Upload a file in Selenium using sendKeys(), AutoIT Tool and Robot Class

This article will present you with a complete idea about how to upload a file in selenium webdriver , there are multiple methods to perform to achieve this task ( Selenium upload file ) so lets understand how we can achieve this.

Files uploading using Selenium can be done with the below methods:

Upload using sendKeys method in Selenium

When you want to upload files locally then you can directly use sendKeys () and give a path in code. However, the same thing will not work remotely.

It is an inbuilt feature for file upload in Selenium.

It directly applies to input tags which have an attribute as type=’file’ ,

For example –

<input type=”file” element

<html>
<body>
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="parse_file.php" method="post"> 
 <p>Browse for a file to upload: </p>
<input type="file" name="uploadsubmit">
<br/><br/>
 <input type="submit" value="SUBMIT">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Syntax

WebElement uploadElement = driver.findElement(By.xpath("***xpath of element/button****"));
uploadElement.sendKeys("D:/work/upload.png");

Lets understand how we can achieve this using below scenario

Steps:

1. Inspect the element or the button provided for file upload.
2. Using sendKeys, Browse the path where the actual file to be uploaded.
3. Paste the path using sendKeys
4. Click on the save or submit button and the file will be seen uploaded.

Code implementation

package com.test;

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

import org.openqa.selenium.*;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class UploadFile {

public static WebDriver driver;

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a new instance of the Chrome driver

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\\Drivers\\chromedriver.exe");

driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Launch the URL

driver.get("URL");

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

// Identify upload button

WebElement uploadElement = driver.findElement(By.id("uploadfile_0"));

// enter the file path onto the file-selection input field

uploadElement.sendKeys("D:\\newFile.pdf");

// click the "UploadFile" button

driver.findElement(By.name("send")).click();

}

}

How to upload using AutoIT tool in Selenium

AutoIT is a third party tool and an open-source automation tool , It is not provided by selenium.
AutoIT creates a .exe file and runs only on Windows and basically It is not recommended to use AutoIT for File upload.
AutoIT is used to automate windows related pop up for example combination of keystrokes, mouse movements, and windows popup

Below are the steps used for writing scripts using AutoIT

1. Download and Install AutoIT using URL https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/downloads/

1. After download you will get two setup files as shown in below screen, first is AutoIt version 3 setup and second is Scitautoit3 .
2. Setup AutoIT using both the files by clicking one by one
3. Once It is Installed – open up AutoIT Editor (C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoIt3\SciTE’)
4. Write below AutoIT scripts in AutoIT editor and save is as ‘UploadFile.au3’
```
WinWaitActive("File Upload")   
Send("D:\UploadFile.pdf")
Send("{ENTER}")
```

Explanation of Above code

WinWaitActive(“File Upload”) – Changes focus of cursor on the Window popup box to upload file.

below are the parameters used specific to each browser

File Upload – In Firefox

Open – In chrome

File To Upload – In IE

Send(“D:\UploadFile.pdf”) : Give location of the upload file once windows popup is active

Send(“{ENTER}”) : Clicks on Enter to upload a file

6- Convert .au3 file format into .exe format (Right click on the file and click on compile scripts then it will convert and generate .exe file of the same)

7-Use below command for executing the scripts

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("File Path of AutoIt.exe");

Code Implementation

package com.test;

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

import org.openqa.selenium.*;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class UploadFileUsingAutoIT {

public static WebDriver driver;

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a new instance of the Chrome driver

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\\Drivers\\chromedriver.exe");

driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Launch the URL

driver.get("URL");

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

// Identify upload button

WebElement uploadElement = driver.findElement(By.id("uploadfile_0"));

//To click on the 'browse' button

uploadElement.click();

//To call the AutoIt script

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("D:\\AutoIt\\Uploadfile.exe");

//'close' method is used to close the browser window

driver.close();

}

}

Upload using Robot class

Robot class is used for handling the keyboard functions, mouse related functions etc

Below are few examples of methods of Robot class which we will using during upload

keyPress – Press a given key

keyrelease – Releases a given key

Main disadvantage of using Robot class is that Keyboard or mouse related events would only work on the current instance of the window and if any other windows opens during execution then the mouse or keyboard event still remains on the previous window.

Steps:

1)Click on upload File button

driver.findElement(By.xpath(“//*[@id=’uploadfile_0′]”)).click();

2) Copy file location on the clipboard

StringSelection stringSelection = new StringSelection(“D:\\newFile.pdf”);
Clipboard clipboard=Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
clipboard.setContents(stringSelection, null);

3) Paste file location into the filename field of the File Upload dialog box //native key strokes for CTRL, V and ENTER keys

Robot robot = new Robot();
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_V);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_V);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

Code Implementation

public void uploadFileUsingRobot(String fileLocation, WebElement chooseFileButton) {

    try {

    chooseFileButton.click();

     // Setting clipboard with file location

       setClipboardData(fileLocation);

        // native key strokes for CTRL, V and ENTER keys

       Robot robot = null;

        robot = new Robot();

        robot.delay(250);

        robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

        robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

        robot.delay(2000);

        robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);

        robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_V);

        robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_V);

        robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);

        robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

        robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);

        robot.delay(2000);

    } catch (Exception e) {

        e.printStackTrace();

                 }

}

public static void setClipboardData(String string) {

    // StringSelection is a class that can be used for copy and paste operations.

    StringSelection stringSelection = new StringSelection(string);

    Clipboard clipboard=Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();

    clipboard.setContents(stringSelection, null);

}

About Author

Nitesh Kumar Shukla

Nitesh is working as a Quality Analyst with more than 10 years of comprehensive experience in test automation, performance testing , DevOps etc .He likes to share his wealth of knowledge across software test Process

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Upload a file in Selenium using sendKeys(), AutoIT Tool and Robot Class

Upload using sendKeys method in Selenium

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