casper.rst

The casper module

.. index:: Casper

The Casper class

The easiest way to get a casper instance is to use the module's create() method:

var casper = require('casper').create();

But you can also retrieve the main Function and instantiate it by yourself:

var casper = new require('casper').Casper();

Hint

Also, check out :doc:`how to extend Casper with your own methods <../extending>`.

Both the Casper constructor and the create() function accept a single options argument which is a standard javascript object:

var casper = require('casper').create({
    verbose: true,
    logLevel: "debug"
});

.. index:: Casper options, options

Casper.options

An options object can be passed to the Casper constructor, eg.:

var casper = require('casper').create({
    clientScripts:  [
        'includes/jquery.js',      // These two scripts will be injected in remote
        'includes/underscore.js'   // DOM on every request
    ],
    pageSettings: {
        loadImages:  false,        // The WebPage instance used by Casper will
        loadPlugins: false         // use these settings
    },
    logLevel: "info",              // Only "info" level messages will be logged
    verbose: true                  // log messages will be printed out to the console
});

You can also alter options at runtime:

var casper = require('casper').create();
casper.options.waitTimeout = 1000;

The whole list of available options is detailed below.

.. index:: Client scripts

clientScripts

Type: Array

Default: []

A collection of script filepaths to include in every page loaded.

.. index:: exit, error

exitOnError

Type: Boolean

Default: true

Sets if CasperJS must exit when an uncaught error has been thrown by the script.

.. index:: HTTP

httpStatusHandlers

Type: Object

Default: {}

A javascript Object containing functions to call when a requested resource has a given HTTP status code. A dedicated sample is provided as an example.

.. index:: Logging

logLevel

Type: String

Default: "error"

Logging level (see the logging section for more information)

onAlert

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onAlert(Object Casper, String message)

A function to be called when a javascript alert() is triggered

onDie

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onDie(Object Casper, String message, String status)

A function to be called when Casper#die() is called

.. index:: error, Error handling

onError

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onError(Object Casper, String msg, Array backtrace)

A function to be called when an "error" level event occurs

.. index:: error, Error handling

onLoadError

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onLoadError(Object Casper, String casper.requestUrl, String status)

A function to be called when a requested resource cannot be loaded

onPageInitialized

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onPageInitialized(Object page)

A function to be called after WebPage instance has been initialized

.. index:: HTTP

onResourceReceived

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onResourceReceived(Object Casper, Object resource)

Proxy method for PhantomJS' WebPage#onResourceReceived() callback, but the current Casper instance is passed as first argument.

.. index:: HTTP

onResourceRequested

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onResourceRequested(Object Casper, Object resource)

Proxy method for PhantomJS' WebPage#onResourceRequested() callback, but the current Casper instance is passed as first argument.

.. index:: Step stack

onStepComplete

Type: Function

Default: null

Signature: onStepComplete(Object Casper, stepResult)

A function to be executed when a step function execution is finished.

.. index:: Step stack, Error handling, timeout

onStepTimeout

Type: Function

Default: Function

Signature: onStepTimeout(Integer timeout, Integer stepNum)

A function to be executed when a step function execution time exceeds the value of the stepTimeout option, if any has been set.

By default, on timeout the script will exit displaying an error, except in test environment where it will just add a failure to the suite results.

.. index:: Error handling, timeout

onTimeout

Type: Function

Default: Function

Signature: onTimeout(Integer timeout)

A function to be executed when script execution time exceeds the value of the timeout option, if any has been set.

By default, on timeout the script will exit displaying an error, except in test environment where it will just add a failure to the suite results.

.. index:: Error handling, timeout

onWaitTimeout

Type: Function

Default: Function

Signature: onWaitTimeout(Integer timeout)

A function to be executed when a waitFor* function execution time exceeds the value of the waitTimeout option, if any has been set.

By default, on timeout the script will exit displaying an error, except in test environment where it will just add a failure to the suite results.

page

Type: WebPage

Default: null

An existing PhantomJS WebPage instance

Warning

Overriding the page properties can cause some of the casper features may not work. For example, overriding the onUrlChanged property will cause the waitForUrl feature not work.

.. index:: settings, PhantomJS, SSL, auth, XSS

pageSettings

Type: Object

Default: {}

PhantomJS's WebPage settings object. Available settings are:

• javascriptEnabled defines whether to execute the script in the page or not (default to true)
• loadImages defines whether to load the inlined images or not
• localToRemoteUrlAccessEnabled defines whether local resource (e.g. from file) can access remote URLs or not (default to false)
• userAgent defines the user agent sent to server when the web page requests resources
• userName sets the user name used for HTTP authentication
• password sets the password used for HTTP authentication
• resourceTimeout (in milli-secs) defines the timeout after which any resource requested will stop trying and proceed with other parts of the page. onResourceTimeout callback will be called on timeout. undefined (default value) means default gecko parameters.

PhantomJS specific settings :

• XSSAuditingEnabled defines whether load requests should be monitored for cross-site scripting attempts (default to false)
• webSecurityEnabled defines whether web security should be enabled or not (defaults to true)

SlimerJS specific settings :

• allowMedia false to deactivate the loading of media (audio / video). Default: true. (SlimerJS only)
• maxAuthAttempts indicate the maximum of attempts of HTTP authentication. (SlimerJS 0.9)
• plainTextAllContent true to indicate that webpage.plainText returns everything, even content of script elements, invisible elements etc.. Default: false.

.. index:: Remote scripts

remoteScripts

Type: Array

Default: []

.. versionadded:: 1.0

A collection of remote script urls to include in every page loaded

.. index:: Logging

safeLogs

Type: Boolean

Default: true

.. versionadded:: 1.0

When this option is set to true — which is the default, any password information entered in <input type="password"> will be obfuscated in log messages. Set safeLogs to false to disclose passwords in plain text (not recommended).

.. index:: Step stack, timeout

silentErrors

Type: Boolean

Default: false

When this option is enabled, caught step errors are not thrown (though related events are still emitted). Mostly used internally in a testing context.

.. index:: timeout

stepTimeout

Type: Number

Default: null

Max step timeout in milliseconds; when set, every defined step function will have to execute before this timeout value has been reached. You can define the onStepTimeout() callback to catch such a case. By default, the script will die() with an error message.

.. index:: timeout

timeout

Type: Number

Default: null

Max timeout in milliseconds

.. index:: verbose

verbose

Type: Boolean

Default: false

Realtime output of log messages

.. index:: viewport

viewportSize

Type: Object

Default: null

Viewport size, eg. {width: 800, height: 600}

Note

PhantomJS ships with a default viewport of 400x300, and CasperJS won't override it by default.

.. index:: timeout

retryTimeout

Type: Number

Default: 100

Default delay between attempts, for wait* family functions.

waitTimeout

Type: Number

Default: 5000

Default wait timeout, for wait* family functions.

Casper prototype

back()

Signature: back()

Moves back a step in browser's history:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/1')
casper.thenOpen('http://foo.bar/2');
casper.thenOpen('http://foo.bar/3');
casper.back();
casper.run(function() {
    console.log(this.getCurrentUrl()); // 'http://foo.bar/2'
});

Also have a look at forward().

.. index:: Base64

base64encode()

Signature: base64encode(String url [, String method, Object data])

Encodes a resource using the base64 algorithm synchronously using client-side XMLHttpRequest.

Note

We cannot use window.btoa() because it fails miserably in the version of WebKit shipping with PhantomJS.

Example: retrieving google logo image encoded in base64:

var base64logo = null;
casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    base64logo = this.base64encode('http://www.google.fr/images/srpr/logo3w.png');
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.echo(base64logo).exit();
});

You can also perform an HTTP POST request to retrieve the contents to encode:

var base64contents = null;
casper.start('http://domain.tld/download.html', function() {
    base64contents = this.base64encode('http://domain.tld/', 'POST', {
        param1: 'foo',
        param2: 'bar'
    });
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.echo(base64contents).exit();
});

.. index:: bypass, Step stack

bypass()

Signature: bypass(Numbr nb)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Bypasses a given number of defined navigation steps:

casper.start();
casper.then(function() {
    // This step will be executed
});
casper.then(function() {
    this.bypass(2);
});
casper.then(function() {
    // This test won't be executed
});
casper.then(function() {
    // Nor this one
});
casper.run();

.. index:: click

click()

Signature: click(String selector, [Number|String X, Number|String Y])

Performs a click on the element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>`. The method tries two strategies sequentially:

1. trying to trigger a MouseEvent in Javascript
2. using native QtWebKit event if the previous attempt failed

Example:

casper.start('http://google.fr/');

casper.thenEvaluate(function(term) {
    document.querySelector('input[name="q"]').setAttribute('value', term);
    document.querySelector('form[name="f"]').submit();
}, 'CasperJS');

casper.then(function() {
    // Click on 1st result link
    this.click('h3.r a');
});

casper.then(function() {
    // Click on 1st result link
    this.click('h3.r a',10,10);
});

casper.then(function() {
    // Click on 1st result link
    this.click('h3.r a',"50%","50%");
});


casper.then(function() {
    console.log('clicked ok, new location is ' + this.getCurrentUrl());
});

casper.run();

.. index:: click

clickLabel()

Signature: clickLabel(String label[, String tag])

.. versionadded:: 0.6.1

Clicks on the first DOM element found containing label text. Optionaly ensures that the element node name is tag:

// <a href="...">My link is beautiful</a>
casper.then(function() {
    this.clickLabel('My link is beautiful', 'a');
});

// <button type="submit">But my button is sexier</button>
casper.then(function() {
    this.clickLabel('But my button is sexier', 'button');
});

.. index:: screenshot

capture()

Signature: capture(String targetFilepath, [Object clipRect, Object imgOptions])

Proxy method for PhantomJS' WebPage#render. Adds a clipRect parameter for automatically setting page clipRect setting and reverts it back once done:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.capture('google.png', {
        top: 100,
        left: 100,
        width: 500,
        height: 400
    });
});

casper.run();

.. versionadded:: 1.1

The imgOptions object allows to specify two options:

• format to set the image format manually, avoiding relying on the filename
• quality to set the image quality, from 1 to 100

Example:

casper.start('http://foo', function() {
    this.capture('foo', undefined, {
        format: 'jpg',
        quality: 75
    });
});

.. index:: screenshot, Base64

captureBase64()

Signature: captureBase64(String format[, Mixed area])

.. versionadded:: 0.6.5

Computes the Base64 representation of a binary image capture of the current page, or an area within the page, in a given format.

Supported image formats are bmp, jpg, jpeg, png, ppm, tiff, xbm and xpm.

The area argument can be either of the following types:

• String: area is a CSS3 selector string, eg. div#plop form[name="form"] input[type="submit"]
• clipRect: area is a clipRect object, eg. {"top":0,"left":0,"width":320,"height":200}
• Object: area is a :doc:`selector object <../selectors>`, eg. an XPath selector

Example:

casper.start('http://google.com', function() {
    // selector capture
    console.log(this.captureBase64('png', '#lga'));
    // clipRect capture
    console.log(this.captureBase64('png', {
        top: 0,
        left: 0,
        width: 320,
        height: 200
    }));
    // whole page capture
    console.log(this.captureBase64('png'));
});

casper.run();

.. index:: screenshot

captureSelector()

Signature: captureSelector(String targetFile, String selector [, Object imgOptions])

Captures the page area containing the provided selector and saves it to targetFile:

casper.start('http://www.weather.com/', function() {
    this.captureSelector('weather.png', '#LookingAhead');
});

casper.run();

.. versionadded:: 1.1

The imgOptions object allows to specify two options:

• format to set the image format manually, avoiding relying on the target filename
• quality to set the image quality, from 1 to 100

clear()

Signature: clear()

.. versionadded:: 0.6.5

Clears the current page execution environment context. Useful to avoid having previously loaded DOM contents being still active.

Think of it as a way to stop javascript execution within the remote DOM environment:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.clear(); // javascript execution in this page has been stopped
});

casper.then(function() {
    // ...
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Memory

clearCache()

Signature: clearCache()

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Replace current page by a new page object, with newPage() and clear the memory cache, with clearMemoryCache(). Example:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.clearCache(); // cleared the memory cache and replaced page object with newPage().
});

casper.then(function() {
    // ...
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Memory

clearMemoryCache()

Signature: clearMemoryCache()

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Use the engine page.clearMemoryCache() to clear the memory cache. Example:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.clearMemoryCache(); // cleared the memory cache.
});

casper.then(function() {
    // ...
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Debugging

debugHTML()

Signature: debugHTML([String selector, Boolean outer])

Outputs the results of getHTML() directly to the console. It takes the same arguments as getHTML().

.. index:: Debugging

debugPage()

Signature: debugPage()

Logs the textual contents of the current page directly to the standard output, for debugging purpose:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.debugPage();
});

casper.run();

die()

Signature: die(String message[, int status])

Exits phantom with a logged error message and an optional exit status code:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.die("Fail.", 1);
});

casper.run();

.. index:: download

download()

Signature: download(String url, String target[, String method, Object data])

Saves a remote resource onto the filesystem. You can optionally set the HTTP method using the method argument, and pass request arguments through the data object (see base64encode()):

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    var url = 'http://www.google.fr/intl/fr/about/corporate/company/';
    this.download(url, 'google_company.html');
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.echo('Done.').exit();
});

Note

If you have some troubles downloading files, try to :ref:`disable web security <faq_web_security>`. Also, this is meant more for retrieving static resources. If you want to get the JavaScript-rendered HTML DOM use getHTML() instead.

each()

Signature: each(Array array, Function fn)

Iterates over provided array items and execute a callback:

var links = [
    'http://google.com/',
    'http://yahoo.com/',
    'http://bing.com/'
];

casper.start().each(links, function(self, link) {
    self.thenOpen(link, function() {
        this.echo(this.getTitle());
    });
});

casper.run();

Hint

Have a look at the googlematch.js sample script for a concrete use case.

eachThen()

Signature: eachThen(Array array, Function then)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Iterates over provided array items and adds a step to the stack with current data attached to it:

casper.start().eachThen([1, 2, 3], function(response) {
    this.echo(response.data);
}).run();

Here's an example for opening an array of urls:

var casper = require('casper').create();
var urls = ['http://google.com/', 'http://yahoo.com/'];

casper.start().eachThen(urls, function(response) {
  this.thenOpen(response.data, function(response) {
    console.log('Opened', response.url);
  });
});

casper.run();

Note

Current item will be stored in the response.data property.

.. index:: echo, Printing

echo()

Signature: echo(String message[, String style])

Prints something to stdout, optionally with some fancy color (see the :ref:`colorizer module <colorizer_module>` for more information):

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo('Page title is: ' + this.evaluate(function() {
        return document.title;
    }), 'INFO'); // Will be printed in green on the console
});

casper.run();

.. index:: evaluate, DOM

evaluate()

Signature: evaluate(Function fn[, arg1[, arg2[, …]]])

Basically PhantomJS' WebPage#evaluate equivalent. Evaluates an expression in the current page DOM context:

casper.evaluate(function(username, password) {
    document.querySelector('#username').value = username;
    document.querySelector('#password').value = password;
    document.querySelector('#submit').click();
}, 'sheldon.cooper', 'b4z1ng4');

Note

For filling and submitting forms, rather use the fill() method.

Warning

The pre-1.0 way of passing arguments using an object has been kept for BC purpose, though it may not work in some case; so you're encouraged to use the method described above.

Understanding evaluate()

The concept behind this method is probably the most difficult to understand when discovering CasperJS. As a reminder, think of the evaluate() method as a gate between the CasperJS environment and the one of the page you have opened; everytime you pass a closure to evaluate(), you're entering the page and execute code as if you were using the browser console.

Here's a quickly drafted diagram trying to basically explain the separation of concerns:

evaluateOrDie()

Signature: evaluateOrDie(Function fn[, String message, int status])

Evaluates an expression within the current page DOM and die() if it returns anything but true:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    this.evaluateOrDie(function() {
        return /logged in/.match(document.title);
    }, 'not authenticated');
});

casper.run();

.. index:: exit

exit()

Signature: exit([int status])

Exits PhantomJS with an optional exit status code.

Note: You can not rely on the fact that your script will be turned off immediately, because this method works asynchronously. It means that your script may continue to be executed after the call of this method. More info here.

.. index:: DOM

exists()

Signature: exists(String selector)

Checks if any element within remote DOM matches the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    if (this.exists('#my_super_id')) {
        this.echo('found #my_super_id', 'INFO');
    } else {
        this.echo('#my_super_id not found', 'ERROR');
    }
});

casper.run();

fetchText()

Signature: fetchText(String selector)

Retrieves text contents matching a given :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>`. If you provide one matching more than one element, their textual contents will be concatenated:

casper.start('http://google.com/search?q=foo', function() {
    this.echo(this.fetchText('h3'));
}).run();

forward()

Signature: forward()

Moves a step forward in browser's history:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/1')
casper.thenOpen('http://foo.bar/2');
casper.thenOpen('http://foo.bar/3');
casper.back();    // http://foo.bar/2
casper.back();    // http://foo.bar/1
casper.forward(); // http://foo.bar/2
casper.run();

Also have a look at back().

.. index:: Logging

log()

Signature: log(String message[, String level, String space])

Logs a message with an optional level in an optional space. Available levels are debug, info, warning and error. A space is a kind of namespace you can set for filtering your logs. By default, Casper logs messages in two distinct spaces: phantom and remote, to distinguish what happens in the PhantomJS environment from the remote one:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.log("I'm logging an error", "error");
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Form

fill()

Signature: fill(String selector, Object values[, Boolean submit])

Fills the fields of a form with given values and optionally submits it. Fields are referenced by their name attribute.

.. versionchanged:: 1.1 To use :doc:`CSS3 or XPath selectors <../selectors>` instead, check the `fillSelectors()`_ and `fillXPath()`_ methods.

Example with this sample html form:

<form action="/contact" id="contact-form" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="text" name="subject"/>
    <textearea name="content"></textearea>
    <input type="radio" name="civility" value="Mr"/> Mr
    <input type="radio" name="civility" value="Mrs"/> Mrs
    <input type="text" name="name"/>
    <input type="email" name="email"/>
    <input type="file" name="attachment"/>
    <input type="checkbox" name="cc"/> Receive a copy
    <input type="submit"/>
</form>

A script to fill and submit this form:

casper.start('http://some.tld/contact.form', function() {
    this.fill('form#contact-form', {
        'subject':    'I am watching you',
        'content':    'So be careful.',
        'civility':   'Mr',
        'name':       'Chuck Norris',
        'email':      'chuck@norris.com',
        'cc':         true,
        'attachment': '/Users/chuck/roundhousekick.doc'
    }, true);
});

casper.then(function() {
    this.evaluateOrDie(function() {
        return /message sent/.test(document.body.innerText);
    }, 'sending message failed');
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.echo('message sent').exit();
});

The fill() method supports single selects in the same way as text input. For multiple selects, supply an array of values to match against:

<form action="/contact" id="contact-form" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <select multiple name="category">
    <option value=​"0">Friends​</option>​
    <option value=​"1">​Family​</option>​
    <option value=​"2">​Acquitances​</option>​
    <option value=​"3">​Colleagues</option>​
    </select>
</form>

A script to select multiple options for category in this form:

casper.then(function() {
   this.fill('form#contact-form', {
       'categories': ['0', '1'] // Friends and Family
   });
});

Warning

1. The fill() method currently can't fill file fields using XPath selectors; PhantomJS natively only allows the use of CSS3 selectors in its uploadFile() method, hence this limitation.
2. Please Don't use CasperJS nor PhantomJS to send spam, or I'll be calling the Chuck. More seriously, please just don't.

fillSelectors()

Signature: fillSelectors(String selector, Object values[, Boolean submit])

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Fills form fields with given values and optionally submits it. Fields are referenced by CSS3 selectors:

casper.start('http://some.tld/contact.form', function() {
    this.fillSelectors('form#contact-form', {
        'input[name="subject"]':    'I am watching you',
        'input[name="content"]':    'So be careful.',
        'input[name="civility"]':   'Mr',
        'input[name="name"]':       'Chuck Norris',
        'input[name="email"]':      'chuck@norris.com',
        'input[name="cc"]':         true,
        'input[name="attachment"]': '/Users/chuck/roundhousekick.doc'
    }, true);
});

fillLabels()

Signature: fillLabels(String selector, Object values[, Boolean submit])

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Fills a form with provided field values using associated label text Fields are referenced by label content values:

casper.start('http://some.tld/contact.form', function() {
    this.fillLabels('form#contact-form', {
        Email:         'chuck@norris.com',
        Password:      'chuck',
        Content:       'Am watching thou',
        Check:         true,
        No:            true,
        Topic:         'bar',
        Multitopic:    ['bar', 'car'],
        File:          fpath,
        "1":           true,
        "3":           true,
        Strange:       "very"
    }, true);
});

fillXPath()

Signature: fillXPath(String selector, Object values[, Boolean submit])

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Fills form fields with given values and optionally submits it. While the form element is always referenced by a CSS3 selector, fields are referenced by XPath selectors:

casper.start('http://some.tld/contact.form', function() {
    this.fillXPath('form#contact-form', {
        '//input[@name="subject"]':    'I am watching you',
        '//input[@name="content"]':    'So be careful.',
        '//input[@name="civility"]':   'Mr',
        '//input[@name="name"]':       'Chuck Norris',
        '//input[@name="email"]':      'chuck@norris.com',
        '//input[@name="cc"]':         true,
    }, true);
});

Warning

The fillXPath() method currently can't fill file fields using XPath selectors; PhantomJS natively only allows the use of CSS3 selectors in its uploadFile() method, hence this limitation.

.. index:: URL

getCurrentUrl()

Signature: getCurrentUrl()

Retrieves current page URL. Note that the url will be url-decoded:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getCurrentUrl()); // "http://www.google.fr/"
});

casper.run();

.. index:: DOM

getElementAttribute()

Signature: getElementAttribute(String selector, String attribute)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves the value of an attribute on the first element matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    require('utils').dump(this.getElementAttribute('div[title="Google"]', 'title')); // "Google"
});

casper.run();

.. index:: DOM

getElementsAttribute()

Signature: getElementsAttribute(String selector, String attribute)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Retrieves the values of an attribute on each element matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    require('utils').dump(this.getElementsAttribute('div[title="Google"]', 'title')); // "['Google']"
});

casper.run();

.. index:: DOM

getElementBounds()

Signature: getElementBounds(String selector, Boolean page)

Retrieves boundaries for a DOM element matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`. If you have frames or/and iframes, set 'true' to the page parameter.

It returns an Object with four keys: top, left, width and height, or null if the selector doesn't exist:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    require('utils').dump(this.getElementBounds('div[title="Google"]'));
});

casper.run();

This will output something like:

{
    "height": 95,
    "left": 352,
    "top": 16,
    "width": 275
}

.. index:: DOM

getElementsBounds()

Signature: getElementsBounds(String selector)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves a list of boundaries for all DOM elements matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`.

It returns an array of objects with four keys: top, left, width and height (see getElementBounds()).

.. index:: DOM

getElementInfo()

Signature: getElementInfo(String selector)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves information about the first element matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

casper.start('http://google.fr/', function() {
    require('utils').dump(this.getElementInfo('#hplogo'));
});

Gives something like:

{
    "attributes": {
        "align": "left",
        "dir": "ltr",
        "id": "hplogo",
        "onload": "window.lol&&lol()",
        "style": "height:110px;width:276px;background:url(/images/srpr/logo1w.png) no-repeat",
        "title": "Google"
    },
    "height": 110,
    "html": "<div nowrap=\"nowrap\" style=\"color:#777;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;position:relative;left:214px;top:70px\">France</div>",
    "nodeName": "div",
    "tag": "<div dir=\"ltr\" title=\"Google\" align=\"left\" id=\"hplogo\" onload=\"window.lol&amp;&amp;lol()\" style=\"height:110px;width:276px;background:url(/images/srpr/logo1w.png) no-repeat\"><div nowrap=\"nowrap\" style=\"color:#777;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;position:relative;left:214px;top:70px\">France</div></div>",
    "text": "France\n",
    "visible": true,
    "width": 276,
    "x": 62,
    "y": 76
}

Note

This method does not return a DOM element, only a simple object representation of it; this is because the casper environment has no direct access to the scraped page one.

.. index:: DOM

getElementsInfo()

Signature: getElementsInfo(String selector)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Retrieves information about all elements matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

casper.start('http://google.fr/', function() {
    require('utils').dump(this.getElementsInfo('#hplogo'));
});

Gives something like:

[
    {
        "attributes": {
            "align": "left",
            "dir": "ltr",
            "id": "hplogo",
            "onload": "window.lol&&lol()",
            "style": "height:110px;width:276px;background:url(/images/srpr/logo1w.png) no-repeat",
            "title": "Google"
        },
        "height": 110,
        "html": "<div nowrap=\"nowrap\" style=\"color:#777;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;position:relative;left:214px;top:70px\">France</div>",
        "nodeName": "div",
        "tag": "<div dir=\"ltr\" title=\"Google\" align=\"left\" id=\"hplogo\" onload=\"window.lol&amp;&amp;lol()\" style=\"height:110px;width:276px;background:url(/images/srpr/logo1w.png) no-repeat\"><div nowrap=\"nowrap\" style=\"color:#777;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;position:relative;left:214px;top:70px\">France</div></div>",
        "text": "France\n",
        "visible": true,
        "width": 276,
        "x": 62,
        "y": 76
    }
]

Note

This method does not return a NodeList, only a simple array of object representations of matching elements; this is because the casper environment has no direct access to the scraped page one.

.. index:: Form

getFormValues()

Signature: getFormValues(String selector)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves a given form all of its field values:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.fill('form', {q: 'plop'}, false);
    this.echo(this.getFormValues('form').q); // 'plop'
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Globals, window

getGlobal()

Signature: getGlobal(String name)

Retrieves a global variable value within the remote DOM environment by its name. Basically, getGlobal('foo') will retrieve the value of window.foo from the page:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getGlobal('innerWidth')); // 1024
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Debugging

getHTML()

Signature: getHTML([String selector, Boolean outer])

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves HTML code from the current page. By default, it outputs the whole page HTML contents:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getHTML());
});

casper.run();

The getHTML() method can also dump HTML contents matching a given :doc:`selector <../selectors>`; for example with this HTML code:

<html>
    <body>
        <h1 id="foobar">Plop</h1>
    </body>
</html>

You can fetch those contents using:

casper.start('http://www.site.tld/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getHTML('h1#foobar')); // => 'Plop'
});

The outer argument allows to retrieve the outer HTML contents of the matching element:

casper.start('http://www.site.tld/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getHTML('h1#foobar', true)); // => '<h1 id="foobar">Plop</h1>'
});

getPageContent()

Signature: getPageContent()

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Retrieves current page contents, dealing with exotic other content types than HTML:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start().then(function() {
    this.open('http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=casperjs', {
        method: 'get',
        headers: {
            'Accept': 'application/json'
        }
    });
});

casper.run(function() {
    require('utils').dump(JSON.parse(this.getPageContent()));
    this.exit();
});

.. index:: DOM

getTitle()

Signature: getTitle()

Retrieves current page title:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this.getTitle()); // "Google"
});

casper.run();

.. index:: events

mouseEvent()

Signature: mouseEvent(String type, String selector, [Number|String X, Number|String Y])

.. versionadded:: 0.6.9

.. versionupdate:: 1.1.0-beta6

Triggers a mouse event on the first element found matching the provided selector.

Supported events are mouseup, mousedown, click, dblclick, mousemove, mouseover, mouseout and for phantomjs >= 1.9.8 mouseenter, mouseleave and contextmenu.

Warning

The list of supported events depends on the version of the engine in use. Older engines only provide partial support. For best support use recent builds of PhantomJS or SlimerJS.":

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function() {
    this.mouseEvent('click', 'h2 a', "20%", "50%");
});

casper.run();

newPage()

Signature: newPage()

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Only available since version 1.1.0.

Creates a new WebPage instance:

casper.start('http://google.com', function() {
    // ...
});

casper.then(function() {
    casper.page = casper.newPage();
    casper.open('http://yahoo.com').then( function() {
        // ....
    });
});

casper.run();

.. index:: HTTP, HTTP Request, HTTP Method, HTTP Headers

open()

Signature: open(String location, Object Settings)

Performs an HTTP request for opening a given location. You can forge GET, POST, PUT, DELETE and HEAD requests.

Example for a standard GET request:

casper.start();

casper.open('http://www.google.com/').then(function() {
    this.echo('GOT it.');
});

casper.run();

Example for a POST request:

casper.start();

casper.open('http://some.testserver.com/post.php', {
    method: 'post',
    data:   {
        'title': 'Plop',
        'body':  'Wow.'
    }
});

casper.then(function() {
    this.echo('POSTED it.');
});

casper.run();

To pass nested parameters arrays:

casper.open('http://some.testserver.com/post.php', {
       method: 'post',
       data: {
            'standard_param': 'foo',
            'nested_param[]': [       // please note the use of square brackets!
                'Something',
                'Something else'
            ]
       }
});

.. versionadded:: 1.0

To POST some data with utf-8 encoding:

casper.open('http://some.testserver.com/post.php', {
       method: 'post',
       headers: {
           'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'
       },
       encoding: 'utf8', // not enforced by default
       data: {
            'table_flip': '(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ ',
       }
});

.. versionadded:: 1.1

You can also set custom request headers to send when performing an outgoing request, passing the headers option:

casper.open('http://some.testserver.com/post.php', {
    method: 'post',
    data:   {
        'title': 'Plop',
        'body':  'Wow.'
    },
    headers: {
        'Accept-Language': 'fr,fr-fr;q=0.8,en-us;q=0.5,en;q=0.3'
    }
});

reload()

Signature: reload([Function then])

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Reloads current page location:

casper.start('http://google.com', function() {
    this.echo("loaded");
    this.reload(function() {
        this.echo("loaded again");
    });
});

casper.run();

repeat()

Signature: repeat(int times, Function then)

Repeats a navigation step a given number of times:

casper.start().repeat(3, function() {
    this.echo("Badger");
});

casper.run();

.. index:: HTTP

resourceExists()

Signature: resourceExists(String|Function|RegExp test)

Checks if a resource has been loaded. You can pass either a function, a string or a RegExp instance to perform the test:

casper.start('http://www.google.com/', function() {
    if (this.resourceExists('logo3w.png')) {
        this.echo('Google logo loaded');
    } else {
        this.echo('Google logo not loaded', 'ERROR');
    }
});

casper.run();

Note

If you want to wait for a resource to be loaded, use the waitForResource() method.

.. index:: Step stack, run

run()

Signature: run(fn onComplete[, int time])

Runs the whole suite of steps and optionally executes a callback when they've all been done. Obviously, calling this method is mandatory in order to run the Casper navigation suite.

Casper suite won't run:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    // ...
});

// hey, it's missing .run() here!

Casper suite will run:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    // ...
});

casper.run();

Casper.run() also accepts an onComplete callback, which you can consider as a custom final step to perform when all the other steps have been executed. Just don't forget to exit() Casper if you define one!:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    // ...
});

casper.then(function() {
    // ...
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.echo('So the whole suite ended.');
    this.exit(); // <--- don't forget me!
});

Binding a callback to complete.error will trigger when the onComplete callback fails.

.. index:: Scroll

scrollTo()

Signature: scrollTo(Number x, Number y)

.. versionadded:: 1.1-beta3

Scrolls current document to the coordinates defined by the value of x and y:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    this.scrollTo(500, 300);
});

Note

This operation is synchronous.

.. index:: Scroll

scrollToBottom()

Signature: scrollToBottom()

.. versionadded:: 1.1-beta3

Scrolls current document to its bottom:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/home', function() {
    this.scrollToBottom();
});

Note

This operation is synchronous.

.. index:: Form

sendKeys()

Signature: sendKeys(Selector selector, String keys[, Object options])

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Sends native keyboard events to the element matching the provided :doc:`selector <../selectors>`:

casper.then(function() {
    this.sendKeys('form.contact input#name', 'Duke');
    this.sendKeys('form.contact textarea#message', "Damn, I'm looking good.");
    this.click('form.contact input[type="submit"]');
});

.. versionadded:: 1.1

The currently supported HTMLElements that can receive keyboard events from sendKeys are <input>, <textarea>, and any HTMLElement with attribute contenteditable="true".

Options

• (Boolean) reset:

  .. versionadded:: 1.1-beta3
  
  

  When set to true, this option will first empty the current field value. By default, it's set to false and sendKeys() will just append string to the current field value.

• (Boolean) keepFocus:

  sendKeys() by default will remove the focus on text input fields, which will typically close autocomplete widgets. If you want to maintain focus, use the keepFocus option. For example, if using jQuery-UI, you can click on the first autocomplete suggestion using:

  casper.then(function() {
      this.sendKeys('form.contact input#name', 'action', {keepFocus: true});
      this.click('form.contact ul.ui-autocomplete li.ui-menu-item:first-  child a');
  });
  

• (String) modifiers:

  sendKeys() accepts a modifiers option to support key modifiers. The options is a string representing the composition of modifiers to use, separated by the + character:

  casper.then(function() {
      this.sendKeys('document', 's', {modifiers: 'ctrl+alt+shift'});
  });
  

  Available modifiers are:

  • ctrl
  • alt
  • shift
  • meta
  • keypad

.. index:: auth

setHttpAuth()

Signature: setHttpAuth(String username, String password)

Sets HTTP_AUTH_USER and HTTP_AUTH_PW values for HTTP based authentication systems:

casper.start();

casper.setHttpAuth('sheldon.cooper', 'b4z1ng4');

casper.thenOpen('http://password-protected.domain.tld/', function() {
    this.echo("I'm in. Bazinga.");
})
casper.run();

Of course you can directly pass the auth string in the url to open:

var url = 'http://sheldon.cooper:b4z1ng4@password-protected.domain.tld/';

casper.start(url, function() {
    this.echo("I'm in. Bazinga.");
})

casper.run();

.. index:: EventEmitter

setMaxListeners()

Signature: setMaxListeners(Integer maxListeners)

Sets the maximum number of listeners that can be added for each type of listener:

casper.setMaxListeners(12);

Note

Incorrect registering of listeners in your casper scripts can result in a warning message indicating that a possible EventEmitter leak has been detected. Ensure you are adding listeners in the required way.

If you need a listener that will be processed by all of your scripts then ensure it is only registered once. If you need to add a listener per test suite, for example, ensure the listener is added during setUp and removed during tearDown. See :ref:`Tester#begin() <tester_begin_configuration>` for setUp and tearDown structure.

Warning

Changing the maximum listeners is not recommended. You should only increase it if you require more than the default amount of listeners in your case. Increasing this limit will increase it for all listener types and could result in possible EventEmitter leaks going undetected. If you must increase this limit, increase it in small increments.

.. index:: start, initialization

start()

Signature: start(String url[, Function then])

Configures and starts Casper, then opens the provided url and optionally adds the step provided by the then argument:

casper.start('http://google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo("I'm loaded.");
});

casper.run();

Alternatively:

casper.start('http://google.fr/');

casper.then(function() {
    this.echo("I'm loaded.");
});

casper.run();

Or alternatively:

casper.start('http://google.fr/');

casper.then(function() {
    casper.echo("I'm loaded.");
});

casper.run();

Matter of taste!

Note

You must call the start() method in order to be able to add navigation steps and run the suite. If you don't you'll get an error message inviting you to do so anyway.

status()

Signature: status(Boolean asString)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Returns the status of current Casper instance:

casper.start('http://google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this.status(true));
});

casper.run();

switchToFrame()

Signature: switchToFrame(String|Number frameInfo)

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Switches the main page to the frame having the name or frame index number matching the passed argument. Inject local scripts, remote scripts and client utils into this frame.

switchToMainFrame()

Signature: switchToMainFrame()

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Switch the main page to the parent frame of the currently active one.

switchToParentFrame()

Signature: switchToParentFrame()

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Switch the main page to the main frame.

.. index:: Step stack, Asynchronicity

then()

Signature: then(Function then)

This method is the standard way to add a new navigation step to the stack, by providing a simple function:

casper.start('http://google.fr/');

casper.then(function() {
    this.echo("I'm in your google.");
});

casper.then(function() {
    this.echo('Now, let me write something');
});

casper.then(function() {
    this.echo('Oh well.');
});

casper.run();

You can add as many steps as you need. Note that the current Casper instance automatically binds the this keyword for you within step functions.

To run all the steps you defined, call the run() method, and voila.

.. index:: HTTP Response

Note

You must start() the casper instance in order to use the then() method.

Accessing the current HTTP response

.. versionadded:: 1.0

You can access the current HTTP response object using the first parameter of your step callback:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function(response) {
    require('utils').dump(response);
});

That gives:

$ casperjs dump-headers.js
{
    "contentType": "text/html; charset=UTF-8",
    "headers": [
        {
            "name": "Date",
            "value": "Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:17:29 GMT"
        },
        {
            "name": "Expires",
            "value": "-1"
        },
        // ... lots of other headers
    ],
    "id": 1,
    "redirectURL": null,
    "stage": "end",
    "status": 200,
    "statusText": "OK",
    "time": "2012-10-18T08:17:37.068Z",
    "url": "http://www.google.fr/"
}

So to fetch a particular header by its name:

casper.start('http://www.google.fr/', function(response) {
    this.echo(response.headers.get('Date'));
});

That gives:

$ casperjs dump-headers.js
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:26:34 GMT

.. index:: DOMReady

Warning

Step functions added to then() are processed in two different cases:

1. when the previous step function has been executed,
2. when the previous main HTTP request has been executed and the page loaded;

Note that there's no single definition of page loaded; is it when the DOMReady event has been triggered? Is it "all requests being finished"? Is it *all application logic being performed"? Or "all elements being rendered"? The answer always depends on the context. Hence why you're encouraged to always use the waitFor() family methods to keep explicit control on what you actually expect.

A common trick is to use waitForSelector():

casper.start('http://my.website.com/');

casper.waitForSelector("#plop", function() {
    this.echo("I'm sure #plop is available in the DOM");
});

casper.run();

.. index:: bypass, Step stack

thenBypass()

Signature: thenBypass(Number nb)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Adds a navigation step which will bypass a given number of following steps:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/');
casper.thenBypass(2);
casper.then(function() {
    // This test won't be executed
});
casper.then(function() {
    // Nor this one
});
casper.then(function() {
    // While this one will
});
casper.run();

thenBypassIf()

Signature: thenBypassIf(Mixed condition, Number nb)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Bypass a given number of navigation steps if the provided condition is truthy or is a function that returns a truthy value:

var universe = {
    answer: 42
};
casper.start('http://foo.bar/');
casper.thenBypassIf(function() {
    return universe && universe.answer === 42;
}, 2);
casper.then(function() {
    // This step won't be executed as universe.answer is 42
});
casper.then(function() {
    // Nor this one
});
casper.then(function() {
    // While this one will
});
casper.run();

thenBypassUnless()

Signature: thenBypassUnless(Mixed condition, Number nb)

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Opposite of thenBypassIf().

thenClick()

Signature: thenClick(String selector[, Function then])

Adds a new navigation step to click a given selector and optionally add a new navigation step in a single operation:

// Click the first link in the casperJS page
casper.start('http://casperjs.org/').thenClick('a', function() {
    this.echo("I clicked on first link found, the page is now loaded.");
});

casper.run();

This method is basically a convenient a shortcut for chaining a then() and an click() calls.

thenEvaluate()

Signature: thenEvaluate(Function fn[, arg1[, arg2[, …]]])

Adds a new navigation step to perform code evaluation within the current retrieved page DOM:

// Querying for "Chuck Norris" on Google
casper.start('http://google.fr/').thenEvaluate(function(term) {
    document.querySelector('input[name="q"]').setAttribute('value', term);
    document.querySelector('form[name="f"]').submit();
}, 'Chuck Norris');

casper.run();

This method is a convenient shortcut for chaining then() and evaluate() calls.

thenOpen()

Signature: thenOpen(String location[, mixed options])

Adds a new navigation step for opening a new location, and optionally add a next step when its loaded:

casper.start('http://google.fr/').then(function() {
    this.echo("I'm in your google.");
});

casper.thenOpen('http://yahoo.fr/', function() {
    this.echo("Now I'm in your yahoo.")
});

casper.run();

.. versionadded:: 1.0

You can also specify request settings by passing a setting object (see open()) as the second argument:

casper.start().thenOpen('http://url.to/some/uri', {
    method: "post",
    data: {
        username: 'chuck',
        password: 'n0rr15'
    }
}, function() {
    this.echo("POST request has been sent.")
});

casper.run();

thenOpenAndEvaluate()

Signature: thenOpenAndEvaluate(String location[, Function then[, arg1[, arg2[, …]]])

Basically a shortcut for opening an url and evaluate code against remote DOM environment:

casper.start('http://google.fr/').then(function() {
    this.echo("I'm in your google.");
});

casper.thenOpenAndEvaluate('http://yahoo.fr/', function() {
    var f = document.querySelector('form');
    f.querySelector('input[name=q]').value = 'chuck norris';
    f.submit();
});

casper.run(function() {
    this.debugPage();
    this.exit();
});

toString()

Signature: toString()

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Returns a string representation of current Casper instance:

casper.start('http://google.fr/', function() {
    this.echo(this); // [object Casper], currently at http://google.fr/
});

casper.run();

unwait()

Signature: unwait()

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Abort all current waiting processes, if any.

.. index:: User Agent

userAgent()

Signature: userAgent(String agent)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Sets the User-Agent string to send through headers when performing requests:

casper.start();

casper.userAgent('Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X)');

casper.thenOpen('http://google.com/', function() {
    this.echo("I'm a Mac.");
    this.userAgent('Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)');
});

casper.thenOpen('http://google.com/', function() {
    this.echo("I'm a PC.");
});

casper.run();

.. index:: viewport

viewport()

Signature: viewport(Number width, Number height[, Function then])

Changes current viewport size:

casper.viewport(1024, 768);

To be sure page reflowing has occured, you have to use it asynchronously:

casper.viewport(1024, 768).then(function() {
    // new view port is now effective
});

.. versionadded:: 1.1

As of 1.1 you can pass a then step function directly to viewport():

casper.viewport(1024, 768, function() {
    // new view port is effective
});

Note

PhantomJS comes with a default viewport size of 400x300, and CasperJS doesn't override it by default.

.. index:: DOM

visible()

Signature: visible(String selector)

Checks if the DOM element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` is visible in remote page:

casper.start('http://google.com/', function() {
    if (this.visible('#hplogo')) {
        this.echo("I can see the logo");
    } else {
        this.echo("I can't see the logo");
    }
});

.. index:: wait, sleep

wait()

Signature: wait(Number timeout[, Function then])

Pause steps suite execution for a given amount of time, and optionally execute a step on done:

casper.start('http://yoursite.tld/', function() {
    this.wait(1000, function() {
        this.echo("I've waited for a second.");
    });
});

casper.run();

You can also write the same thing like this:

casper.start('http://yoursite.tld/');

casper.wait(1000, function() {
    this.echo("I've waited for a second.");
});

casper.run();

.. index:: Asynchronicity

waitFor()

Signature: waitFor(Function testFx[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout, Object details])

Waits until a function returns true to process any next step.

You can also set a callback on timeout using the onTimeout argument, and set the timeout using the timeout one, in milliseconds. The default timeout is set to 5000ms:

casper.start('http://yoursite.tld/');

casper.waitFor(function check() {
    return this.evaluate(function() {
        return document.querySelectorAll('ul.your-list li').length > 2;
    });
}, function then() {
    this.captureSelector('yoursitelist.png', 'ul.your-list');
});

casper.run();

Example using the onTimeout callback:

casper.start('http://yoursite.tld/');

casper.waitFor(function check() {
    return this.evaluate(function() {
        return document.querySelectorAll('ul.your-list li').length > 2;
    });
}, function then() {    // step to execute when check() is ok
    this.captureSelector('yoursitelist.png', 'ul.your-list');
}, function timeout() { // step to execute if check has failed
    this.echo("I can't haz my screenshot.").exit();
});

casper.run();

details is a property bag of various information that will be passed to the waitFor.timeout event, if it is emitted. This can be used for better error messages or to conditionally ignore some timeout events.

Note

All waitFor methods are not chainable. Consider wrapping each of them in a casper.then in order to acheive this functionality.

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

As of 1.1.5 does a last run of check function after timeout if check function is still false.

.. index:: alert

waitForAlert()

Signature: waitForAlert(Function then[, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

.. versionadded:: 1.1-beta4

Waits until a JavaScript alert is triggered. The step function will be passed the alert message in the response.data property:

casper.waitForAlert(function(response) {
    this.echo("Alert received: " + response.data);
});

.. index:: Child Process, Spawn, exec File

waitForExec()

Signature: waitForExec(command, parameters[, Function then, Function onTimeout, timeout])

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Waits until command runs with parameters and exits. The command, parameters, pid, stdout, stderr, elapsedTime and exitCode will be in the response.data property. command must be a string or parameters must be an array. command can be an string of a executable or an string of a executable and its arguments separated by spaces. If command is falsy or is not a string, system shell (environment variable SHELL or ComSpec) is used. The arguments separated by spaces are concatenated with the parameters array to be send to executable. If parameters is falsy or is not an array, an empty array is used. timeout can be a number or an array of two numbers, the first is the timeout of wait* family functions and the second is the timeout between TERM and KILL signals on timeout. If not declared, it assumes the same value of the first element or the default timeout of wait* family functions.:

// merge captured PDFs with default system shell (bash on Linux) calling /usr/bin/gs, and runs a small script to remove files
casper.waitForExec(null, ['-c','{ /usr/bin/gs -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=/my_merged_captures.pdf  /my_captures*.pdf && /bin/rm /my_captures*.pdf; } || { /bin/rm /my_merged_captures.pdf && exit 1; }'],
    function(response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by itself:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
    }, function(timeout, response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by casper:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
});

 // merge captured PDFs with bash calling /usr/bin/gs, and runs a small script to remove files
casper.waitForExec('/bin/bash -c', ['{ /usr/bin/gs -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=/my_merged_captures.pdf  /my_captures*.pdf && /bin/rm /my_captures*.pdf; } || { /bin/rm /my_merged_captures.pdf && exit 1; }'],
    function(response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by itself:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
    }, function(timeout, response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by casper:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
});


// merge captured PDFs calling /usr/bin/gs
casper.waitForExec('/usr/bin/gs',['-dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook','-dBATCH','-dNOPAUSE','-q','-sDEVICE=pdfwrite','-sOutputFile=/my_merged_captures_pdfs.pdf','/my_captures_1.pdf','/my_captures_2.pdf','/my_captures_3.pdf'],
    function(response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by itself:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
    }, function(timeout, response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by casper:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
});

// merge captured PDFs calling /usr/bin/gs
casper.waitForExec('/usr/bin/gs -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=/my_merged_captures_pdfs.pdf /my_captures_1.pdf /my_captures_2.pdf /my_captures_3.pdf', null,
    function(response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by itself:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
    }, function(timeout, response) {
        this.echo("Program finished by casper:" + JSON.stringify(response.data));
});

Note

waitForExec() only kills the called program on timeout. If the called program calls other processes, they won't be killed when waitForExec() times out.

.. index:: Popups, New window, window.open, Tabs

waitForPopup()

Signature: waitForPopup(String|RegExp|Object urlPattern[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Waits for a popup having its url matching the provided pattern to be opened and loaded.

The currently loaded popups are available in the Casper.popups array-like property:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/').then(function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Main page title');
    this.clickLabel('Open me a popup');
});

// this will wait for the popup to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup(/popup\.html$/, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will wait for the first popup to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup(0, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will wait for the popup's named to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup({windowName: "mainPopup"}, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will wait for the popup's title to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup({title: "Popup Title"}, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will wait for the popup's url to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup({url: 'http://foo.bar/'}, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will set the popup DOM as the main active one only for time the
// step closure being executed
casper.withPopup(/popup\.html$/, function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Popup title');
});

// next step will automatically revert the current page to the initial one
casper.then(function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Main page title');
});

.. index:: HTTP, Asynchronicity

waitForResource()

Signature: waitForResource(String|Function|RegExp testFx[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Wait until a resource that matches a resource matching constraints defined by testFx are satisfied to process a next step.

The testFx argument can be either a string, a function or a RegExp instance:

casper.waitForResource("foobar.png", function() {
    this.echo('foobar.png has been loaded.');
});

Using a regexp:

casper.waitForResource(/foo(bar|baz)\.png$/, function() {
    this.echo('foobar.png or foobaz.png has been loaded.');
});

Using a function:

casper.waitForResource(function testResource(resource) {
    return resource.url.indexOf("https") === 0;
}, function onReceived() {
    this.echo('a secure resource has been loaded.');
});

.. index:: URL

waitForUrl()

Signature: waitForUrl(String|RegExp url[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

.. versionadded:: 1.1

Waits for the current page url to match the provided argument (String or RegExp):

casper.start('http://foo/').waitForUrl(/login\.html$/, function() {
    this.echo('redirected to login.html');
});

casper.run();

.. index:: selector

waitForSelector()

Signature: waitForSelector(String selector[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Waits until an element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` exists in remote DOM to process any next step. Uses waitFor():

casper.start('https://twitter.com/#!/n1k0');

casper.waitForSelector('.tweet-row', function() {
    this.captureSelector('twitter.png', 'html');
});

casper.run();

.. index:: selector

waitWhileSelector()

Signature: waitWhileSelector(String selector[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Waits until an element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` does not exist in remote DOM to process a next step. Uses waitFor():

casper.start('http://foo.bar/');

casper.waitWhileSelector('.selector', function() {
    this.echo('.selector is no more!');
});

casper.run();

waitForSelectorTextChange()

Signature: waitForSelectorTextChange(String selectors[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Waits until the text on an element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` is changed to a different value before processing the next step. Uses waitFor():

casper.start('http://foo.bar/');

casper.waitForSelectorTextChange('.selector', function() {
    this.echo('The text on .selector has been changed.');
});

casper.run();

waitForText()

Signature: waitForText(String text[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Waits until the passed text is present in the page contents before processing the immediate next step. Uses waitFor():

casper.start('http://why.univer.se/').waitForText("42", function() {
    this.echo('Found the answer.');
});

casper.run();

waitUntilVisible()

Signature: waitUntilVisible(String selector[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Waits until an element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` is visible in the remote DOM to process a next step. Uses waitFor().

waitWhileVisible()

Signature: waitWhileVisible(String selector[, Function then, Function onTimeout, Number timeout])

Waits until an element matching the provided :doc:`selector expression <../selectors>` is no longer visible in remote DOM to process a next step. Uses waitFor():

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start('https://www.example.com/').thenClick('html body div p a', function () {
    this.waitWhileVisible('body > div:nth-child(1) > p:nth-child(2)', function () {
        this.echo("The selected element existed in previous page but doesn't exist in this page.");
    })
}).run();

warn()

Signature: warn(String message)

Logs and prints a warning message to the standard output:

casper.warn("I'm a warning message.");

Note

Calling warn() will trigger the warn :ref:`event <events_filters>`.

.. index:: Frames, Iframes, Framesets

withFrame()

Signature: withFrame(String|Number frameInfo, Function then)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Switches the main page to the frame having the name or frame index number matching the passed argument, and processes a step.

The page context switch only lasts until the step execution is finished:

casper.start('tests/site/frames.html', function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('FRAMESET TITLE');
});

casper.withFrame('frame1', function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('FRAME TITLE');
});

casper.withFrame(0, function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('FRAME TITLE');
});

casper.then(function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('FRAMESET TITLE');
});

.. index:: Popups, New window, window.open, Tabs

withPopup()

Signature: withPopup(Mixed popupInfo, Function then)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Switches the main page to a popup matching the information passed as argument, and processes a step. The page context switch only lasts until the step execution is finished:

casper.start('http://foo.bar/').then(function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Main page title');
    this.clickLabel('Open me a popup');
});

// this will wait for the popup to be opened and loaded
casper.waitForPopup(/popup\.html$/, function() {
    this.test.assertEquals(this.popups.length, 1);
});

// this will set the popup DOM as the main active one only for time the
// step closure being executed
casper.withPopup(/popup\.html$/, function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Popup title');
});

// this will set the popup DOM as the main active one only for time the
// step closure being executed
casper.withPopup(0, function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Popup title');
});

// this will set the popup DOM as the main active one only for time the
// step closure being executed
casper.withPopup({windowName: "mainPopup", title:'Popup title', url:'http://foo.bar/'}, function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Popup title');
});

// next step will automatically revert the current page to the initial one
casper.then(function() {
    this.test.assertTitle('Main page title');
});

Note

The currently loaded popups are available in the Casper.popups array-like property.

withSelectorScope()

Signature: withSelectorScope(String selector, Function then)

.. versionadded:: 1.1.5

Switches the main DOM scope to a specific scope the information passed as argument, and processes a step. The scope context switch only lasts until the step execution is finished:

.. index:: Zoom

zoom()

Signature: zoom(Number factor)

.. versionadded:: 1.0

Sets the current page zoom factor:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start().zoom(2).thenOpen('http://google.com', function() {
    this.capture('big-google.png');
});

casper.run();