ReadMe.md

Launch parallel threaded Edge browser windows with Selenium 4

Setup steps

1. Scaffold a dotnet console application: dotnet new console -n ThreadedSelenium
2. Drop in gist files
3. Extract msedgedriver.exe to the project folder
4. Run the solution with dotnet run

Notes

• How to download the correct WebDriver for your Edge browser: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webdriver-chromium/?tabs=c-sharp#download-microsoft-edge-webdriver
• Increase number of windows by adding urls to urls
• See the browser windows by changing headless to false in call to CreateDriver()

Program.cs

internal class Program
{
    private static string[] urls = new string[] { "https://www.microsoft.com/", "https://www.youtube.com/", "https://www.airproducts.com/", "https://www.twitter.com/" };

    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        PrepareTempFolders();

        List<Runner> runners = new List<Runner>();

        Console.WriteLine("INSTANTIATE...");
        for (var index=0; index < urls.Length; index++)
            runners.Add(new Runner(index: index, headless: false, urls[index]));

        Console.WriteLine("START...");
        foreach (var runner in runners)
            runner.Start();

        Console.WriteLine("JOIN...");
        foreach (var runner in runners)
            runner.Join();

        Console.WriteLine("QUIT...");
        foreach (var runner in runners)
            runner.Quit();
    }

    public static void PrepareTempFolders()
    {
        var tmpPath = $@"{Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()}\tmp";

        if (Directory.Exists(tmpPath))
            Directory.Delete(tmpPath, true);
        
        Directory.CreateDirectory(tmpPath);
    }
}

Runner.cs

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Edge;

internal class Runner
{
    private int index;
    private bool headless;
    private string url;
    private IWebDriver driver;
    private Thread thread;

    public Runner(int index, bool headless, string url)
    {
        this.index = index;
        this.url = url;

        driver = CreateDriver(index, headless);
        thread = new Thread(() => Navigate(driver, url, index));
    }

    public void Start()
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} START");
        thread.Start();
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} STARTED");
    }

    public void Join()
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} JOIN");
        thread.Join();
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} JOINED");
    }

    public void Quit()
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} QUIT");
        driver.Quit();
        driver.Dispose();
        Console.WriteLine($"DRIVER {index} QUITTED");
    }
    
    public static EdgeDriver CreateDriver(int index, bool headless = false)
    {
        var service = EdgeDriverService.CreateDefaultService(@".", @"msedgedriver.exe");
        service.Start();
        Console.WriteLine($"service.Port: {service.Port}");

        var options = new EdgeOptions();

        if (headless)
            options.AddArgument("headless");
            
        options.AddArguments(
            "--disable-extensions",
            "--window-size=1920,1080",
            "inprivate",
            "no-sandbox",
            "inprivate",
            "disable-gpu",
            "ignore-certificate-errors",
            "no-default-browser-check",
            "disable-web-security",
            "allow-insecure-localhost",
            "allow-running-insecure-content",
            "acceptInsecureCerts=true",
            "proxy-server='direct://'",
            "proxy-bypass-list=*",
            "disable-extensions",
            "disable-infobars"
        );
            
        options.AddArgument($"remote-debugging-port={9222+index}");
        
        options.BinaryLocation = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe";
        options.LeaveBrowserRunning = false;
        options.AcceptInsecureCertificates = true;

        options.AddArgument($@"--user-data-dir={Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()}\tmp\prof-{index}");

        return new EdgeDriver(service, options);
    }

    public static void Navigate(IWebDriver driver, string url, int index)
    {
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(url);
        driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        ((EdgeDriver)driver).GetScreenshot().SaveAsFile($@"tmp\{index}.png");
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }
}

ThreadedSelenium.csproj

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Selenium.WebDriver" Version="4.9.1" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>