How to download and save excel and pdf file from pop-up in a desired location using Selenium written in C#

Question

I would like to know if there is any way for the automated tests to download the file (excel and pdf in my case) and save in a desired location using selenium web driver. I tried using Firefox profile, but that didn't work. When the test is running, there is window pop-up with asking whether to open or save the file. So, when we click a button, I do not want the windows pop-up to display, instead automatically allow it to download in a desired location( both locally and on Selenium Server) We are using C# to write the tests. Attached is the windows pop-up. Could someone please help with this?

public static IWebDriver Build(SeleniumInstanceContext context)
    {
        IWebDriver instance;            
        var capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
        var profile = CreateFirefoxProfile();

        //Pass the Firefox profile to be used by RemoteWebDriver
        capabilities.SetCapability(FirefoxDriver.ProfileCapabilityName, profile.ToBase64String());

        switch (context.TestingBrowser.ToUpperInvariant())
        {
            case "CHROME":
                instance = context.SeleniumEnvironment.ToUpper() == "REMOTEWEBDRIVER"
                    ? new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(context.SeleniumServerUrl), DesiredCapabilities.Chrome())
                    : new ChromeDriver();
                break;
            case "IE":
                instance = context.SeleniumEnvironment.ToUpper() == "REMOTEWEBDRIVER"
                    ? new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(context.SeleniumServerUrl),
                        DesiredCapabilities.InternetExplorer())
                    : new InternetExplorerDriver();
                break;
            default:
                instance = context.SeleniumEnvironment.ToUpper() == "REMOTEWEBDRIVER"
                    ? new RemoteWebDriver(new Uri(context.SeleniumServerUrl), capabilities,
                        TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5))
                    : new FirefoxDriver(profile);
                break;
        }

        return instance;
    }

[![enter image description here][1]][1]public static FirefoxProfile CreateFirefoxProfile()
    {
        //Create FireFox Profile object
        var profile = new FirefoxProfile();

        //Set Location to store files after downloading.
        const string path = "C:\\Users\\abc.xyz\\Downloads";
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.dir", path);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.folderList", 2);

        //Set Preference to not show file download confirmation dialogue using MIME types Of different file extension types.
        profile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk", "text/csv,application/x-msexcel,application/excel,application/x-excel,application/excel,application/x-excel,application/excel,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/x-excel,application/x-msexcel,application/csv");
        //profile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.openFile", "application/octet-stream");

        //profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
        profile.SetPreference("pdfjs.disabled", true);

        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.focusWhenStarting", false);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.alwaysAsk.force", true);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen", false);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone", false);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.showAlertOnComplete", false);
        profile.SetPreference("browser.download.manager.useWindow", false);

        return profile;
    }

Answer 1

1. Load the Firefox profile you use for testing, try to download any .xls file - you'll see this pop-up.
2. Tick the checkbox and download file like you want it to be downloaded in your autotests.

Next time you open Firefox with this profile in autotests these xls files will be downloaded without any pop-up window

Answer 2

It appears that you've forgotten to include some MIME types in the browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk preference.

Here are the MIME types for .xls , .xlsx , and .pdf file extensions:

• .xls - application/excel
• .xls - application/vnd.ms-excel
• .xls - application/x-excel
• .xls - application/x-msexcel
• .xlsx - application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
• .pdf - application/pdf

References:

• https://www.sitepoint.com/mime-types-complete-list/
• https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vsofficedeveloper/2008/05/08/office-2007-file-format-mime-types-for-http-content-streaming-2/

---

To hide this pop up for .xls , .xlsx , and .pdf file extensions, add the MIME types, separated by a comma:

string[] mimeTypes = new string[]
{
    // .xls
    "application/excel",
    "application/vnd.ms-excel",
    "application/x-excel",
    "application/x-msexcel",

    // .xlsx
    "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",

    // .pdf
    "application/pdf"
};

FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();
profile.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk",
    string.Join(",", mimeTypes));