xvfbwrapper

Manage headless displays with Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer)

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Info:

• Dev: https://github.com/cgoldberg/xvfbwrapper
• Releases: https://pypi.org/project/xvfbwrapper/
• Author: Corey Goldberg - 2012-2019
• License: MIT

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About xvfbwrapper:

xvfbwrapper is a python module for controlling virtual displays with Xvfb.

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What is Xvfb?:

Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer) is a display server implementing the X11 display server protocol. It runs in memory and does not require a physical display. Only a network layer is necessary.

Xvfb is useful for running acceptance tests on headless servers.

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Install xvfbwrapper from PyPI:

pip install xvfbwrapper

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System Requirements:

• X11 Windowing System
• Xvfb (sudo apt-get install xvfb, yum install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb, etc)
• Python 2.7 or 3.4+

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Examples

Basic Usage:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

vdisplay = Xvfb()
vdisplay.start()

try:
    # launch stuff inside virtual display here.
finally:
    # always either wrap your usage of Xvfb() with try / finally,
    # or alternatively use Xvfb as a context manager.
    # If you don't, you'll probably end up with a bunch of junk in /tmp
    vdisplay.stop()

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Basic Usage, specifying display geometry:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

vdisplay = Xvfb(width=1280, height=740)
vdisplay.start()

try:
    # launch stuff inside virtual display here.
finally:
    vdisplay.stop()

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Basic Usage, specifying display number:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

vdisplay = Xvfb(display=23)
vdisplay.start()
# Xvfb is started with display :23
# see vdisplay.new_display

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Usage as a Context Manager:

from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb

with Xvfb() as xvfb:
    # launch stuff inside virtual display here.
    # Xvfb will stop when this block completes

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Testing Example: Headless Selenium WebDriver Tests:

This test class uses selenium webdriver and xvfbwrapper to run test cases on Firefox with a headless display.

import unittest

from selenium import webdriver
from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb


class TestPages(unittest.TestCase):

    def setUp(self):
        self.xvfb = Xvfb(width=1280, height=720)
        self.addCleanup(self.xvfb.stop)
        self.xvfb.start()
        self.browser = webdriver.Firefox()
        self.addCleanup(self.browser.quit)

    def testUbuntuHomepage(self):
        self.browser.get('http://www.ubuntu.com')
        self.assertIn('Ubuntu', self.browser.title)

    def testGoogleHomepage(self):
        self.browser.get('http://www.google.com')
        self.assertIn('Google', self.browser.title)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

• virtual display is launched
• Firefox launches inside virtual display (headless)
• browser is not shown while tests are run
• conditions are asserted in each test case
• browser quits during cleanup
• virtual display stops during cleanup

Look Ma', no browser!

(You can also take screenshots inside the virtual display to help diagnose test failures)