Develop Reference

Thunderbird ADDON: port.postmessage() does not work reliably

I am trying, and trying, and trying , … to debug an addon that I wrote for Thunderbird 78.10.2. It sends message to a python backend and then reads the reply back:
async function buttonListener(tab) {
tabId = tab.id;
port = browser.runtime.connectNative("backendMyEd");
cD = await browser.compose.getComposeDetails(tab.id);
var body = extractBody(cD);
await port.postMessage(body);
port.onMessage.addListener(getReply);
}
The listener is just a python script that is doing:
def get_message():
if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
len_field = sys.stdin.read(4)
else:
len_field = sys.stdin.buffer.read(4)
if not len_field:
sys.exit(0)
message_length = struct.unpack('=I', len_field)[0]
message = sys.stdin.read(message_length) <=====
return json.loads(message)
This works half the time but not always. When it doesn’t, my printfs tell me that it’s stuck in stdin read, but port.postMessage() has returned. If I quit TB or remove my add on, the sys.stdin.read() finishes.
Several things come to mind:
Is there a flush needed after port.postMessage()? maybe its not flushing all the time?
could it be related to message size? i tested with different sizes, and for less than 8k it often works. For larger ones, it seems to not work more often.
Could there be some special characters in message causing this?
Something to do with JS being single threaded? But the function is async, and python should be a different process. I also tried doing a fork in python, still hangs off and on in sys.stdin.read()...
Any ideas on whats going on, or how I could debug further?

Re-using same instance again webdriverJS

I am really new to Selenium. I managed to open a website using the below nodejs code
var webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
var driver = new webdriver.Builder()
.forBrowser('chrome')
.build();
console.log(driver);
driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com');
//perform all other operations here.
https://web.whatsapp.com is opened and I manually scan a QR code and log in. Now I have different javascript files to perform actions like delete, clear chat inside web.whatsapp.com etc...
Now If I get some error, I debug and when I run the script again using node test.js, it takes another 2 minutes to load page and do the steps I needed. I just wanted to reopen the already opened tab and continue my script instead new window opens.
Edit day 2 : Still searching for solution. I tried below code to save object and reuse it.. Is this the correct approach ? I get a JSON parse error though.
var o = new chrome.Options();
o.addArguments("user-data-dir=/Users/vishnu/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 2");
o.addArguments("disable-infobars");
o.addArguments("--no-first-run");
var driver = new webdriver.Builder().withCapabilities(webdriver.Capabilities.chrome()).setChromeOptions(o).build();
var savefile = fs.writeFile('data.json', JSON.stringify(util.inspect(driver)) , 'utf-8');
var parsedJSON = require('./data.json');
console.log(parsedJSON);

It took me some time and a couple of different approaches, but I managed to work up something I think solves your problem and allows to develop tests in a rather nice way.
Because it does not directly answer the question of how to re-use a browser session in Selenium (using their JavaScript API), I will first present my proposed solution and then briefly discuss the other approaches I tried. It may give someone else an idea and help them to solve this problem in a nicer/better way. Who knows. At least my attempts will be documented.
Proposed solution (tested and works)
Because I did not manage to actually reuse a browser session (see below), I figured I could try something else. The approach will be the following.
Idea
Have a main loop in one file (say init.js) and tests in a separate file (test.js).
The main loop opens a browser instance and keeps it open. It also exposes some sort of CLI that allows one to run tests (from test.js), inspect errors as they occur and to close the browser instance and stop the main loop.
The test in test.js exports a test function that is being executed by the main loop. It is passed a driver instance to work with. Any errors that occur here are being caught by the main loop.
Because the browser instance is opened only once, we have to do the manual process of authenticating with WhatsApp (scanning a QR code) only once. After that, running a test will reload web.whatsapp.com, but it will have remembered that we authenticated and thus immediately be able to run whatever tests we define in test.js.
In order to keep the main loop alive, it is vital that we catch each and every error that might occur in our tests. I unfortunately had to resort to uncaughtException for that.
Implementation
This is the implementation of the above idea I came up with. It is possible to make this much fancier if you would want to do so. I went for simplicity here (hope I managed).
init.js
This is the main loop from the above idea.
var webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver'),
by = webdriver.By,
until = webdriver.until,
driver = null,
prompt = '> ',
testPath = 'test.js',
lastError = null;
function initDriver() {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
// already opened a browser? done
if (driver !== null) {
resolve();
return;
}
// open a new browser, let user scan QR code
driver = new webdriver.Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com');
process.stdout.write("Please scan the QR code within 30 seconds...\n");
driver.wait(until.elementLocated(by.className('chat')), 30000)
.then(() => resolve())
.catch((timeout) => {
process.stdout.write("\b\bTimed out waiting for code to" +
" be scanned.\n");
driver.quit();
reject();
});
});
}
function recordError(err) {
process.stderr.write(err.name + ': ' + err.message + "\n");
lastError = err;
// let user know that test failed
process.stdout.write("Test failed!\n");
// indicate we are ready to read the next command
process.stdout.write(prompt);
}
process.stdout.write(prompt);
process.stdin.setEncoding('utf8');
process.stdin.on('readable', () => {
var chunk = process.stdin.read();
if (chunk === null) {
// happens on initialization, ignore
return;
}
// do various different things for different commands
var line = chunk.trim(),
cmds = line.split(/\s+/);
switch (cmds[0]) {
case 'error':
// print last error, when applicable
if (lastError !== null) {
console.log(lastError);
}
// indicate we are ready to read the next command
process.stdout.write(prompt);
break;
case 'run':
// open a browser if we didn't yet, execute tests
initDriver().then(() => {
// carefully load test code, report SyntaxError when applicable
var file = (cmds.length === 1 ? testPath : cmds[1] + '.js');
try {
var test = require('./' + file);
} catch (err) {
recordError(err);
return;
} finally {
// force node to read the test code again when we
// require it in the future
delete require.cache[__dirname + '/' + file];
}
// carefully execute tests, report errors when applicable
test.execute(driver, by, until)
.then(() => {
// indicate we are ready to read the next command
process.stdout.write(prompt);
})
.catch(recordError);
}).catch(() => process.stdin.destroy());
break;
case 'quit':
// close browser if it was opened and stop this process
if (driver !== null) {
driver.quit();
}
process.stdin.destroy();
return;
}
});
// some errors somehow still escape all catches we have...
process.on('uncaughtException', recordError);
test.js
This is the test from the above idea. I wrote some things just to test the main loop and some WebDriver functionality. Pretty much anything is possible here. I have used promises to make test execution work nicely with the main loop.
var driver, by, until,
timeout = 5000;
function waitAndClickElement(selector, index = 0) {
driver.wait(until.elementLocated(by.css(selector)), timeout)
.then(() => {
driver.findElements(by.css(selector)).then((els) => {
var element = els[index];
driver.wait(until.elementIsVisible(element), timeout);
element.click();
});
});
}
exports.execute = function(d, b, u) {
// make globally accessible for ease of use
driver = d;
by = b;
until = u;
// actual test as a promise
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
// open site
driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com');
// make sure it loads fine
driver.wait(until.elementLocated(by.className('chat')), timeout);
driver.wait(until.elementIsVisible(
driver.findElement(by.className('chat'))), timeout);
// open menu
waitAndClickElement('.icon.icon-menu');
// click profile link
waitAndClickElement('.menu-shortcut', 1);
// give profile time to animate
// this prevents an error from occurring when we try to click the close
// button while it is still being animated (workaround/hack!)
driver.sleep(500);
// close profile
waitAndClickElement('.btn-close-drawer');
driver.sleep(500); // same for hiding profile
// click some chat
waitAndClickElement('.chat', 3);
// let main script know we are done successfully
// we do so after all other webdriver promise have resolved by creating
// another webdriver promise and hooking into its resolve
driver.wait(until.elementLocated(by.className('chat')), timeout)
.then(() => resolve());
});
};
Example output
Here is some example output. The first invocation of run test will open up an instance of Chrome. Other invocations will use that same instance. When an error occurs, it can be inspected as shown. Executing quit will close the browser instance and quit the main loop.
$ node init.js
> run test
> run test
WebDriverError: unknown error: Element <div class="chat">...</div> is not clickable at point (163, 432). Other element would receive the click: <div dir="auto" contenteditable="false" class="input input-text">...</div>
(Session info: chrome=57.0.2987.133)
(Driver info: chromedriver=2.29.461571 (8a88bbe0775e2a23afda0ceaf2ef7ee74e822cc5),platform=Linux 4.9.0-2-amd64 x86_64)
Test failed!
> error
<prints complete stacktrace>
> run test
> quit
You can run tests in other files by simply calling them. Say you have a file test-foo.js, then execute run test-foo in the above prompt to run it. All tests will share the same Chrome instance.
Failed attempt #1: saving and restoring storage
When inspecting the page using my development tools, I noticed that it appears to use the localStorage. It is possible to export this as JSON and write it to a file. On a next invocation, this file can be read, parsed and written to the new browser instance storage before reloading the page.
Unfortunately, WhatsApp still required me to scan the QR code. I have tried to figure out what I missed (cookies, sessionStorage, ...), but did not manage. It is possible that WhatsApp registers the browser as being disconnected after some time has passed. Or that it uses other browser properties (session ID?) to recognize the browser. This is pure speculating from my side though.
Failed attempt #2: switching session/window
Every browser instance started via WebDriver has a session ID. This ID can be retrieved, so I figured it may be possible to start a session and then connect to it from the test cases, which would then be run from a separate file (you can see this is the predecessor of the final solution). Unfortunately, I have not been able to figure out a way to set the session ID. This may actually be a security concern, I am not sure. People more expert in the usage of WebDriver might be able to clarify here.
I did find out that it is possible to retrieve a list of window handles and switch between them. Unfortunately, windows are only shared within a single session and not across sessions.

Run Node.js file on button click event

In my current project, we have a HTML page. In HTML page, we have several buttons, for instance we have buttons for Temperature Sensor, Humidity Sensor, Alarm etc. When we click on a button than in back-end it will run corresponding Node.js file, for instance when we click on Temperature sensor button than it will run TemperatureSensor.js file located in the same path. The code for HTML page is as shown below:
The code of TemperatureSensor.js is as below:
var mqtt = require('mqtt');
var client = mqtt.connect('mqtt://test.mosquitto.org:1883');
var NUM_SAMPLE_FOR_AVG = 5;
var numSample = 0;
var tempCelcius = 0;
var currentAvg = 0;
client.subscribe('tempMeasurement');
client.on('message', function(topic, payload) {
if (topic.toString() == "tempMeasurement") {
sensorMeasurement = JSON.parse(payload);
console.log("tempValue is " + sensorMeasurement.tempValue);
if (numSample <= NUM_SAMPLE_FOR_AVG) {
numSample = numSample + 1;
if (sensorMeasurement.unitOfMeasurement == 'F') {
tempCelcius = ((sensorMeasurement.tempValue - 32) * (5 / 9));
} else {
tempCelcius = sensorMeasurement.tempValue;
}
currentAvg = parseFloat(currentAvg) + parseFloat(tempCelcius);
if (numSample == NUM_SAMPLE_FOR_AVG) {
currentAvg = currentAvg / NUM_SAMPLE_FOR_AVG;
var avgTemp = {
"tempValue" : parseFloat(currentAvg),
"unitOfMeasurement" : sensorMeasurement.unitOfMeasurement
};
client.publish('roomAvgTempMeasurement', JSON
.stringify(avgTemp));
console.log("Publishing Data roomAvgTempMeasurement ");
numSample = 0;
currentAvg = 0;
}
}
}
});
The problem is when we clicked on TemperatureSensor button in browser than it display error: TemperatureSensor.js:1 Uncaught ReferenceError: require is not defined. if the content of TemeperatureSensor is console.log("Hello") than it displays Hello in the console of browser. How to provide dependency ??Why we need to do this bcoz if we want to run TemperatureSensor, HumiditySensor etc. than we need to run these in terminal, for instance if we want to run TemperatureSensor than in terminal we have to write sudo node TempeatureSensor.js. This require more manual efforts so in order to reduce this effort we need such kind of HTML page. How to resolve the about problem ??

You can't run Node.js code in the browser, they're completely separate environments (for example, browsers do not have the require function, hence why you're getting that error). Your best bet is to look into creating a REST service of some kind (using Express, Hapi or Restify, most likely) that will allow you to call a Node.js server through HTTP.
This is a decent introduction to the topic - it uses MongoDB for data persistence, but this is in no way a requirement when it comes to making stuff like this. In your case, you'll basically just have to define a route for Temp and Humidity, run your code to get the data in the route handler, and then send JSON data back on the response object. You'll then be able to use jQuery (or any number of other libraries) to make AJAX requests to these routes.
EDIT: After looking at the MQTT GitHub page, there is another option - the library can be used in the browser if bundled using a tool like Browserify or Webpack. Given the complexities of learning to write and maintain REST services, this may well be a better option.

Displaying running console program data outputs in my to my visual studio application page

How can I show on my visual studio application page, a running program data outputs in console.

Okay based on your comment i think you want to execute a console program and redirect it´s output to your visual studio output Window?
The following example is in C#
var processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
{
FileName = "cmd.exe",
Arguments = "/c ping www.google.de",
WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden, //to hide the cmd window
RedirectStandardOutput = true, //needed to redirect the output
UseShellExecute = false
};
var process = new Process()
{
StartInfo = processStartInfo
};
if (process.Start())
{
while (!process.StandardOutput.EndOfStream)
{
var outputLine = process.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
if(outputLine != null)
Debug.WriteLine(outputLine);
}
}
Not that there is also the possibility to use events for that using
process.OutputDataReceived += process_OutputDataReceived; but this event is only raised when a full line is printed to stdout. If the application is writing to a buffer and not calling Console.Out.Flush(); explicitly. The Ping example won´t work using the event method, so i choosed the synchronous read.
If you wan´t to know more about the event driven way, take a look here MSDN

Javascript: Suppress "Stop running this script?", or how to use setTimeout?

I'm building a js library that reads binary files, including zip files.
Because there's no direct native support for arrays of binary data, when the zip files get large, there's a lot of copying that has to go on (See my other question for details).
This results in a "Stop Running this script?" alert. Now, I know this can happen if there's an infinite loop, but in my case, it's not an infinite loop. It's not a bug in the program. It just takes a loooooong time.
How can I suppress this?

This message is for security reason enabled, because otherwise you could simply block the users browser with a simple never ending loop. I think there no way to deactivate it.
Think about splitting you processing into serval parts, and schedule them via setTimeout, this should surpress the message, because the script is now not running all the time.

You could divide the process into increments, then use setTimeout to add a small delay.

In IE (and maybe Firefox too), the message is based on the number of statements executed, not the running time. If you can split some of the processing into a separate function, and defer it with setTimeout, I believe that it won't count toward the limit.

...answering my own question, so I could post the code I used.
The main issue was, I was reading the entire contents of a file, with a readToEnd() method, which actually reads one byte at a time. When reading a large file, it took a looooong time. The solution was to read asynchronously, and in batches.
This is the code I used:
readToEndAsync : function(callback) {
_state = "";
var slarge = "";
var s = "";
var txtrdr = this;
var readBatchAsync = function() {
var c = 0;
var ch = txtrdr.readChar();
while(ch != null)
{
s += ch;c++;
if(c > 1024)
{
slarge += s;
s = "";
break;
}
ch = txtrdr.readChar();
}
if (ch!=null){
setTimeout(readBatchAsync, 2);
}
else {
callback(slarge+s);
}
};
// kickoff
readBatchAsync();
return null;
},
And to call it:
textReader.readToEndAsync(function(out){
say("The callback is complete");
// the content is in "out"
});

I believe this feature is specific to Firefox and/or other browsers, and it has nothing to do with the javascript language itself.
As far as I know you (the programmer) have no way of stopping it in your visitors' browser.