How to run Chrome & Firefox Webdriver in Headless mode

Headless Browser! What does it mean.? As name suggests, It is a browser without head.i.e., without GUI. 

Headless Browsers are a kind of simulation programs of real browsers, but without GUI. Having said that, these may not be 100% equal to real browsers as they have its own limitations. Here are few popular headless browsers:

• Headless Chrome
• Headless Firefox
• HtmlUnit Driver
• PhantomJS
• SlimmerJS

Headless browsers come with its own Pros & Cons.

Pros:

• Improves the execution speed,in turn increases the performance.
• Can be executed on Browser-less setups like Servers(without browsers).
• Useful while scraping the web.
• Simulate multiple browser versions on a single machine.

Cons:

• It doesn't mimic the real user.
• Debugging is quite difficult.

Below snippet would show you, How to make Chrome & Firefox work in Headless mode.


static String chromeDriverPath = "C:/pathTo/chromedriver.exe";
static String geckoDriverPath = "C:/pathTo/geckodriver.exe";
static WebDriver driver = null;

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver",chromeDriverPath);
System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver",geckoDriverPath);

//For Headless Chrome
ChromeOptions options = new ChromeOptions();
options.addArguments("headless");
    //OR
//options.setHeadless(true);
driver = new ChromeDriver(options);
        
//For Headless Firefox
FirefoxOptions foption = new FirefoxOptions();
foption.setHeadless(true);
driver = new FirefoxDriver(foption);
        
driver.get("https://www.amazon.in/");
driver.manage().window().maximize();
System.out.println("Browser Title: " + driver.getTitle());
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='a-section feed-carousel first-carousel']//ul/li[1]")).click();
Thread.sleep(5000);
    
File scrFile = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
FileUtils.copyFile(scrFile, new File("C:/screens/Headless.jpg"));

driver.close();

}