Closing popup windows in headless Selenium: Any solutions?

Other Questions Headless Browser
1

I’m working on a project using Selenium with Python on an Amazon EC2 instance running Ubuntu. Since it’s a headless setup I’m using a virtual display.

The problem is I keep getting an error about a modal dialog being present. Here’s a snippet of what I’m seeing:

def fetch_data():
    try:
        driver.wait_for_element(By.XPATH, '//table/tbody/tr[2]/td/table')
    except WebDriverException as e:
        if 'Modal dialog present' in str(e):
            print('Oops! Popup detected.')
        else:
            raise

fetch_data()

This code fails because of a popup. How can I handle these dialog boxes in a headless environment? Are there any workarounds or best practices for dealing with this issue? I’ve tried a few things but nothing seems to work reliably.

Any help would be much appreciated!

2

I’ve dealt with this headache before, and let me tell you, it can be a real pain. One trick that’s worked wonders for me is using JavaScript to disable popup windows altogether. Here’s what I do:

driver.execute_script("window.alert = function() {};")
driver.execute_script("window.confirm = function() {return true;};")
driver.execute_script("window.prompt = function() {return null;};")

This essentially overrides the default JavaScript functions for alerts, confirms, and prompts. It’s not foolproof, but it’s saved me countless hours of frustration.

Another approach is to use a try-except block to handle the WebDriverException and then use driver.switch_to.alert.accept() to close any popups. Sometimes, you might need to combine multiple techniques depending on the specific popups you’re encountering.

Remember, headless environments can be tricky, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different solutions until you find what works best for your specific use case.

3

yo Claire29, been there done that! try this trick:

driver.execute_script(‘window.onbeforeunload = function() {};’)

it disables those pesky ‘are you sure you wanna leave?’ popups. also, check ur chrome options - add ‘–disable-notifications’ to block browser alerts. might not catch everything but should help. good luck!

4

I’ve encountered similar issues with headless Selenium setups. One effective approach I’ve used is to implement a custom ExpectedCondition to wait for and close any unexpected dialogs. Here’s a snippet that might help:

from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

def close_dialogs(driver):
    try:
        alert = driver.switch_to.alert
        alert.dismiss()
        return False
    except:
        return True

WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(close_dialogs)

This function attempts to close any alert dialogs before proceeding. You can call it before your main logic to handle potential popups. Additionally, setting specific Chrome options like ‘–disable-popup-blocking’ when initializing your WebDriver might prevent some dialogs from appearing in the first place. Hope this helps with your headless Selenium challenges!