Keep pinging current URL in another browser thread to keep a browser alive when you do something more expensive.

gistfile1.txt

class BrowserStandBy(object):
    """
    This class allows you to put a browser on stand by sending no-op commands to keep 
    a selenium session from timing out.
    """
    
    def __init__(self, webdriver, max_time=WTF_TIMEOUT_MANAGER.EPIC, sleep=5):
        """
        @param webdriver:Webdriver instance to keep alive. 
        """
        self.webdriver = webdriver
        self._sleep_time = sleep
        self._max_time = max_time
        
        
    
    def start(self):
        "Start standing by"
        self._end_time = datetime.now() + timedelta(seconds = self._max_time)
        self._thread = Thread(target=lambda: self.__stand_by_loop())
        self._keep_running = True
        self._thread.start()
        pass
    
    def stop(self):
        self._keep_running = False
        pass
    
    
    def __stand_by_loop(self):
        print self._keep_running
        while datetime.now() < self._end_time and self._keep_running:
            self.webdriver.current_url #Just performing current_url to keep this alive.
            time.sleep(self._sleep_time)