Help Needed: Configuring Chrome Options in SeleniumBase and Robot Framework Integration

[prashantbajpai06]

Hi Team,

I'm in the process of replacing the current Selenium Chrome options with SeleniumBase Chrome options. Example options being used:

--kiosk-printing
--disable-dev-shm-usage
--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled
--ignore-certificate-errors
add_experimental_option("prefs", { ... }) – e.g., disabling the PDF Viewer to ensure files are downloaded instead of opened.

• ${prefs} Create Dictionary download.default_directory ${download_directory} savefile.default_directory ${download_directory} plugins.always_open_pdf_externally ${True} download.prompt_for_download ${False} printing.print_preview_sticky_settings.appState {"recentDestinations":[{"id":"Save as PDF","origin":"local","account":""}],"selectedDestinationId":"Save as PDF","version":2}

I'm looking for help with the following:

• External Configuration:
  Can these Chrome options (standard, experimental, and preferences) be configured externally, outside of the code?

• Current Setup:
  I'm currently initializing SeleniumBase like this:
  self.sb_options = {
  "uc": True, # Use undetected-chromedriver
  "headed": True, # Run in headed mode
  "xvfb": True, # Use virtual display
  "incognito": True, # Use incognito mode
  "xvfb_metrics": "1920,1080",# Set screen size
  "locale": "en", # Set browser locale
  "headless2": False, # Ensure full browser mode
  "use_auto_ext": False, # Disable auto-extensions
  "timeout_multiplier": 2 # Adjust timeouts
  }
  self.sb_cm = SB(**self.sb_options)

• Integration with Robot Framework:
  Is there a working example or template to integrate SeleniumBase with Robot Framework?

Any insights, best practices, or working examples would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[mdmintz]

Many of those options can be configured via command-line options outside of the code.
(Details in SeleniumBase/help_docs/customizing_test_runs.md. Both pytest and python.)
For some things, there's chromium_arg / --chromium-arg when no direct option is available.

As for Robot Framework: I don't use it. Maybe integration information for that can be found online.

[prashantbajpai06]

Thanks for the response, @mdmintz.

I'm having trouble understanding how to pass command-line arguments outside of the code. Instead, I would like to configure everything within the code using the self.sb_options dictionary like this:

self.sb_options = { "uc": True, # Use undetected-chromedriver "headed": True, # Run in headed mode "xvfb": True, # Use virtual display "incognito": True, # Use incognito mode "xvfb_metrics": "1920,1080", # Set screen size "locale": "en", # Set browser locale "headless2": False, # Ensure full browser mode "use_auto_ext": False, # Disable auto-extensions "timeout_multiplier": 2 # Adjust timeouts }
However, I'm struggling to figure out how to include additional Chrome options, like:

--kiosk-printing --disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled --ignore-certificate-errors

And also how to set experimental options like disabling the built-in PDF viewer to force file downloads:
prefs = { "download.default_directory": download_directory, "savefile.default_directory": download_directory, "plugins.always_open_pdf_externally": True, "download.prompt_for_download": False, "printing.print_preview_sticky_settings.appState": '{"recentDestinations":[{"id":"Save as PDF","origin":"local","account":""}],"selectedDestinationId":"Save as PDF","version":2}' }

Could you please help me understand how to add these Chrome options and experimental preferences via self.sb_options or another SeleniumBase-compatible way?

Also, is there a complete list of supported Chrome options or flags that can be passed through SeleniumBase (since SB internally manages the WebDriver)?

[mdmintz]

Most of those are already set automatically when allowed:

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/undetected/cdp_driver/config.py

Line 143 in d9b33dc

"--disable-dev-shm-usage",

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/core/browser_launcher.py

Line 2442 in d9b33dc

chrome_options.add_argument("--disable-dev-shm-usage")

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/core/browser_launcher.py

Line 4156 in d9b33dc

"--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled"

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/undetected/cdp_driver/config.py

Line 204 in d9b33dc

args.append("--ignore-certificate-errors")

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/core/browser_launcher.py

Line 2408 in d9b33dc

chrome_options.add_argument("--ignore-certificate-errors")

Setting the same options more than once can lead to issues, so assume stealth options are already optimized.

For the PDF one, set it via option (external_pdf=True):

SeleniumBase/seleniumbase/plugins/sb_manager.py

Line 83 in d9b33dc

external_pdf=None, # Set Chrome "plugins.always_open_pdf_externally":True.

[prashantbajpai06]

Hi @mdmintz

I noticed that the sb_manager.py file supports firefox_prefs, but I couldn’t find support for chrome_prefs. I’m trying to pass custom Chrome preferences (like disabling the built-in PDF viewer and setting a custom download directory) using experimental_option, but it seems "chrome_prefs" is not recognized in sb_options.

Here’s what I’m attempting:
self.sb_options = { "uc": True, # Use undetected-chromedriver "headed": True, # Run in headed mode "xvfb": True, # Use Xvfb virtual display "incognito": True, # Use incognito mode "xvfb_metrics": "1920,1080", # Set display resolution "locale": "en", # Set locale "headless2": False, # Ensure not using headless2 "use_auto_ext": False, # Don't use auto extensions "timeout_multiplier": 2, # Increase timeouts "external_pdf": True, "chromium_arg": ["--kiosk-printing"], "chrome_prefs": { # 🔽 Custom Chrome preferences go here "download.prompt_for_download": False, "download.default_directory": "/your/absolute/download/path", "savefile.default_directory": "/your/absolute/download/path", } }

However, I’m getting an error that "chrome_prefs" is not a valid sb_options key.

Could you please advise:

• Is there a supported way in SeleniumBase to pass Chrome experimental_options?
• If not currently supported, is there a recommended workaround or a plan to support this?
• Would manually extending sb_manager.py to include this support be advisable?

Appreciate your guidance!

Best regards,