keyDown() does not work with Internet Explorer Driver

[Miro-H]

I have tried to do it in different ways, but what works on Chrome (version 46.0.2490.86 m) and Firefox (version 42.0) won't work with IE 9.
Neither

browser.actions()
            .sendKeys(protractor.Key.chord(protractor.Key.CONTROL, '1'))
            .perform()

nor

browser.actions()
            .keyDown(protractor.Key.CONTROL)
            .sendKeys('1')
            .keyUp(protractor.Key.CONTROL)
            .perform();

work. I use protractor to send my tests to the selenium standalone server (which is on a VM which runs win7). Please tell me in case I overlooked something or if there is a workaround for this issue.

Full test:

describe('keyDown', function () {
    browser.ignoreSynchronization = true;
    browser.get('http://ci.seleniumhq.org:2310/common/keyboard_shortcut.html');

    it('should work with IE9', function () {
        browser.actions()
            .sendKeys(protractor.Key.chord(protractor.Key.CONTROL, '1'))
            .perform()

        expect(element(by.tagName('body')).getAttribute('style')).toContain('background: red');
    });
});

Thank you in advance,
Miro

[jimevans]

What happens if you start your IE session with setting the requireWindowFocus capability to true?

[Miro-H]

Nothing happens, still the same behavior. (tested with both browser action snippets)

[jimevans]

I'm unable to reproduce with IE11 with IEDriverServer.exe 2.48.0.4 and setting requireWindowFocus to true. Given that Microsoft is dropping support for IE9 in less than six weeks as of this writing, I'm disinclined to fix for this specific case. Here is my code (in C#, using NUnit) for proof:

[Test]
public void ModifierKeysTest()
{
    // This list is solely for failure reporting purposes.
    List<string> keyComboNames = new List<string>()
    {
        "Control",
        "Shift",
        "Control + Shift",
        "Alt",
        "Control + Alt",
        "Shift + Alt",
        "Control + Shift + Alt"
    };

    // This list is solely for failure reporting purposes.
    List<string> colorNames = new List<string>()
    {
        "red",
        "green",
        "yellow",
        "lightblue",
        "lightgreen",
        "silver",
        "magenta"
    };

    // List of expected background color values after keystrokes sent to browser.
    List<string> expectedColors = new List<string>()
    {
        "rgba(255, 0, 0, 1)",
        "rgba(0, 128, 0, 1)",
        "rgba(255, 255, 0, 1)",
        "rgba(173, 216, 230, 1)",
        "rgba(144, 238, 144, 1)",
        "rgba(192, 192, 192, 1)",
        "rgba(255, 0, 255, 1)"
    };

    // List of combinations of modifier keys.
    List<List<string>> modifierCombinations = new List<List<string>>()
    {
        new List<string>() { Keys.Control },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Shift },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Control, Keys.Shift },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Alt },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Control, Keys.Alt },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Shift, Keys.Alt },
        new List<string>() { Keys.Control, Keys.Shift, Keys.Alt}
    };

    bool passed = true;
    string errors = string.Empty;

    // This sets the requireWindowFocus capability. It is required to set this 
    // capability to get modifier keys to work properly.
    InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
    options.RequireWindowFocus = true;

    IWebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);
    driver.Url = "http://ci.seleniumhq.org:2310/common/keyboard_shortcut.html";
    IWebElement body = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("body"));
    Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
    for (int i = 0; i < keyComboNames.Count; i++)
    {
        // Press all modifier keys for this case.
        for (int j = 0; j < modifierCombinations[i].Count; j++)
        {
            actions.KeyDown(modifierCombinations[i][j]);
        }

        actions.SendKeys("1");

        // Release all modifier keys.
        // Alternatively, the following single line of code would release
        // all modifier keys, instead of looping through each key.
        // actions.SendKeys(Keys.Null);
        for (int j = 0; j < modifierCombinations[i].Count; j++)
        {
            actions.KeyUp(modifierCombinations[i][j]);
        }

        actions.Perform();

        // Check that the background color of the body element has been set properly.
        string background = body.GetCssValue("background-color");
        passed = passed && background == expectedColors[i];
        if (background != expectedColors[i])
        {
            if (errors.Length > 0)
            {
                errors += "\n";
            }

            errors += string.Format("Key not properly processed for {0}. Background should be {1}, Expected: '{2}', Actual: '{3}'",
                keyComboNames[i],
                colorNames[i],
                expectedColors[i],
                background);
        }
    }

    Assert.IsTrue(passed, errors);
}

[Miro-H]

Hm very strange that you couldn't reproduce it. I invested some more time and tested it with IE11 too. But by me the problem is still the same: The background is still unchanged.

[pavoltravnik]

requireWindowFocus capability to true helped