5 Best Ways to Open a New Browser Window Using Selenium WebDriver for Python

πŸ’‘ Problem Formulation: When automating browser tasks with Selenium WebDriver in Python, users often need to open a new window apart from the one in use. The challenge is achieving this programmatically to facilitate tasks such as comparing two web pages side by side or handling multi-window operations. Desired output is a new, separate browser window controlled within the same session.

Method 1: Using the execute_script Method to Simulate Keyboard Shortcut

This method uses JavaScript execution within Selenium to simulate the CTRL+N keyboard shortcut, which is widely known for opening new windows in browsers. Functionally, the execute_script method injects a script that triggers the browser’s native behavior for new window creation.

Here’s an example:

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.example.com')
driver.execute_script("window.open('');")

The output is a new browser window opening with a blank page.

This code snippet first initializes the Selenium WebDriver for Chrome, navigates to ‘https://www.example.com’, and then uses the execute_script to open a new blank window. The simplicity of the method makes it widely applicable.

Method 2: Using the execute_script Method with a Specified URL

Similar to Method 1, this utilizes the execute_script function to open a new browser window, but it immediately navigates to a specified URL. This is helpful for opening a new window and loading a certain webpage without additional steps.

Here’s an example:

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.example.com')
driver.execute_script("window.open('https://www.python.org');")

The output is a new browser window opening and navigating to ‘https://www.python.org’.

This snippet directly instructs the browser to open a new window and go to the Python official website. This method provides a quick way to jump to the content of interest in a new window.

Method 3: Creating a New Window Tab and Switching to It

This approach takes advantage of the webdriver capabilities to open a new tab and then switch to it, treating the tab as a new window. It is effective for managing multiple tabs/windows within the same browser instance.

Here’s an example:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.example.com')
driver.find_element_by_tag_name('body').send_keys(Keys.CONTROL + 't')
driver.switch_to.window(driver.window_handles[1])

This opens a new tab in the current browser window and switches focus to it.

The above code sends a CTRL+T key command to open a new tab, then the script switches to the new tab using the switch_to.window method, treating it as a separate window within the browser session.

Method 4: Using WebDriver’s Built-in Method

Selenium WebDriver in Python offers a built-in method to open a new window directly, without the need for executing JavaScript. This is arguably the most straightforward way to accomplish the task within Selenium’s API.

Here’s an example:

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.example.com')
driver.switch_to.new_window('window')

The browser will open a new window.

The snippet uses driver.switch_to.new_window('window') which tells Selenium to perform the action of opening a new window as opposed to a new tab (‘tab’ would be used for opening a new tab).

Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Opening and Switching to a New Window with JavaScript

This one-liner is a condensed version of previous methods, combining JavaScript execution and immediate switch to the new window in a single statement. Its brevity is its biggest asset.

Here’s an example:

from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.example.com')
new_window = driver.execute_script("window.open('');")
driver.switch_to.window(new_window)

A new browser window opens, and the control switches to it.

The code performs two operations in quick successionβ€”opening a new window and then switching the WebDriver’s context to the new window. This one-liner accomplishes the task with minimal code.

Summary/Discussion

  • Method 1: Using the execute_script Method to Simulate Keyboard Shortcut. Strengths: Simple and easy to apply to any web context. Weaknesses: Relies on the browser’s response to JavaScript, which can vary.
  • Method 2: Using the execute_script Method with a Specified URL. Strengths: Immediate navigation to the desired URL. Weaknesses: Same as above, and the URL must be predefined.
  • Method 3: Creating a New Window Tab and Switching to It. Strengths: Provides fine control over tab/window management. Weaknesses: Requires sending keystrokes, which might not be supported in headless mode or on some systems.
  • Method 4: Using WebDriver’s Built-in Method. Strengths: Straightforward and Selenium-supported method. Weaknesses: May be less flexible than JavaScript methods.
  • Method 5: One-Liner JavaScript Execution and Switch. Strengths: Concise and quick. Weaknesses: The need to store the window handler as a separate variable can be overlooked, leading to confusion.