How to Stop the page loading in firefox programmatically in Selenium?

When automating web interactions with Selenium WebDriver, managing page load times is crucial for efficient test execution. One effective method to handle slow-loading pages or unresponsive sites is to programmatically stop the page from loading.

In this guide, we will explore how to stop page loading in Firefox using Selenium. This technique allows you to gain better control over your tests by preventing unnecessary delays caused by slow or problematic web pages.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following installed:

• Eclipse IDE or any other Java IDE.
• Java Development Kit (JDK).
• Selenium WebDriver.
• Firefox Browser.
• GeckoDriver for Firefox.

Setting Up Selenium with Firefox

• Install Firefox and GeckoDriver
• Download and install Firefox from the official website.
• Download GeckoDriver from the official GitHub repository.
• Add GeckoDriver to your system PATH or specify its location in your Selenium setup.
• Create a New Java Project in Eclipse
• Open Eclipse and go to File > New > Java Project.
• Enter a project name (e.g., SeleniumFirefoxProject) and click Finish.
• Add Selenium Dependencies
• Right-click on your project and select Properties.
• Go to Java Build Path > Libraries tab.
• Click Add External JARs and add the Selenium JAR files you downloaded.

Example to Stop the page loading in Firefox programmatically in Selenium

For your reference here is the full code implementation:

package com.example.tests;

import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.JavascriptExecutor;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class executeasync {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Set up ChromeDriver using WebDriverManager
        WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup();

        // Initialize ChromeDriver instance
        WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

        // Apply page load timeout (1 millisecond)
        driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(
            1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);

        // Try to load the GeeksforGeeks website
        for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
            try {
                // Try to load the page
                driver.get(
                    "https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/");
                break;
            }
            catch (org.openqa.selenium.TimeoutException e) {
                // Stop the page load using JavaScript
                ((JavascriptExecutor)driver)
                    .executeScript("window.stop();");
                System.out.println(
                    "Page load took too long, stopping it now.");
            }
        }

        // Close the browser
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Explanation

• driver.manage().timeouts().pageLoadTimeout(10, java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.SECONDS); sets a timeout of 10 seconds for page loading.
• If the page does not load within the specified time, a TimeoutException is thrown.

Output

Conclusion

Stopping page loading in Firefox programmatically with Selenium can significantly enhance your test automation process. By leveraging JavaScript execution and configuring appropriate page load timeouts, you can handle various scenarios where pages may take too long to load. This approach not only improves the efficiency of your test execution but also ensures that your tests run smoothly even when dealing with slow or unresponsive web pages. Implement these strategies to optimize your Selenium WebDriver tests and manage page loading effectively.