Keys are not working with webdriverIO

[kedunuru]

Keys are not working with webdriverIO ....
I am trying to use keys to simulate command+i
None of the options are working....
driver.keys(['\uE03D', '\u0049']);
driver.keys(['meta','i']);

Environment

• WebdriverIO version:
• Node.js version: 4.4.3

when I read in forums, there was a indication that it is an issue with chrome driver, is this resolved or is it still an issue?

Thanks,
Veni

[pi4r0n]

@kedunuru have you tried to use it that way

driver.keys('Enter')
driver.keys('F5')

[kedunuru]

yeah i tried that as well :)

[christian-bromann]

This is probably Selenium related.

[kedunuru]

I have tried one more time using
:driver.keys('Enter')
driver.keys('F5')
It does not work

[pi4r0n]

@kedunuru can you post you selenium version and sample code please.

[kurtharriger]

Keys is working fine for me (4.0.9) with selenium 2.53 and chrome, and several browsers on saucelabs which still uses 2.48.

The following package will install selenium and chrome driver for you. Perhaps you have some version incompatibilities with selenium and chrome driver?
https://www.npmjs.com/package/selenium-standalone

If that doest work you'll probably need to be more specific about your setup

[marinatells]

I have partly the same issue

selenium server: 2.53
chrome driver: 2.21
selenium-standalone npm package: 5.1.1
webdriverio: 4.0.9

i've tried

driver.keys(['Control', 'v'])
driver.keys(['Control, 'a'])

however, simple keys are sent, i. e.

driver.keys(['some','word'])
driver.keys('some word')

[christian-bromann]

@lladrona try Command instead of Control or Meta maybe. This is usually not an issue with WebdriverIO but the browser driver.

[marinatells]

@christian-bromann i've tried both command and control, nothing changes
then inspected server logs for browser.keys(['Command', 'c']); in chrome, phantomjs, firefox

12:01:42.611 INFO - Executing: [send keys to active: [, c]])
12:01:42.626 INFO - Done: [send keys to active: [, c]]

we have tests written in java, and their SendKeys ends up like

12:01:42.611 INFO - Executing: [send keys to active: [, ]])
12:01:42.626 INFO - Done: [send keys to active: [, ]]

is this still browser driver issue and could this be the problem?

[monolithed]

I can confirm the problem. It does not depend on the version of the Selenium or WebDriver.

[jeffmanhart]

I am able to use browser.keys('Enter') successfully on all browsers except using safaridriver. This I believe to be a safaridriver issue but figured I would mention it here as well. Additionally I tried to use 'Return', and '\n' but all fail in same fashion.
Err message is -
Failed: Unknown command: {"id":"eh7bqx6syufe","name":"sendKeysToActiveElement","parameters":{"value":[""]}} (WARNING: The server did not provide any stacktrace information)
Command duration or timeout: 4 milliseconds
Build info: version: '2.53.0', revision: '35ae25b', time: '2016-03-15 17:00:58'
os.version: '10.10.5', java.version: '1.8.0_45'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.safari.SafariDriver
Capabilities [{browserName=safari, takesScreenshot=true, javascriptEnabled=true, version=9.1.1, cssSelectorsEnabled=true, platform=MAC, secureSsl=true}]
Session ID: null

[timbru31]

@jeffmanhart AFAIK Safari does not support browser.keys yet: SeleniumHQ/selenium-google-code-issue-archive#4136

edit
We also had issues sending CTRL keys to the Internet Explorer and did not solve this. Simple combinations without CTRL or ALT worked though.

[ghost]

chrome driver: 2.21.2
webdriverio: 4.0.4

I had issues sending key combinations with modifiers, too.
In the docs at http://webdriver.io/api/protocol/keys.html I found out, that the modifiers (Control, Shift, Alt) are not released by default. You have to pass 'NULL' to release the modifier key.

browser.keys(['Control', 'r', 'NULL'])

Another gotcha I had, was that the character type keys on https://w3c.github.io/webdriver/webdriver-spec.html#h-keyboard-actions (which was linked in the docs), are not identical to those that webdriverio is using. They have to match exactly in case to work.
The character type keys which webdriverio is using can be found here: https://github.com/webdriverio/webdriverio/blob/master/lib/helpers/constants.js#L67

And update to the docs and maybe an example on how to use key combinations with modifiers would be helpful.

[christian-bromann]

are not identical to those that webdriverio is using

@bekite this got updated

[christian-bromann]

... and released. If some keys aren't working in some browser is probably an issue of the driver. Closing.

[gogoyqj]

seems firefox webdriver doesn't support this api

[christian-bromann]

@gogoyqj you are right

[pmerwin]

Any updates on ff driver having a fix?

[christian-bromann]

It won't as this command is not part of the WebDriver protocol

[pmerwin]

@christian-bromann I see that is deprecated, what command will replace 'keys'?

[christian-bromann]

Keyboard actions: https://www.w3.org/TR/webdriver/#keyboard-actions

[rsshilli]

So... how do we use those "Keyboard Actions" from webdriver.io? The keys() method doesn't seem to use that and I don't see any other options.

[rsshilli]

Nevermind. I found it: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44339046/browser-keys-is-not-working-on-firefox-53-0-webdriver-io

[kajmagnus]

This worked for me, in FF, to click Return: https://sqa.stackexchange.com/a/27860/32461:

element.setValue(`${value}\n`);

that is, appendnig \n

(but no answers on the StackOverflow page linked just above worked, in FF)

[chandanrayarm]

Hi there I'm trying to work Option+Command+W key to work but its not working can someone help me here as client.keys(['Option, 'Command', 'W']);