The SafariDriver does not support file uploads

[lukeis]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 4220

The SafariDriver is implemented in JS and does not have the privileges necessary to
manipulate a <input type="file"> element.  Therefore, the SafariDriver does not support
file uploads.

Reported by jmleyba on 2012-07-09 21:03:28

[lukeis]

Would be interesting for someone to post what the actual behavior is when someone attempts
a file upload with SafariDriver. When done across Grid2/RemoteWebDriver, assume may
encounter issue of issue 4203 or not. I would post this when I get to it.

Reported by mangaroo on 2012-07-09 22:04:13

[lukeis]

I think you're confusing two separate features.  When transferring a file to the test
machine, you are using the standard HTTP client and are not bound by issue 4203.  That
has _nothing_ to do with the SafariDriver.

The issue documented here is that you cannot set the value of an <input type="file">
element (the path of the file that should be uploaded by the browser).  The behavior
is currently undefined.  The SafariDriver will probably generate a series of key events
on the element with no discernable effect.  We should probably generate an error when
the target is a file element.

Reported by jmleyba on 2012-07-10 02:27:34

[lukeis]

Thanks, that's just what I wanted to know.

Reported by mangaroo on 2012-07-10 05:18:20

[lukeis]

Issue 4578 has been merged into this issue.

Reported by jmleyba on 2012-09-21 03:20:15

[lukeis]

I guess workaround for those that really want to do file upload for SafariDriver would
be not to do it natively via SafariDriver but by using external code libraries to perform
the upload via HTTP/HTTPS (POST) requests (combining any other form data in addition
to the file being uploaded/sent), then get response and check whether upload succeeded
or not, then go back to SafariDriver code and navigate to next page to check upload
succeeded or not, and/or to continue from there for the next steps in the automation.

This approach would be similar to the file download method using HTTP requests externally
that has been mentioned in various posts in WebDriver and Selenium user Google groups.
Here, it's just the inverse, doing upload instead of download.

Though if the upload requires a session (cookie), then you can extract Selenium session
cookie and use with HTTP request. Or if session is stored with session ID in URL, extract
that and pass along with HTTP request.

Reported by mangaroo on 2012-09-21 05:11:08

[lukeis]

Thanks guys for your input. From the thread I understand the safaridriver won't support
the file upload through <input type="file"> . Can you please suggest any alternative
HTTP/HTTPS method to upload the file through Safari.

Reported by progmat82 on 2012-09-24 05:12:15

[lukeis]

I believe I already stated the alternative method (i.e. workaround) in my previous comment
#5. If you need more details, refer to this blog post:

http://ardesco.lazerycode.com/index.php/2012/07/how-to-download-files-with-selenium-and-why-you-shouldnt/

The difference of that post and this issue is that now, instead of a download you're
doing an upload (typically via an HTTP/HTTPS POST request sending the file as the POST
body). The unfortunate part is that I believe nobody has built an upload library to
do this, because most of the other browsers support the file upload feature of WebDriver.
So you're on your own for building the needed library if you really need file upload
on Safari.

The easy option is to skip the file upload test on Safari and run it on other browsers,
if you can.

Reported by mangaroo on 2012-09-24 17:12:58

[lukeis]

Wondering whether Safari Driver supports file upload right now ?

If support is still not available, please suggest some alternatives.

I am running a Selenium Application and would like to upload a file. I tried out following
and it didn't work.

driver.findElement(By.id("elementId")).sendKeys(file.getAbsolutePath());

Reported by dande.anupama on 2013-09-17 00:15:51