How to automate sending attachments through GMail using Selenium java

Question

I am doing test automations for the first time, and I want to be able to automate gmail and send an email with an attachment. I am using selenium web driver, cucumber and google chrome to run the tests. My IDE is intelliJ. My tests work up until I have to attach the file:

public void givenOnAmazonProductPage() throws Throwable {
    setupSeleniumWebDrivers();
    goTo(PRODUCT_URL);
    driver.findElement(By.id("identifierId")).sendKeys("username");
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("//span[@class='RveJvd snByac']")).click();
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    driver.findElement(By.name("password")).sendKeys("password");
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("//span[@class='RveJvd snByac']")).click();
    Thread.sleep(4000);
    goTo(PRODUCT_URL);
    //driver.wait().until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath(".//textarea[contains(@aria-label, 'To')]")));
    driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//textarea[contains(@aria-label, 'To')]")).click();
    driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//textarea[contains(@aria-label, 'To')]")).sendKeys("abcd@gmail.com");
    driver.findElement(By.name("subjectbox")).click();
    driver.findElement(By.name("subjectbox")).sendKeys("efgh");
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("(.//*[@aria-label='Message Body'])[2]")).click();
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("(.//*[@aria-label='Message Body'])[2]")).sendKeys("This is an auto-generated mail");
    //driver.findElement(By.xpath("//span[@class='T-I J-J5-Ji T-I-KE L3']")).click();
    //driver.close();
    //click on attachment
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='a1 aaA aMZ']")).click();
    //use autoit tool to attach a file 

this is where i try to attach the file that is on my desktop but it doesnt seem to work

 Runtime.getRuntime().exec("C:Desktop/6c3bfdec92fad54896275802f938bd83.29.jpg");
    // enter the file path onto the file-selection input field


    Thread.sleep(10000); //wait for 10sec to upload file
}

does anyone know what I am doing wrong to attach the file?

Answer 1

This should be your autoit .exe path not .jpg path. You need to create executable (.exe) of your autoit scrips and pass as i have mentioned.

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("path of Autoit exe"); // like "C:\\AutoIt3\\new.exe"

Answer 2

There are several simple ways to automate sending of an email with an attachment even without using Selenium as follows:

• If you are using jenkins there are separate plugins for GMail through smtp settings.
• If you are using Maven you can use the postman plugin.
• Using commons email api directly from your Test Code .

In this answer I will explain about using the commons email api through Maven .

---

Commons Email

Commons Email aims to provide a API for sending email. It is built on top of the Java Mail API, which it aims to simplify.

Some of the mail classes that are provided are as follows:

• SimpleEmail - This class is used to send basic text based emails.
• MultiPartEmail - This class is used to send multipart messages. This allows a text message with attachments either inline or attached.
• HtmlEmail - This class is used to send HTML formatted emails. It has all of the capabilities as MultiPartEmail allowing attachments to be easily added. It also supports embedded images.
• ImageHtmlEmail - This class is used to send HTML formatted emails with inline images. It has all of the capabilities as HtmlEmail but transform all image references to inline images.

• EmailAttachment - This is a simple container class to allow for easy handling of attachments. It is for use with instances of MultiPartEmail and HtmlEmail.

• Maven Dependency :

   <dependency> <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId> <artifactId>commons-email</artifactId> <version>1.5</version> </dependency> 

• Code Block:

   package SendEmailAttachments; import org.apache.commons.mail.DefaultAuthenticator; import org.apache.commons.mail.EmailAttachment; import org.apache.commons.mail.EmailException; import org.apache.commons.mail.MultiPartEmail; public class EmailAttachments { public static void main(String[] args) throws EmailException { System.out.println("===Test for Sending CommonsEmail started==="); // Create the attachment EmailAttachment attachment = new EmailAttachment(); attachment.setPath("C:\\\\Users\\\\AtechM_03\\\\Desktop\\\\Screenshots\\\\bad_indentation.png"); attachment.setDisposition(EmailAttachment.ATTACHMENT); attachment.setDescription("Picture of bad indentation"); attachment.setName("BadIndentation"); // Create the email message MultiPartEmail email = new MultiPartEmail(); email.setHostName("smtp.gmail.com"); email.setSmtpPort(465); email.setAuthenticator(new DefaultAuthenticator("Matthew@Zoltak.in", "Matthew_Zoltak")); email.setSSLOnConnect(true); email.setFrom("CommonsEmail@gmail.com"); email.setSubject("CommonsEmail Test"); email.setMsg("CommonsEmail test mail ... :-)"); email.addTo("Matthew@Zoltak.in"); // add the attachment email.attach(attachment); // send the email email.send(); System.out.println("===Test for Sending CommonsEmail ended==="); } } 

• Console Output:

   ===Test for Sending CommonsEmail started=== ===Test for Sending CommonsEmail ended=== 

• Snapshot: