session cookie lost when click made to a link that opens a window with window.open()

[lukeis]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 1486

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Using InternetExplorerDriver log into any app securized by session cookies
2. Click on any link that calls a javascript function that opens a new window using
window.close()
3.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
The content of the window without requiring authentication. Instead I got the login
page in the new window

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
I'm using windows vista and IExplorer 7

Please provide any additional information below.

Reported by jcroig on 2011-03-30 18:43:16

[lukeis]

I've attached a simple test case containing two .html files and a WebDriver test case
(in C#, but you should be able to translate the test code into any language you choose).
When I run this test in my environment, the test succeeds, and the popup window receives
the session cookie, as verified by the background of the popup window being the appropriate
color. Does this test succeed or fail in your environment? Is this test case representative
of what is happening in your application, even at an overly simplified level? Does
the problem only reproduce using IE7, or does it reproduce on other versions of the
browser?

Reported by james.h.evans.jr on 2011-03-31 14:03:14

• Status changed: NeedsClarification

---

- _Attachment: [SessionCookieTest.zip](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/selenium/issue-1486/comment-1/SessionCookieTest.zip)_

[lukeis]

I am experiencing the same problem with pop-ups and losing cookies. This happens both
with IE and FireFox drivers (running on Windows).

I have found that if the window.open is the very last statement in the test, everything
works fine, but as soon as it's following by another webdriver/selenium command, the
cookies are lost.

Below is a Java example allowing me to reproduce the issue. It uses the HTML files
in James' test case.

So far I have been using Selenium 2.0b2, I will give b3 a go now.

public class CookieTest {
    @Test
    public void testCookieLost() {
        driver.get("http://localhost/sessioncookie.html");
        driver.findElement(By.id("openwindowbutton")).click();
        //sleep(2000);
        driver.switchTo().window("cookiedestwindow");
    }
}

Reported by jopdeklein@me.com on 2011-04-22 09:55:01

[lukeis]

Selenium 2.0b3 doesn't seem to fix the issue, unfortunately.

Reported by jopdeklein@me.com on 2011-04-22 11:39:53

[lukeis]

Forgive my confusion, I'm misunderstanding your comment. "window.open" doesn't appear
anywhere in your test code. Running your test code in the current IE driver appears
to work for me, in that I have the appropriate cookie both in the original window,
and the window opened via JavaScript on the page. Perhaps more context is required.

Reported by james.h.evans.jr on 2011-04-22 12:42:35

[lukeis]

@James, thanks for your reply. 
I used the HTML files you uploaded, so the window.open functionality is implemented
on click of #openwindowbutton in sessioncookie.html, like in your example.

It seems you are not experiencing the issue that the topic starter and I encounter,
thanks for testing.

Since I am experiencing issues with the session cookies getting lost, opening the new
window logs me out - therefore the rest of the test case is not relevant for my scenario
since it never loads sessioncookiedest.html. 

I will set up a separate test case without the authentication mechanism to see whether
this is related to session cookies specifically or cookies in general.

Reported by jopdeklein@me.com on 2011-04-22 13:14:30

[lukeis]

@James, the problem also occurs with 'regular' cookies - When I run your test case it
loses the cookie when the window is opened through Selenium 2.0.

When I run the scenario manually it works as expected. Additionally I've written a
similar test case in Watij which runs fine as well.

This seems to be a bug in the InternetExplorer driver as it works fine in Firefox on
my machine. Again it seems subsequent operations after the window.open trigger this
behavior.

Reported by jopdeklein@me.com on 2011-04-22 14:26:46

[lukeis]

Can you please make sure that IE is configured properly for using the IE driver. I've
just updated the IE driver wiki page[1] to include the correct configuration information
for the current incarnation (post 2.0b1) of the IE driver.

[1] http://code.google.com/p/selenium/wiki/InternetExplorerDriver

Reported by james.h.evans.jr on 2011-04-22 15:32:01

[lukeis]

I am using IE6 on Windows XP here as a client still needs to support it, so the mentioned
Protected Mode settings don't apply in my case. I did verify all cookies are being
accepted.

Some background information; the reason it 'works' when no subsequent actions are called
is because the driver is destroyed (the unit test exists) and the apparent offending
code that causes the cookies to be lost won't be executed. If I manually destroy the
driver after clicking the link that opens the window, the cookies are still intact.
Obviously this isn't really a solution since I can't interact with the popup any further
afterwards :)

The thing that puzzles me is the timing; the window opens fine, and before the request
is made something happens that removes the cookies, but only if the driver is still
alive.

Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

Reported by jopdeklein@me.com on 2011-04-22 15:51:57