UI testing using Selenium: The IEDriverServer.exe file does not exist in the current directory or in a directory on the PATH environment variable

In my continuing conquest to find the best tool for UI testing, I also had a look at Selenium, one of the oldest and most well known browser automation frameworks.

I started simple by creating a new Test project, adding references to Selenium through NuGet, and writing a small test(based on a sample on their website):

	[TestClass]
	public class UnitTest1
	{
	IWebDriver driver;
	[TestInitialize]
	public void Setup()
	{
	// Create a new instance of the IE driver
	driver = new InternetExplorerDriver();
	}
	[TestCleanup]
	public void Teardown()
	{
	driver.Quit();
	}
	[TestMethod]
	public void GoogleSearch()
	{
	//Navigate to the site
	driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.google.com");
	// Find the text input element by its name
	IWebElement query = driver.FindElement(By.Name("q"));
	// Enter something to search for
	query.SendKeys("Selenium");
	// Now submit the form
	query.Submit();
	// Google's search is rendered dynamically with JavaScript.
	// Wait for the page to load, timeout after 5 seconds
	WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
	wait.Until((d) => { return d.Title.StartsWith("Selenium"); });
	//Check that the Title is what we are expecting
	Assert.AreEqual("Selenium - Google zoeken", driver.Title);
	}
	}

view raw SeleniumSampleTest.cs hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Unfortunately when I ran the test, it failed with the following error message:

  Initialization method OLASeleniumTestProject.UnitTest1.Setup threw exception. OpenQA.Selenium.DriverServiceNotFoundException: OpenQA.Selenium.DriverServiceNotFoundException: The IEDriverServer.exe file does not exist in the current directory or in a directory on the PATH environment variable. The driver can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/p/selenium/downloads/list..

Result StackTrace:         

at OpenQA.Selenium.DriverService.FindDriverServiceExecutable(String executableName, Uri downloadUrl)

   at OpenQA.Selenium.IE.InternetExplorerDriverService.CreateDefaultService()

   at OpenQA.Selenium.IE.InternetExplorerDriver..ctor()

   at SeleniumTestProject.UnitTest1.Setup() in c:\Projects\Test\SeleniumTestProject\SeleniumTestProject\UnitTest1.cs:line 18

It seems like that just installing the NuGet packages isn’t enough. Behind the scenes Selenium is using a driver executable depending on the browser you want to test on.

To solve the issue, I had to execute 2 steps:

• Step 1: Download and unpack the correct driver on your system. I am using a 32bit Internet Explorer so I downloaded the related driver. I  unpacked it in the same folders as my tests.
• Step 2: I changed my code to tell Selenium where it can find the correct driver:

	[TestClass]
	public class UnitTest1
	{
	IWebDriver driver;
	[TestInitialize]
	public void Setup()
	{
	// Create a new instance of the IE driver
	string IE_DRIVER_PATH = @"C:\Projects\Test\SeleniumTestProject\IEDriverServer_Win32_2.37.0";
	driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(IE_DRIVER_PATH);
	}
	}

view raw SeleniumSampleTestFixed.cs hosted with ❤ by GitHub

That’s it!