如何使用带有 selenium 的 open chromedriver

Question

I have code with Python to use bot in WhatsApp
This code opens the Chrome browser after the first run
What should I do to send a new message to a previously opened browser tab?\

import time
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options


# SPECIFY PATH FOR CHROME DRIVER HERE
driverPath = 'E:\\PYTHON\\chromedriver.exe'
# SPECIFY PATH FOR USER DIRECTORY (just change "TEST" to your WIN10 username)
userPath = "--user-data-dir=E:\\Users\\ipm\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome\\User Data"
# SPECIFY MESSAGES HERE
messages = ["Testmessage 1", "Testmessage 2"]


# bypass QR code login after first login
options = Options()
options.add_argument(userPath)
options.add_experimental_option('useAutomationExtension', False)
options.add_experimental_option("excludeSwitches", ["enable-automation"])
driver = webdriver.Chrome(driverPath, options=options)

# open specified whatsapp chat
driver.maximize_window()
driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com')
# time.sleep(10)
# driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@title='INSERT NAME OF CHAT HERE']").click()
name = input('enter name : ')
driver.find_element_by_xpath(f"//*[@title ='{name}']").click()


# Send message
driver.find_element_by_xpath('//*[@id="main"]/footer/div[1]/div/div/div[2]/div[1]/div/div[2]').send_keys(messages[0])
driver.find_element_by_xpath('//*[@id="main"]/footer/div[1]/div/div/div[2]/div[2]/button').click()
 

My problem is that this code is executed once and the message is sent correctly, but how can I use the browser I opened before to send the next message?

Answer 1

The question is a little unclear, but the way I'm understanding it, you can just continue to use the same driver variable to send the next message. As long as you do not overwrite the driver variable with a new webdriver instance, that driver variable can continue to be used in that namespace to manipulate that window.

If you are using Jupyter Notebooks, you just have to be sure not to rerun the cell where driver instantiation is occurring. In other cells, you can use driver.get() or driver.find_element_...() and those will continue to apply to the existing window.

If you have multiple messages, you can even use a for loop, if appropriate:

driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com')
name = input('enter name: ')
driver.find_element_by_xpath(f"//*[@title ='{name}']").click()


# Send messages
textbox_xpath = '//*[@id="main"]/footer/div[1]/div/div/div[2]/div[1]/div/div[2]'
send_xpath = '//*[@id="main"]/footer/div[1]/div/div/div[2]/div[2]/button'
for message in message:
    driver.find_element_by_xpath(textbox_xpath).send_keys(message)
    driver.find_element_by_xpath(send_xpath).click()

However, if you're looking to build a responsive bot that listens for messages and then replies, Selenium is not the way to do that. You will want to make use of the Whatsapp API.