galaxy-selenium 26.0.0

Galaxy Selenium interaction framework

Galaxy Browser Automation Framework

Note

The package is named galaxy-selenium for historical reasons, but a more accurate name would be galaxy-browser-automation since it supports both Selenium and Playwright backends.

Overview

This package provides a browser automation framework for Galaxy with:

• Multi-backend support: Selenium and Playwright backends with a unified API

• Protocol-based architecture: Clean separation between Galaxy logic and browser interaction

• Comprehensive testing: Full unit test coverage for both backends

• CLI tooling: Utilities for building command-line automation scripts

• Type safety: Full type hints with mypy validation

• Code: https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy

Architecture

Core Interfaces

The framework is built around two main protocol interfaces:

HasDriverProtocol (has_driver_protocol.py)

Defines ~60+ browser automation operations including:

• Element finding (by ID, selector, XPath, etc.)

• Wait methods (visible, clickable, absent, etc.)

• Interactions (click, hover, drag-and-drop, keyboard input)

• Navigation (URLs, frames, alerts)

• JavaScript execution

• Accessibility testing (axe-core integration)

WebElementProtocol (web_element_protocol.py)

Defines the common element API:

• text, click(), send_keys(), clear()

• get_attribute(), is_displayed(), is_enabled()

• find_element(), find_elements()

• value_of_css_property() for CSS introspection

Architecture Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Galaxy Application Layer                     │
│                                                       │
│  NavigatesGalaxy (navigates_galaxy.py)              │
│  - Galaxy-specific page objects                      │
│  - Workflow interactions                             │
│  - History management                                │
│  - Tool execution                                    │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                 │ extends
                 ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│      Browser Automation Abstraction Layer           │
│                                                       │
│  HasDriverProxy (has_driver_proxy.py)               │
│  - Delegates to HasDriverProtocol implementation     │
│  - Runtime backend selection via composition         │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                 │ uses
                 ↓
┌──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┐
│   HasDriverProtocol              │                  │
│   (has_driver_protocol.py)       │                  │
│   - Abstract interface           │                  │
│   - ~60+ operations              │                  │
└──────────────┬───────────────────┴──────────────────┘
               │ implemented by
     ┌─────────┴──────────┐
     ↓                    ↓
┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│  HasDriver  │    │ HasPlaywright    │
│             │    │ Driver           │
│ Selenium    │    │                  │
│ backend     │    │ Playwright       │
│             │    │ backend          │
└──────┬──────┘    └────────┬─────────┘
       │                    │
       ↓                    ↓
┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│ WebElement  │    │ PlaywrightElement│
│ (Selenium)  │    │ (wrapper)        │
│             │    │                  │
│ implements  │    │ implements       │
│ protocol    │    │ protocol         │
└─────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
       │                    │
       └──────────┬─────────┘
                  ↓
       WebElementProtocol
       (web_element_protocol.py)

Implementations

Selenium Backend (has_driver.py)

• Uses Selenium WebDriver

• Direct WebElement support (implements protocol natively)

• Mature, widely-used automation framework

• Supports remote execution (Selenium Grid)

Playwright Backend (has_playwright_driver.py)

• Uses Playwright sync API

• PlaywrightElement wrapper (adapts ElementHandle to protocol)

• Modern automation with auto-waiting

• Fast and reliable for modern web apps

• Local execution only (no remote support)

Both implementations:

• Share identical test suite (150+ parametrized tests)

• Provide consistent API via protocols

• Support headless and headed modes

• Include full type hints

Separation of Concerns

Application Logic          │  Browser Automation
(Galaxy-specific)         │  (Generic, reusable)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────
navigates_galaxy.py       │  has_driver_protocol.py
- Galaxy UI interactions  │  - Abstract interface
- Workflow automation     │  - Element finding
- History operations      │  - Wait strategies
- Tool wrappers           │  - Interactions
                          │
smart_components.py       │  has_driver.py
- Galaxy component        │  - Selenium impl
  wrappers                │
- Page object patterns    │  has_playwright_driver.py
                          │  - Playwright impl
                          │
                          │  web_element_protocol.py
                          │  - Element interface

Key Principle: Galaxy-specific logic lives in navigates_galaxy.py and extends the generic browser automation protocols. This separation allows:

• Testing browser automation independently

• Reusing automation primitives across projects

• Switching backends without changing application code

• Clear boundaries between concerns

Testing

The framework includes comprehensive unit tests in test/unit/selenium/test_has_driver.py:

• Parametrized tests: Every test runs against Selenium, Playwright, and proxied backends

• 150+ test cases covering all protocol methods

• Test fixtures: Reusable HTML pages served via local HTTP server

• Scope-optimized: Session-scoped server, function-scoped drivers

Run tests from the package directory:

# All tests
uv run pytest tests/seleniumtests/test_has_driver.py -v

# Specific test class
uv run pytest tests/seleniumtests/test_has_driver.py::TestElementFinding -v

# Type checking
make mypy

Warning

Always run pytest from the package directory (packages/selenium/), not from the monorepo root. Running from root can cause fixture scope issues.

Building CLI Tools

The cli.py module provides infrastructure for building command-line automation tools.

Core Components

add_selenium_arguments(parser)

Adds standard CLI arguments:

• --selenium-browser: Browser choice (chrome, firefox, auto)

• --selenium-headless: Headless mode flag

• --backend: Backend selection (selenium, playwright)

• --galaxy_url: Target Galaxy instance URL

• --selenium-remote: Remote execution (Selenium only)

DriverWrapper

Adapts argparse args to a NavigatesGalaxy instance:

• Handles backend selection

• Manages virtual display (for headless Selenium)

• Provides Galaxy navigation utilities

• Cleanup via finish() method

Example: dump_tour.py

The scripts/dump_tour.py script demonstrates CLI tool development:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import argparse
from galaxy.selenium import cli

def main(argv=None):
    args = _arg_parser().parse_args(argv)
    driver_wrapper = cli.DriverWrapper(args)

    # Use driver_wrapper for automation
    callback = DumpTourCallback(driver_wrapper, args.output)
    driver_wrapper.run_tour(args.tour, tour_callback=callback)

def _arg_parser():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Walk a Galaxy tour")
    parser.add_argument("tour", help="tour to walk")
    parser.add_argument("-o", "--output", help="screenshot output dir")
    parser = cli.add_selenium_arguments(parser)  # Add standard args
    return parser

class DumpTourCallback:
    def handle_step(self, step, step_index: int):
        self.driver_wrapper.save_screenshot(f"{output}/{step_index}.png")

Usage:

# With Selenium backend
python dump_tour.py my_tour.yaml --backend selenium --selenium-headless

# With Playwright backend
python dump_tour.py my_tour.yaml --backend playwright --galaxy_url http://localhost:8080

Building Your Own CLI Tool

1. Import the CLI utilities:

   from galaxy.selenium import cli

2. Create argument parser:

   parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="My automation tool")
   parser.add_argument("--my-option", help="Custom option")
   parser = cli.add_selenium_arguments(parser)  # Add standard args

3. Create DriverWrapper:

   args = parser.parse_args()
   driver_wrapper = cli.DriverWrapper(args)

4. Use NavigatesGalaxy API:

   # driver_wrapper has all NavigatesGalaxy methods
   driver_wrapper.navigate_to(url)
   driver_wrapper.click_selector("#my-button")
   driver_wrapper.wait_for_selector_visible(".result")

5. Clean up:

   driver_wrapper.finish()  # Quits driver and stops virtual display

Development

Package Structure

packages/selenium/
├── galaxy/selenium/          # Symlink to lib/galaxy/selenium/
├── tests/seleniumtests/      # Symlink to test/unit/selenium/
├── README.rst                # This file
└── pyproject.toml

lib/galaxy/selenium/          # Actual source code
├── has_driver_protocol.py    # Protocol interface
├── has_driver.py             # Selenium implementation
├── has_playwright_driver.py  # Playwright implementation
├── web_element_protocol.py   # Element interface
├── playwright_element.py     # Element wrapper
├── navigates_galaxy.py       # Galaxy-specific logic
├── smart_components.py       # Component wrappers
├── cli.py                    # CLI utilities
└── scripts/
    └── dump_tour.py          # Example CLI tool

test/unit/selenium/           # Actual tests
├── conftest.py               # Pytest fixtures
├── test_has_driver.py        # Main test suite
└── fixtures/                 # HTML test pages

Running Commands

Always use uv run from the package directory:

# Run tests
uv run pytest tests/seleniumtests/test_has_driver.py -v

# Type checking
make mypy

# Linting
uv run ruff check .

Adding New Low-Level Browser Operations

Low-level operations are generic browser automation primitives that work with both backends.

Manual Process:

1. Add to protocol (has_driver_protocol.py):

   @abstractmethod
   def my_new_operation(self, param: str) -> bool:
       """Do something useful."""
       ...

2. Implement in Selenium (has_driver.py):

   def my_new_operation(self, param: str) -> bool:
       # Selenium implementation
       return self.driver.do_something(param)

3. Implement in Playwright (has_playwright_driver.py):

   def my_new_operation(self, param: str) -> bool:
       # Playwright implementation
       return self.page.do_something(param)

4. Update proxy (has_driver_proxy.py):

   def my_new_operation(self, param: str) -> bool:
       """Do something useful."""
       return self._driver_impl.my_new_operation(param)

5. Add tests (test_has_driver.py):

   def test_my_new_operation(self, has_driver_instance, base_url):
       """Test new operation works on both backends."""
       has_driver_instance.navigate_to(f"{base_url}/test.html")
       result = has_driver_instance.my_new_operation("test")
       assert result is True

Automated Process:

Use the /add-browser-operation slash command to automate these steps:

/add-browser-operation scroll element to center of viewport

This command will generate all the necessary code across all files and create tests.

Adding New Smart Component Operations

Smart component operations are higher-level conveniences that may require adding low-level operations first. These operations make Galaxy components more ergonomic to use in tests.

When to Add Smart Operations:

• When you find yourself repeating a pattern of low-level operations

• When Galaxy-specific UI patterns need convenient wrappers

• When you want to express test intent more clearly

Process:

1. Determine if low-level support exists:

   Check if the required browser operation exists in HasDriverProtocol. If not, add it first using the process above (or /add-browser-operation).

2. Add to SmartTarget (smart_components.py):

   Add a method to the SmartTarget class:

   def my_smart_operation(self, **kwds):
       """High-level operation description."""
       # Delegate to has_driver protocol methods
       element = self._has_driver.wait_for_visible(self._target, **kwds)
       return self._has_driver.my_low_level_operation(element)

3. Consider return value wrapping:

   If your operation returns a Component or Target, wrap it:

   def get_child_component(self, name: str):
       """Get a child component and wrap it smartly."""
       child = self._target.get_child(name)
       return self._wrap(child)  # Returns SmartTarget

4. Add tests (test/unit/selenium/test_smart_components.py):

   Test with both backends using the has_driver_instance fixture:

   def test_my_smart_operation(self, has_driver_instance, base_url):
       has_driver_instance.navigate_to(f"{base_url}/smart_components.html")
   
       # Use SmartComponent wrapping
       component = SmartComponent(MyComponent(), has_driver_instance)
       result = component.my_target.my_smart_operation()
   
       assert result is not None

Example: Adding a “wait_for_and_hover” operation

This demonstrates when you need to add a low-level operation first:

1. Check low-level support: hover() already exists in HasDriverProtocol ✓

2. Add to SmartTarget:

   def wait_for_and_hover(self, **kwds):
       """Wait for element to be visible and hover over it."""
       element = self._has_driver.wait_for_visible(self._target, **kwds)
       self._has_driver.hover(element)
       return element

3. Usage in tests:

   # Before: Multiple steps
   element = driver.wait_for_visible(component.menu)
   driver.hover(element)
   
   # After: One expressive call
   component.menu.wait_for_and_hover()

Example: Adding operation requiring new low-level support

When the operation needs a new browser primitive:

1. Add low-level operation (see “Adding New Low-Level Browser Operations”):

   Add scroll_to_center(element) to protocols and implementations

2. Add smart wrapper:

   def wait_for_and_scroll_to_center(self, **kwds):
       """Wait for element and scroll it to viewport center."""
       element = self._has_driver.wait_for_visible(self._target, **kwds)
       self._has_driver.scroll_to_center(element)
       return element

3. Test both levels:

   • Test low-level in test_has_driver.py

   • Test smart wrapper in test_smart_components.py

See Also

• Selenium Documentation

• Playwright Documentation

• Galaxy Testing Documentation

History

26.0.0 (2026-04-08)

Bug fixes

• Attempt to fix transiently failing tests that click this tab. by @jmchilton in #21376

• Fix selenium test test_rename_history by @davelopez in #21835

Enhancements

• Replace Copy Dataset Mako with Vue Component by @guerler in #17507

• Selenium test cases for IGV. by @jmchilton in #21034

• Selenium test for #20886 (sharing private histories) by @jmchilton in #21040

• Remove jquery from legacy onload helpers and Rule Builder by @guerler in #21063

• Add Playwright Backend Support to Galaxy Browser Automation Framework by @jmchilton in #21102

• Implement workflow completion monitoring with extensible hooks by @mvdbeek in #21532

• Clean up code with pyupgrade by @nsoranzo in #21540

• Drop support for Python 3.9 by @nsoranzo in #21583

25.1.2 (2026-03-09)

No recorded changes since last release

25.1.1 (2026-02-03)

Bug fixes

• Usability fixes for sample sheet selection. by @jmchilton in #21503

25.1.0 (2025-12-12)

Bug fixes

• Fix transient selenium error when adding collection input. by @jmchilton in #20460

Enhancements

• Implement Sample Sheets by @jmchilton in #19305

• Refactor Object Store Selection Modals UI by @itisAliRH in #19697

• Selenium tests for various 24.2 features. by @jmchilton in #20215

• Split Login and Register, enable OIDC Registration. by @uwwint in #20287

• Add short term storage expiration indicator to history items by @davelopez in #20332

• Type annotation fixes for mypy 1.16.0 by @nsoranzo in #20424

• Clean up code from pyupgrade by @nsoranzo in #20642

• New History List Using GCard by @itisAliRH in #20744

25.0.4 (2025-11-18)

No recorded changes since last release

25.0.3 (2025-09-23)

No recorded changes since last release

25.0.2 (2025-08-13)

No recorded changes since last release

25.0.1 (2025-06-20)

No recorded changes since last release

25.0.0 (2025-06-18)

Bug fixes

• Revise consistently failing edam tool panel view test. by @jmchilton in #19762

• Wait for Gbutton to become enabled by @mvdbeek in #20131

• Fix workflow bookmark filtering by @davelopez in #20325

Enhancements

• Workflow Editor Activity Bar by @ElectronicBlueberry in #18729

• Fix UP031 errors - Part 4 by @nsoranzo in #19235

• Workflow Run Form Enhancements by @ahmedhamidawan in #19294

• Empower Users to Build More Kinds of Collections, More Intelligently by @jmchilton in #19377

• Click to edit history name in HistoryPanel by @ahmedhamidawan in #19665

• Fix Tours and add tooltips to history items by @guerler in #19734

• Introduce reusable GCard component for unified card layout by @itisAliRH in #19785

• Add history sharing and accessibility management view by @ahmedhamidawan in #19786

• Replace backend-based page creation controller endpoint by @guerler in #19914

• Implement dataset collection support in workflow landing requests by @mvdbeek in #20004

• Add ZIP explorer to import individual files from local or remote ZIP archives by @davelopez in #20054

• Client refactorings ahead of #19377. by @jmchilton in #20059

• Revise transiently failing data source test. by @jmchilton in #20157

• Visualization-First Display functionality by @dannon in #20190

• Touch up Dataset View by @guerler in #20290

• DatasetView and Card Polish by @dannon in #20342

24.2.4 (2025-06-17)

Bug fixes

• Always set copy_elements to true by @mvdbeek in #19985

24.2.3 (2025-03-16)

No recorded changes since last release

24.2.2 (2025-03-08)

No recorded changes since last release

24.2.1 (2025-02-28)

Bug fixes

• Set content-type to text/plain if dataset not safe by @mvdbeek in #19563

24.2.0 (2025-02-11)

Bug fixes

• Fixes for errors reported by mypy 1.11.0 by @nsoranzo in #18608

• Fix transiently failing selenium tooltip issues by @jmchilton in #18847

• release testing - UI tests for new workflow parameters by @jmchilton in #19182

Enhancements

• Masthead Revision by @guerler in #17927

• Moves Libraries from Masthead to Activity Bar by @guerler in #18468

• Replace History Dataset Picker in Library Folder by @itisAliRH in #18518

• Workflow Invocation view improvements by @ahmedhamidawan in #18615

• Guide users to collection builders by @ahmedhamidawan in #18857

• Workflow license and creator edit keyboard access by @itisAliRH in #18936

• Workflow landing improvements by @mvdbeek in #18979

• Backport of Workflow Editor Activity Bar by @dannon in #19212

• Various list of pairs builder usability fixes. by @jmchilton in #19248

• Workflow Inputs Activity by @ElectronicBlueberry in #19252

24.1.4 (2024-12-11)

Bug fixes

• Persist uploaded data between Regular and Collection upload tabs by @ahmedhamidawan in #19083

24.1.3 (2024-10-25)

No recorded changes since last release

24.1.2 (2024-09-25)

No recorded changes since last release

24.1.1 (2024-07-02)

Bug fixes

• Fix (I think) a transiently failing selenium error. by @jmchilton in #18065

Enhancements

• Add admin activity to activity bar by @guerler in #17877

• Add galaxy to user agent by @mvdbeek in #18003

• Consolidate Visualization container, avoid using default iframe by @guerler in #18016

• Update Python dependencies by @galaxybot in #18063

• Empower users to bring their own storage and file sources by @jmchilton in #18127

24.0.3 (2024-06-28)

No recorded changes since last release

24.0.2 (2024-05-07)

No recorded changes since last release

24.0.1 (2024-05-02)

Bug fixes

• Set from_tool_form: true when saving new workflow by @mvdbeek in #17972

24.0.0 (2024-04-02)

Bug fixes

• Update tour testing selector usage. by @jmchilton in #14005

• Fix history filters taking up space in GridList by @ahmedhamidawan in #17652

Enhancements

• New Workflow List and Card View by @itisAliRH in #16607

• Python 3.8 as minimum by @mr-c in #16954

• Vueifiy History Grids by @guerler in #17219

• Adds delete, purge and undelete batch operations to History Grid by @guerler in #17282

• Custom Multiselect by @ElectronicBlueberry in #17331

• Enable warn_unreachable mypy option by @mvdbeek in #17365

• Update to black 2024 stable style by @nsoranzo in #17391

• Adds published histories to grid list by @guerler in #17449

• Consolidate resource grids into tab views by @guerler in #17487

23.2.1 (2024-02-21)

Enhancements

• Vueify Data Uploader by @guerler in #16472

• Create reusable FilterMenu with advanced options by @ahmedhamidawan in #16522

• Implement datatype upload warnings by @jmchilton in #16564

• Update Python dependencies by @galaxybot in #16577

• Vueify Tool Form Data Selector by @guerler in #16578

• Workflow Comments 💬 by @ElectronicBlueberry in #16612

• Workflow Embed by @ElectronicBlueberry in #16657

• Remove “Create Workflow” form and allow workflow creation in editor by @ahmedhamidawan in #16938

23.1.4 (2024-01-04)

No recorded changes since last release

23.1.3 (2023-12-01)

No recorded changes since last release

23.1.2 (2023-11-29)

No recorded changes since last release

23.1.1 (2023-10-23)

Bug fixes

• Improve robustness of collection upload tests. by @jmchilton in #16093

• Accessibility fixes for workflows, login, and registration. by @jmchilton in #16146

• Login/Register fixes by @dannon in #16652

Enhancements

• Upgraded to new multiselect Tags component for Workflows, DatasetList, Attributes by @hujambo-dunia in #15225

• Add basic selenium test for shared histories by @davelopez in #15538

• Initial end-to-end tests for separate quota sources per object store by @jmchilton in #15800

• Vueify Select field by @guerler in #16010

• implement admin jobs filtering by @martenson in #16020

• Selenium test for displaying workflows with problems in pages. by @jmchilton in #16085

• Integrate accessibility testing into Selenium testing by @jmchilton in #16122

• bring grids for (published) pages on par with workflows by @martenson in #16209

• Small test decorator improvements. by @jmchilton in #16220

• Initial e2e test for history storage. by @jmchilton in #16221

• Selenium test for page history links. by @jmchilton in #16222

• E2E Tests for Edit Dataset Attributes Page by @jmchilton in #16224

• Selenium type fixes and annotations. by @jmchilton in #16242

• e2e test for workflow license selector by @jmchilton in #16243

23.0.6 (2023-10-23)

No recorded changes since last release

23.0.5 (2023-07-29)

No recorded changes since last release

23.0.4 (2023-06-30)

No recorded changes since last release

23.0.3 (2023-06-26)

No recorded changes since last release

23.0.2 (2023-06-13)

Enhancements

• Port selenium setup to non-deprecated selenium options by @mvdbeek in #16215

23.0.1 (2023-06-08)

Enhancements

• Add support for launching workflows via Tutorial Mode by @hexylena in #15684

20.9.0 (2020-10-15)

• First release from the 20.09 branch of Galaxy.

20.5.0 (2020-07-04)

• First release from the 20.05 branch of Galaxy.