1 book found"
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000015",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "assertText",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=result-count]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": "1 book found"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000020",
      "name": "control flow counts cards",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000021",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "open",
          "target": "/books",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000022",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "executeScript",
          "target": "return document.querySelectorAll('[data-testid=book-card]').length",
          "targets": [],
          "value": "cards"
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000023",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "if",
          "target": "${cards} > 0",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000024",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "assertElementPresent",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=book-card]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000025",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "else",
          "target": "",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000026",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "assertElementPresent",
          "target": "css=[data-testid=never-present]",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        },
        {
          "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000027",
          "comment": "",
          "command": "end",
          "target": "",
          "targets": [],
          "value": ""
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "suites": [
    {
      "id": "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000030",
      "name": "Default Suite",
      "persistSession": false,
      "parallel": false,
      "timeout": 300,
      "tests": [
        "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000010",
        "6a1c9d1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000020"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "urls": [
    "http://localhost:3917/"
  ],
  "plugins": []
}

mkdir sel-ide-side && cd sel-ide-side
npm init -y
npm i selenium-side-runner@4.0.13
npx selenium-side-runner --version

4.0.13

npx selenium-side-runner -c "browserName=chrome goog:chromeOptions.args=[disable-infobars, headless]" \
  --base-url http://localhost:3917 --output-directory results bookshelf.side

PASS node_modules/selenium-side-runner/dist/main.test.js
  Running project Bookshelf
    Running suite Default Suite
      ✓ Running test search finds a book (1720 ms)
      ✓ Running test control flow counts cards (910 ms)
Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       2 passed, 2 total
Test results written to: results/results-2026-10-25T20-41-35.835Z.json

capabilities:
  browserName: "chrome"
  goog:chromeOptions:
    args: ["--headless=new"]
baseUrl: "http://localhost:3917"

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:4551/wd/hub/session -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"desiredCapabilities":{"browserName":"chrome"}}'

session not created: Could not start a new session. No nodes support the capabilities in the request

{"value": {"element-6066-11e4-a52e-4f735466cecf": "f.F876D29C343D9E9C9D1503718415A27C.d.5721E3E66EF11A49B6ACE8F67019E8A8.e.16"}}

package demo;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.List;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.FindBy;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.PageFactory;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.pagefactory.AjaxElementLocatorFactory;

/** Page Object initialised by the PageFactory (a Selenium 2 era pattern, still shipped in selenium-support). */
public class BooksPage {
  private final WebDriver driver;
  private final String baseUrl;

  // No annotation: the PageFactory falls back to the field name and looks for id="q", then name="q".
  private WebElement q;

  @FindBy(css = "[data-testid=search-submit]")
  private WebElement searchSubmit;

  @FindBy(css = "[data-testid=result-count]")
  private WebElement resultCount;

  @FindBy(css = "[data-testid=book-card]")
  private List<WebElement> cards;

  public BooksPage(WebDriver driver, String baseUrl) {
    this.driver = driver;
    this.baseUrl = baseUrl;
    // Every field access is lazily looked up (and retried for up to 5 seconds) by the AjaxElementLocator.
    PageFactory.initElements(new AjaxElementLocatorFactory(driver, (int) Duration.ofSeconds(5).toSeconds()), this);
  }

  public BooksPage open() {
    driver.get(baseUrl + "/books");
    return this;
  }

  public BooksPage search(String text) {
    q.sendKeys(text);
    searchSubmit.click();
    return this;
  }

  public String resultCountText() { return resultCount.getText(); }

  public int cardCount() { return cards.size(); }
}

package demo;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

import java.time.Duration;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

class LegacyPageFactoryTest {
  static final String BASE = System.getProperty("BASE_URL", "http://localhost:3917");
  WebDriver driver;

  @BeforeEach void start() {
    ChromeOptions o = new ChromeOptions();
    o.addArguments("--headless=new");
    driver = new ChromeDriver(o);
  }

  @AfterEach void stop() { driver.quit(); }

  @Test void pageFactoryPageObject() {
    BooksPage page = new BooksPage(driver, BASE).open().search("quiet");
    new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(5))
        .until(ExpectedConditions.textToBePresentInElementLocated(By.cssSelector("[data-testid=result-count]"), "1 book found"));
    assertEquals("1 book found", page.resultCountText());
    assertEquals(1, page.cardCount());
  }
}

import pytest
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait

from conftest import APP_URL, GRID_URL


class LazyElement:
    """A tiny PageFactory equivalent: a descriptor that looks the element up on every access."""

    def __init__(self, by, value):
        self.locator = (by, value)

    def __get__(self, page, owner):
        return page.driver.find_element(*self.locator)


class BooksPage:
    search_input = LazyElement(By.ID, "q")
    search_submit = LazyElement(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid=search-submit]")
    result_count = LazyElement(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid=result-count]")

    def __init__(self, driver, base_url):
        self.driver = driver
        self.base_url = base_url

    def open(self):
        self.driver.get(f"{self.base_url}/books")
        return self

    def search(self, text):
        self.search_input.send_keys(text)
        self.search_submit.click()
        WebDriverWait(self.driver, 5).until(
            EC.text_to_be_present_in_element((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid=result-count]"), "1 book found"))
        return self


def test_page_object_replaces_page_factory(driver, base_url):
    page = BooksPage(driver, base_url).open().search("quiet")
    assert page.result_count.text == "1 book found"

  @Test void legacyDesiredCapabilities() throws Exception {
    // Selenium 3 style: free-form keys, no vendor prefix. Kept only to show what a W3C-only server does with them.
    DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
    caps.setBrowserName("chrome");
    caps.setCapability("platform", "Linux");
    caps.setCapability("version", "92");
    caps.setCapability("build", "nightly-42");
    caps.setCapability("name", "legacy caps");
    WebDriver driver = null;
    try {
      driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(GRID), caps);
      driver.get(APP + "/books");
      System.out.println("LEGACY accepted: " + ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).getCapabilities().getBrowserVersion());
    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println("LEGACY rejected: " + e.getClass().getSimpleName() + ": " + e.getMessage().lines().limit(6).toList());
    } finally {
      if (driver != null) driver.quit();
    }
  }

LEGACY rejected: SessionNotCreatedException: [Could not start a new session. Possible causes are invalid address of the remote server or browser start-up failure. ...

  @Test void optionsReplacement() throws Exception {
    // Selenium 4 style: standard capabilities as typed setters, everything else vendor-prefixed.
    ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
    options.addArguments("--headless=new");
    options.setPlatformName("Linux");
    Map<String, Object> cloudOptions = new HashMap<>();
    cloudOptions.put("build", "nightly-42");
    cloudOptions.put("name", "options");
    options.setCapability("cloud:options", cloudOptions);
    WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(GRID), options);
    try {
      driver.get(APP + "/books");
      Capabilities got = ((RemoteWebDriver) driver).getCapabilities();
      assertEquals("chrome", got.getBrowserName());
      assertTrue(driver.getTitle().length() > 0);
      System.out.println("OPTIONS accepted: Chrome " + got.getBrowserVersion());
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }

def test_removed_selenium3_arguments(tmp_path):
    # Selenium 3 style calls fail with a TypeError in 4.51 instead of a deprecation warning.
    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="executable_path"):
        webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="/usr/local/bin/chromedriver")
    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="desired_capabilities"):
        webdriver.Remote(GRID_URL, desired_capabilities=DesiredCapabilities.CHROME)
    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="chrome_options"):
        webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=webdriver.ChromeOptions())


def test_desired_capabilities_is_only_a_dict():
    assert DesiredCapabilities.CHROME == {"browserName": "chrome"}


def test_options_replacement_on_a_grid():
    options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    options.add_argument("--headless=new")
    options.platform_name = "Linux"
    options.set_capability("cloud:options", {"build": "nightly-42", "name": "options"})
    driver = webdriver.Remote(GRID_URL, options=options)
    try:
        driver.get(f"{APP_URL}/books")
        assert driver.capabilities["browserName"] == "chrome"
        assert driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid=result-count]").text == "24 books found"
    finally:
        driver.quit()


def test_timeouts_in_seconds(driver, base_url):
    # Python keeps seconds (floats); only Java moved to Duration.
    driver.implicitly_wait(10)
    driver.set_page_load_timeout(10)
    driver.set_script_timeout(120)
    t = driver.timeouts
    assert (t.implicit_wait, t.page_load, t.script) == (10, 10, 120)

// Before (Selenium 3)
DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.SetCapability("browserName", "firefox");
caps.SetCapability("platform", "Windows 10");
caps.SetCapability("version", "92");
caps.SetCapability("build", myTestBuild);
caps.SetCapability("name", myTestName);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(CloudURL), caps);

// After (Selenium 4)
var browserOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
browserOptions.PlatformName = "Windows 10";
browserOptions.BrowserVersion = "92";
var cloudOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
cloudOptions.Add("build", myTestBuild);
cloudOptions.Add("name", myTestName);
browserOptions.AddAdditionalOption("cloud:options", cloudOptions);
var driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(CloudURL), browserOptions);

# Before (Selenium 3)
caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.firefox
caps[:platform] = 'Windows 10'
caps[:version] = '92'
caps[:build] = my_test_build
caps[:name] = my_test_name
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, url: cloud_url, desired_capabilities: caps

# After (Selenium 4)
options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.firefox
options.platform_name = 'Windows 10'
options.browser_version = 'latest'
cloud_options = {}
cloud_options[:build] = my_test_build
cloud_options[:name] = my_test_name
options.add_option('cloud:options', cloud_options)
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :remote, capabilities: options

// Before (Selenium 3)
caps = {};
caps['browserName'] = 'Firefox';
caps['platform'] = 'Windows 10';
caps['version'] = '92';
caps['build'] = myTestBuild;
caps['name'] = myTestName;

// After (Selenium 4)
capabilities = {
  browserName: 'firefox',
  browserVersion: '92',
  platformName: 'Windows 10',
  'cloud:options': {
    build: myTestBuild,
    name: myTestName,
  },
};

<dependencies>
<dependency><groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId><artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId><version>4.51.0</version></dependency>
<dependency><groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId><artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId><version>5.14.4</version><scope>test</scope></dependency>
</dependencies>

package demo;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;

import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.FluentWait;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Wait;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;

/** The Selenium 3 -> 4 code changes, written the Selenium 4 way. */
class UpgradeTest {
  static final String BASE = System.getProperty("BASE_URL", "http://localhost:3917");
  WebDriver driver;

  @BeforeEach void start() {
    ChromeOptions o = new ChromeOptions();
    o.addArguments("--headless=new");
    driver = new ChromeDriver(o);
  }

  @AfterEach void stop() { driver.quit(); }

  @Test void timeoutsTakeDurations() {
    // 3.x: implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS), setScriptTimeout(2, TimeUnit.MINUTES), pageLoadTimeout(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
    driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
    driver.manage().timeouts().scriptTimeout(Duration.ofMinutes(2));
    driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
    WebDriver.Timeouts t = driver.manage().timeouts();
    assertEquals(Duration.ofSeconds(10), t.getImplicitWaitTimeout());
    assertEquals(Duration.ofMinutes(2), t.getScriptTimeout());
    assertEquals(Duration.ofSeconds(10), t.getPageLoadTimeout());
    driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ZERO);
  }

  @Test void waitsTakeDurations() {
    driver.get(BASE + "/books");
    // 3.x: new WebDriverWait(driver, 3)
    WebElement search = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(3))
        .until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("[data-testid=search-input]")));
    assertTrue(search.isDisplayed());
    // 3.x: withTimeout(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS).pollingEvery(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
    Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<>(driver)
        .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(30))
        .pollingEvery(Duration.ofMillis(250))
        .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);
    assertNotNull(wait.until(d -> d.findElement(By.cssSelector("[data-testid=book-list]"))));
  }

  @Test void findersUseBy() {
    driver.get(BASE + "/books");
    // 3.x: driver.findElementByCssSelector(...), findElementsByClassName(...) (the FindsBy* interfaces) are gone
    assertEquals(6, driver.findElements(By.cssSelector("[data-testid=book-card]")).size());
    assertNotNull(driver.findElement(By.id("q")));
  }

  @Test void actionsNeedNoBuild() {
    driver.get(BASE + "/books");
    WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("[data-testid=search-input]"));
    // 3.x needed .build().perform(); .perform() alone builds the sequence in 4.x
    new Actions(driver).moveToElement(input).click().sendKeys("quiet").perform();
    assertEquals("quiet", input.getAttribute("value"));
  }

  @Test void mergeReturnsANewObject() {
    ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
    options.addArguments("--headless=new");
    MutableCapabilities extra = new MutableCapabilities();
    extra.setCapability("myapp:tag", "smoke");
    ChromeOptions merged = options.merge(extra);   // 3.x mutated 'options'; 4.x returns the result
    assertEquals("smoke", merged.getCapability("myapp:tag"));
    assertNull(options.getCapability("myapp:tag"));
  }
}

[INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 1.413 s -- in demo.LegacyPageFactoryTest
[INFO] Tests run: 5, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 3.855 s -- in demo.UpgradeTest
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 1.912 s -- in demo.LegacyCapabilitiesTest
5 passed in 1.79s