Troubleshooting Headless Browser Testing with JMeter and PhantomJS

Other Questions Headless Browser
1

I’m working on setting up a load test using JMeter with a headless browser (PhantomJS). I’ve added the necessary PhantomJS jars to the lib folder, but I’m running into an error when trying to open a webpage. Here’s my basic Selenium code in JUnit:

System.setProperty("phantomjs.binary.path", "C:\\Tools\\phantomjs.exe");
WebDriver ghostDriver = new PhantomJSDriver();
ghostDriver.get("https://example.com");
ghostDriver.manage().window().maximize();
System.out.println(ghostDriver.getTitle());
ghostDriver.quit();

When I run this, it fails to open the page. Has anyone encountered a similar issue or know what might be causing this problem? I’ve double-checked the PhantomJS executable path and made sure all dependencies are up to date. Any help would be appreciated!

2

hey liamj, i’ve run into that before. check ur network connection first, sometimes phantomjs is finicky. also, try adding a wait like:

ghostDriver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

before the get() call. that might help. good luck!

3

I’d suggest looking into your JMeter configuration as well. Make sure you’ve properly set up the JMeter-Plugins-WebDriver in your test plan. Sometimes the issue lies in how JMeter interacts with PhantomJS rather than the PhantomJS setup itself.

Also, consider adding logging statements throughout your code to pinpoint where exactly the failure occurs. It could be that the page is loading, but an unexpected JavaScript error is preventing further execution.

If all else fails, you might want to explore using HtmlUnit as an alternative. It’s lighter than PhantomJS and often works well with JMeter for headless browser testing. Just remember to adjust your code accordingly if you switch.

4

I’ve faced similar issues with PhantomJS in the past. One thing to consider is that PhantomJS is no longer actively maintained, which can lead to compatibility problems with modern websites. Have you thought about switching to headless Chrome or Firefox instead? They’re more up-to-date and generally offer better performance.

For your specific issue, try adding a wait before accessing the page title. Sometimes PhantomJS needs a moment to fully load the page. Also, check your network settings - I once spent hours debugging only to realize my proxy settings were causing issues.

If you’re set on using PhantomJS, make sure you’re using a version compatible with your Selenium version. Mismatched versions can cause cryptic errors. Lastly, try running PhantomJS with --verbose flag to get more detailed error messages. This helped me pinpoint issues in the past.