Seeking a browser automation tool that runs without opening a visible window

Other Questions Headless Browser
1

I’m working on a project that needs to interact with web pages, especially those with JavaScript elements. Right now, I’m using Selenium with C#, but it opens a visible browser window. This isn’t ideal for my use case.

I’ve tried using the WebClient class in C#, but it can’t handle JS-heavy pages. I’m open to solutions in C#, Python, or PHP. Maybe there’s another language that would work better?

Here’s a simplified version of what I’m trying to do:

import time
from invisible_browser import InvisibleBrowser

driver = InvisibleBrowser()
driver.go_to("https://example.com/login")
driver.type("username_field", "[email protected]")
driver.type("password_field", "mypassword123")
driver.click("login_button")

driver.go_to("https://example.com/action_page")
time.sleep(5)
driver.click("action_button")

print("Task completed!")

Any suggestions for a tool that can do this without opening a visible browser?

2

have u tried puppeteer? it’s javascript but super good for headless browsing. i use it for web scraping n it handles js like a boss. might need to learn some node.js tho. here’s a quick example:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless: true});
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  // do stuff
  await browser.close();
})();

works great for me, maybe give it a shot?

3

Hey there! I’ve been in a similar situation and found a great solution. Have you tried using Playwright? It’s been a game-changer for me.

I switched from Selenium to Playwright a while back for a project that needed to interact with JS-heavy pages without visible windows. It’s available for C# and Python, so it should fit your tech stack.

The syntax is pretty intuitive. Here’s a quick example in Python:

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto('https://example.com/login')
    page.fill('#username', '[email protected]')
    page.fill('#password', 'mypassword123')
    page.click('#login-button')
    
    page.goto('https://example.com/action_page')
    page.wait_for_timeout(5000)
    page.click('#action-button')
    
    print('Task completed!')
    browser.close()

It handles JavaScript like a champ and runs headless by default. Plus, the wait_for_timeout method is built-in, so no need to import time. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!

4

Have you considered using Puppeteer with Node.js? It’s a powerful tool for headless browser automation that excels at handling JavaScript-heavy pages. While it’s not in C#, Python, or PHP, it might be worth exploring.

Here’s a basic example of how you could achieve your task with Puppeteer:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless: true});
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
  await page.type('#username', '[email protected]');
  await page.type('#password', 'mypassword123');
  await page.click('#login-button');

  await page.goto('https://example.com/action_page');
  await page.waitForTimeout(5000);
  await page.click('#action-button');

  console.log('Task completed!');
  await browser.close();
})();

Puppeteer runs headless by default and provides a straightforward API for web interactions. It might require learning some Node.js, but it’s highly effective for your use case.