Send driver path to selenium node using another library

Question

I use -D java parameters to specify the path to executable driver when register a new node in selenium grid:

java -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver="../driver/chromedriver.exe" -jar selenium-server-standalone-3.3.1.jar -role node -hub http://localhost:4445/grid/register -nodeConfig config/defaultNodeConfig.json

I'd like to use webdrivermanager-java library (https://github.com/bonigarcia/webdrivermanager) to manage driver executable files. But it registers drivers using System.setProperty(), so it available only in JVM where the library is running (am I mistaken?).

My question is:

What is the proper way to call webdrivermanager-java from command line before starting he node and how to export path of downloaded drivers to selenium node's -D java parameter?

I have an idea to create tiny "node-runner" java application and call webdrivermanager and selenium-server-standalone.jar in it, so they use the same JVM environment.

Is there a better solution to set nodes' drivers paths using webdrivermanager?

Answer 1

Indeed, IMHO the best choice is to create a Java application in which you call WebDriverManager first, and then you register the node in the hub. Something like this:

Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-server</artifactId>
        <version>3.141.59</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>io.github.bonigarcia</groupId>
        <artifactId>webdrivermanager</artifactId>
        <version>5.0.1</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

App to start a Selenium hub

import org.openqa.grid.selenium.GridLauncherV3;

public class StartHub {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        GridLauncherV3.main(new String[] { "-role", "hub", "-port", "4444" });
    }

}

App to register a node (Chrome in this example) in the hub

import org.openqa.grid.selenium.GridLauncherV3;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;

public class StartNode {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();
        GridLauncherV3.main(new String[] { "-role", "node", "-hub",
                "http://localhost:4444/grid/register", "-browser",
                "browserName=chrome" });
    }

}