I’ve been exploring different options for headless web automation and I’m pretty confused about something. I know that HtmlUnit and HttpUnit are older tools that were created before JavaScript became so important for websites. This makes me think they might not work well with today’s web applications.
I discovered that you can actually use Selenium WebDriver together with HtmlUnit as the driver. This seems weird to me and I have some questions about it.
First, when you combine Selenium with HtmlUnit, which system is actually doing the work? Are you calling Selenium methods or HtmlUnit methods? Second, if HtmlUnit has problems with modern websites that use lots of JavaScript, why would anyone want to use it at all?
I’ve used Selenium before with regular browsers but this headless combination is confusing me. Can someone explain how this works and whether it’s actually useful for testing modern web apps?
i know what u mean! htmlunit can be kinda tricky with modern js-heavy sites. i’ve switched to headless chrome myself, it’s way better at handling all that stuff. u should definitely try it out, way more reliable!
When using Selenium with HtmlUnit, you’re primarily utilizing Selenium’s WebDriver API, while HtmlUnit functions as the underlying browser engine. This means you write your tests using the same methods like findElement() and click(), but HtmlUnit manages the page rendering and interactions. Although it has limitations with JavaScript compared to full browsers, it performs sufficiently well with simpler applications. The main advantage of HtmlUnit is the speed of execution, as it eliminates the time required for browser startup. For legacy applications or straightforward sites, it remains a viable option, though many development teams have opted for headless Chrome or Firefox, which offer better compatibility with modern JavaScript, albeit at a slower pace.