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run headless display inside X virtual framebuffer (Xvfb)

Project description

Manage headless displays with Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer)

https://travis-ci.org/cgoldberg/xvfbwrapper.svg?branch=master

Info:


About xvfbwrapper:

xvfbwrapper is a python wrapper for controlling Xvfb.


About Xvfb:

Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer) is a display server implementing the X11 display server protocol. It runs in memory and does not require a physical display. Only a network layer is necessary.

Xvfb is especially useful for running acceptance tests on headless servers.


Install xvfbwrapper from PyPI:

pip install xvfbwrapper


System Requirements:

  • Xvfb (sudo apt-get install xvfb, or similar)

  • Python 2.7 or 3.3+


Examples

Basic Usage:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

vdisplay = Xvfb()
vdisplay.start()

# launch stuff inside
# virtual display here.

vdisplay.stop()

Basic Usage, specifying display geometry:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

vdisplay = Xvfb(width=1280, height=740, colordepth=16)
vdisplay.start()

# launch stuff inside
# virtual display here.

vdisplay.stop()

Usage as a Context Manager:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

with Xvfb() as xvfb:
    # launch stuff inside virtual display here.
    # It starts/stops around this code block.

Testing Example: Headless Selenium WebDriver Tests:

import unittest

from selenium import webdriver
from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb


class TestPages(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.xvfb = Xvfb(width=1280, height=720)
        self.addCleanup(self.xvfb.stop)
        self.xvfb.start()
        self.browser = webdriver.Firefox()
        self.addCleanup(self.browser.quit)

    def testUbuntuHomepage(self):
        self.browser.get('http://www.ubuntu.com')
        self.assertIn('Ubuntu', self.browser.title)

    def testGoogleHomepage(self):
        self.browser.get('http://www.google.com')
        self.assertIn('Google', self.browser.title)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

The test class above uses selenium and xvfbwrapper to run each test case with Firefox inside a headless display.

  • virtual display is launched

  • Firefox launches inside virtual display (headless)

  • browser is not shown while tests are run

  • conditions are asserted in each test case

  • browser quits during cleanup

  • virtual display stops during cleanup

Look Ma’, no browser!

(You can also take screenshots inside the virtual display for diagnosing test failures)

Project details


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xvfbwrapper-0.2.9.tar.gz (5.6 kB view hashes)

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