Extracting cookies from HtmlUnit's headless browser in Java

Other Questions Headless Browser
1

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a Java project where I’m using HtmlUnit Driver to create a headless browser. Everything’s going well with inspecting elements, but I’m hitting a wall when it comes to getting cookie info.

I really need these cookies to move forward with my tests. Has anyone dealt with this before? I’ve tried a few things, but no luck so far.

Here’s a simplified version of what I’m working with:

WebClient webClient = new WebClient();
HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage("https://example.com");

// This part works fine
HtmlElement element = page.getFirstByXPath("//div[@class='example']");

// But how do I get the cookies?
// Something like this maybe?
Set<Cookie> cookies = webClient.getCookieManager().getCookies();

// What next?

Any tips or tricks would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

2

I’ve dealt with a similar issue in one of my projects. The approach you’re on the right track with, using getCookieManager(), is indeed the way to go. Here’s what worked for me:

After getting the cookies, you can iterate through them to access specific details. For example:

Set<Cookie> cookies = webClient.getCookieManager().getCookies();
for (Cookie cookie : cookies) {
    System.out.println(cookie.getName() + ": " + cookie.getValue());
}

This will print out each cookie’s name and value. You can also access other properties like domain, path, and expiry date if needed.

Remember to handle potential NullPointerExceptions, as some pages might not set cookies. Also, ensure your WebClient is configured to accept cookies if it isn’t already.

3

I’ve run into this cookie extraction challenge before with HtmlUnit. While the getCookieManager() method is a good start, I found it doesn’t always capture all the cookies, especially those set by JavaScript.

A workaround that worked for me was to use the JavaScript engine in HtmlUnit to directly access the document.cookie property. Here’s how I did it:

String cookies = (String) page.executeJavaScript("document.cookie").getJavaScriptResult();

This approach grabs all cookies, including those set by JavaScript. You’ll get a string with all cookies, which you can then parse as needed.

Just keep in mind that this method might not work if the site uses HttpOnly cookies, as those aren’t accessible via JavaScript. In that case, you might need to combine this with the getCookieManager() method for a complete solution.

4

yo, i had a similar prob. try this:

webClient.getCookieManager().setCookiesEnabled(true);
Set cookies = webClient.getCookieManager().getCookies();

for (Cookie c : cookies) {
System.out.println(c.getName() + “=” + c.getValue());
}

this worked 4 me. hope it helps!