I’m trying to set up my Protractor test suite to run in Jenkins using a headless browser configuration. I previously attempted to use PhantomJS for this purpose, but I’ve encountered significant compatibility issues between PhantomJS and Protractor.
The main problem I’m facing is that element locators work perfectly when running tests in Chrome or Firefox browsers, but the exact same selectors fail to locate elements when executing through PhantomJS. This inconsistency is causing my automated tests to fail in the Jenkins environment.
What are the recommended approaches for running Protractor tests headlessly in Jenkins? Are there better alternatives to PhantomJS that offer more reliable compatibility with Protractor’s element detection mechanisms?
yeah phantomjs is pretty much dead at this point. we switched to chrome headless last year and it solved most of our jenkins issues. just make sure you have xvfb installed on ur build server if you’re not using docker - chrome still needs a display even in headless mode sometimes. also check ur chrome version matches what ur testing locally or u might get weird behavior.
PhantomJS has been deprecated for several years now, which explains the compatibility issues you’re experiencing. I migrated from PhantomJS to Chrome headless about three years ago and never looked back. The key difference is that Chrome headless uses the actual Chrome rendering engine, so your selectors behave identically to regular browser testing. For Jenkins setup, you’ll need to install Chrome on your build agents and update your capabilities configuration. I recommend adding --disable-gpu and --window-size=1920,1080 arguments as well, since some elements might not render properly without explicit dimensions in headless mode. Firefox headless is equally reliable if you prefer Mozilla’s engine. The transition typically requires minimal code changes beyond updating your browser configuration.
Switching to Chrome headless from PhantomJS is a wise move. I’ve been using it for two years now, and it addresses the element detection issues you’re facing since it functions just like standard Chrome. For configuration, ensure your protractor.conf.js includes the --headless flag, along with --no-sandbox and --disable-dev-shm-usage options. These are crucial for Jenkins setups, particularly with Docker. Firefox headless is another option that performs well, especially with CSS animations. Both provide more reliable compatibility than PhantomJS.