I am currently working in Automation QA. Our project using Java: jbehave, thucydides, selenium. We are working in Ubuntu OS.
Every time I run my tests, I have to stop doing everything(coding, browsing the web), because every click or any action of selenium is taking driver window(we are using chrome driver) in focus(makes window active) and if i do something i mess up the test. Our team is wasting a lot of time because of this.
We have tried Phantomjs, it doesn't work correctly, cannot find elements etc... And also to run tests in virtual machine using vagrant isn't working for us(for company specific reasons).
It is fine if Chrome driver will take over active window when it starts, as long as it would continue performing different actions in background. Strange, but in my previous project(windows, c#, mstest) chromedriver would behave exactly like this without any additional setup. Please help, I know few other teams having this issue. Seems like this issue only on Mac and linux.
After having this issue for a long time I have finally found a good solution. This issue still remains on ChromeDriver level, so if there are any updates on this side let me know.
The easiest way to run tests in Ubuntu in a background is using VNC Server. Here are the steps you should follow:
Install vnc server from ubuntu terminal:
sudo apt-get install vnc4server
Start server with any number(I use 7). First time doing it enter password for vnc server(Remember it!).
vncserver :7
To start server in full screen add "geometry" to last command with your screen resolution for example:
vncserver :7 -geometry 1920x1080
Download some VNC Viewer. I use Real VNC.
Go to Real vnc viewer, start new connection and enter:
VNC Server: localhost:7
Encryption: Let VNC Server choose
Press connect and enter your vnc server password(the one from step 2).
New window should be opened, open new terminal in it.
Run your test from terminal. I use java maven project so for me it works like this. Navigate to project folder and run: mvn clean install
If you want simply to run test in hidden mode using only terminal(without opening vncviewer) use this command:
cd path/to/project
xterm -display localhost:7 -e mvn clean install
If you want to stop server: vncserver -kill :7
Hope this will help many of you.