Error using Python Splinter Library

Question

I have just installed Splinter python library on my beaglebone machine. When I use the example provided on the splinter website, I get an error. I believe I am required to install a webdriver for this to work.

has anyone installed any of the web drivers on the commandline for beaglebone arm7 platform?

Unmodified code

from splinter import Browser

 with Browser() as browser:
     # Visit URL
     url = "http://www.google.com"
     browser.visit(url)
     browser.fill('q', 'splinter - python acceptance testing for web applications')
     # Find and click the 'search' button
     button = browser.find_by_name('btnG')
     # Interact with elements
     button.click()
     if browser.is_text_present('splinter.cobrateam.info'):
         print "Yes, the official website was found!"
     else:
         print "No, it wasn't found... We need to improve our SEO techniques" 

And the error is

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "http1.py", line 3, in <module>
    with Browser() as browser:
  File "build/bdist.linux-armv7l/egg/splinter/browser.py", line 44, in Browser
  File "build/bdist.linux-armv7l/egg/splinter/driver/webdriver/firefox.py", line 33, in __init__
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.33.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 61, in __init__
    self.binary, timeout),
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.33.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.py", line 47, in __init__
    self.binary.launch_browser(self.profile)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.33.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.py", line 51, in launch_browser
    self._wait_until_connectable()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.33.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.py", line 90, in _wait_until_connectable
    self._get_firefox_output())
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: "The browser appears to have exited before we could connect. The output was: ERROR: ld.so: object 'x_ignore_nofocus.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.\nError: no display specified\n"

Answer 1

It may be a little too late, but just in case:

I had the same problem because I didn't have Firefox installed. Splinter is based on selenium, which uses as it's default browser Mozilla Firefox so either:

• install Firefox

or

• download the Chromedriver so that selenium (splinter) browses through Google Chrome. See this discussion for further information on setting up Chromedriver

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

I'm not sure (I have only ran splinter on an actual desktop) but I think the issue is only with the lack of specified display. When you run the default code on a desktop, it opens a web browser window. It must be trying to to the same here. Have you solved the problem since you asked the question?