Visualize / Show mouse cursor position in selenium 2 tests (for example PHPUnit Webdriver)

Question

I am running \\PHPUnit_Extensions_Selenium2TestCase to run tests which move the mouse and make clicks ($this->moveto). For improved debugging an

Answer 1

Execute a javascript after each page load which enabled the mouse cursor display.

    /**
     * Enable mouse cursor display
     */
    protected function enableCursor()
    {
        $this->execute(array('script' => <<<EOF
        var seleniumFollowerImg=document.createElement("img");
        seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('src', 'data:image/png;base64,'
            + 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAAeCAQAAACGG/bgAAAAAmJLR0QA/4ePzL8AAAAJcEhZcwAA'
            + 'HsYAAB7GAZEt8iwAAAAHdElNRQfgAwgMIwdxU/i7AAABZklEQVQ4y43TsU4UURSH8W+XmYwkS2I0'
            + '9CRKpKGhsvIJjG9giQmliHFZlkUIGnEF7KTiCagpsYHWhoTQaiUUxLixYZb5KAAZZhbunu7O/PKf'
            + 'e+fcA+/pqwb4DuximEqXhT4iI8dMpBWEsWsuGYdpZFttiLSSgTvhZ1W/SvfO1CvYdV1kPghV68a3'
            + '0zzUWZH5pBqEui7dnqlFmLoq0gxC1XfGZdoLal2kea8ahLoqKXNAJQBT2yJzwUTVt0bS6ANqy1ga'
            + 'VCEq/oVTtjji4hQVhhnlYBH4WIJV9vlkXLm+10R8oJb79Jl1j9UdazJRGpkrmNkSF9SOz2T71s7M'
            + 'SIfD2lmmfjGSRz3hK8l4w1P+bah/HJLN0sys2JSMZQB+jKo6KSc8vLlLn5ikzF4268Wg2+pPOWW6'
            + 'ONcpr3PrXy9VfS473M/D7H+TLmrqsXtOGctvxvMv2oVNP+Av0uHbzbxyJaywyUjx8TlnPY2YxqkD'
            + 'dAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==');
        seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('id', 'selenium_mouse_follower');
        seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('style', 'position: absolute; z-index: 99999999999; pointer-events: none;');
        document.body.appendChild(seleniumFollowerImg);
jQuery(document).mousemove(function(e){
    jQuery("#selenium_mouse_follower").stop().animate({left:e.pageX, top:e.pageY});
});
EOF
        , 'args' => array()));
    }

This depends on JQuery beeing loaded in the target page - another solution , without the fancy animation, is also possible.

Answer 2

Taking Alex's anwser I found it easier to put his Javascipt straight into my page. Here's the code I ended up with. Thanks for your help.

function enableCursor()
{
	var seleniumFollowerImg=document.createElement("img");
	seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('src', 'data:image/png;base64,'
		+ 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAAeCAQAAACGG/bgAAAAAmJLR0QA/4ePzL8AAAAJcEhZcwAA'
		+ 'HsYAAB7GAZEt8iwAAAAHdElNRQfgAwgMIwdxU/i7AAABZklEQVQ4y43TsU4UURSH8W+XmYwkS2I0'
		+ '9CRKpKGhsvIJjG9giQmliHFZlkUIGnEF7KTiCagpsYHWhoTQaiUUxLixYZb5KAAZZhbunu7O/PKf'
		+ 'e+fcA+/pqwb4DuximEqXhT4iI8dMpBWEsWsuGYdpZFttiLSSgTvhZ1W/SvfO1CvYdV1kPghV68a3'
		+ '0zzUWZH5pBqEui7dnqlFmLoq0gxC1XfGZdoLal2kea8ahLoqKXNAJQBT2yJzwUTVt0bS6ANqy1ga'
		+ 'VCEq/oVTtjji4hQVhhnlYBH4WIJV9vlkXLm+10R8oJb79Jl1j9UdazJRGpkrmNkSF9SOz2T71s7M'
		+ 'SIfD2lmmfjGSRz3hK8l4w1P+bah/HJLN0sys2JSMZQB+jKo6KSc8vLlLn5ikzF4268Wg2+pPOWW6'
		+ 'ONcpr3PrXy9VfS473M/D7H+TLmrqsXtOGctvxvMv2oVNP+Av0uHbzbxyJaywyUjx8TlnPY2YxqkD'
		+ 'dAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==');
	seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('id', 'selenium_mouse_follower');
	seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('style', 'position: absolute; z-index: 99999999999; pointer-events: none;');
	document.body.appendChild(seleniumFollowerImg);
	jQuery(document).mousemove(function(e){
		jQuery("#selenium_mouse_follower").css('left', e.pageX);
		jQuery("#selenium_mouse_follower").css('top', e.pageY);
	});
};

Answer 3

Here is @JordanW's answer but without JQuery:

function enableCursor() {
  var seleniumFollowerImg = document.createElement("img");
  seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('src', 'data:image/png;base64,'
    + 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAAeCAQAAACGG/bgAAAAAmJLR0QA/4ePzL8AAAAJcEhZcwAA'
    + 'HsYAAB7GAZEt8iwAAAAHdElNRQfgAwgMIwdxU/i7AAABZklEQVQ4y43TsU4UURSH8W+XmYwkS2I0'
    + '9CRKpKGhsvIJjG9giQmliHFZlkUIGnEF7KTiCagpsYHWhoTQaiUUxLixYZb5KAAZZhbunu7O/PKf'
    + 'e+fcA+/pqwb4DuximEqXhT4iI8dMpBWEsWsuGYdpZFttiLSSgTvhZ1W/SvfO1CvYdV1kPghV68a3'
    + '0zzUWZH5pBqEui7dnqlFmLoq0gxC1XfGZdoLal2kea8ahLoqKXNAJQBT2yJzwUTVt0bS6ANqy1ga'
    + 'VCEq/oVTtjji4hQVhhnlYBH4WIJV9vlkXLm+10R8oJb79Jl1j9UdazJRGpkrmNkSF9SOz2T71s7M'
    + 'SIfD2lmmfjGSRz3hK8l4w1P+bah/HJLN0sys2JSMZQB+jKo6KSc8vLlLn5ikzF4268Wg2+pPOWW6'
    + 'ONcpr3PrXy9VfS473M/D7H+TLmrqsXtOGctvxvMv2oVNP+Av0uHbzbxyJaywyUjx8TlnPY2YxqkD'
    + 'dAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==');
  seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('id', 'selenium_mouse_follower');
  seleniumFollowerImg.setAttribute('style', 'position: absolute; z-index: 99999999999; pointer-events: none; left:0; top:0');
  document.body.appendChild(seleniumFollowerImg);
  document.onmousemove = function (e) {
    document.getElementById("selenium_mouse_follower").style.left = e.pageX;
    document.getElementById("selenium_mouse_follower").style.top = e.pageY;
  };
};

enableCursor();

Disclaimer: Only tested on Chrome

Answer 4

Thanks for sharing it folks! Here is the example to make it work in NodeJS:

Add showCursor.js file into commands directory in your nightwatch subtree and fill it with the following code snippet

exports.command = function() {
  return this.execute(function() {
    const mouse = document.createElement('img');
    mouse.setAttribute(
      'src',
      'data:image/png;base64,' +
        'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAAeCAQAAACGG/bgAAAAAmJLR0QA/4ePzL8AAAAJcEhZcwAA' +
        'HsYAAB7GAZEt8iwAAAAHdElNRQfgAwgMIwdxU/i7AAABZklEQVQ4y43TsU4UURSH8W+XmYwkS2I0' +
        '9CRKpKGhsvIJjG9giQmliHFZlkUIGnEF7KTiCagpsYHWhoTQaiUUxLixYZb5KAAZZhbunu7O/PKf' +
        'e+fcA+/pqwb4DuximEqXhT4iI8dMpBWEsWsuGYdpZFttiLSSgTvhZ1W/SvfO1CvYdV1kPghV68a3' +
        '0zzUWZH5pBqEui7dnqlFmLoq0gxC1XfGZdoLal2kea8ahLoqKXNAJQBT2yJzwUTVt0bS6ANqy1ga' +
        'VCEq/oVTtjji4hQVhhnlYBH4WIJV9vlkXLm+10R8oJb79Jl1j9UdazJRGpkrmNkSF9SOz2T71s7M' +
        'SIfD2lmmfjGSRz3hK8l4w1P+bah/HJLN0sys2JSMZQB+jKo6KSc8vLlLn5ikzF4268Wg2+pPOWW6' +
        'ONcpr3PrXy9VfS473M/D7H+TLmrqsXtOGctvxvMv2oVNP+Av0uHbzbxyJaywyUjx8TlnPY2YxqkD' +
        'dAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=='
    );
    mouse.setAttribute('id', 'selenium-mouse');
    mouse.setAttribute(
      'style',
      'position: absolute; z-index: 999999; pointer-events: none; left:0; top:0'
    );
    document.body.appendChild(mouse);
    document.onmousemove = function(e) {
      document.getElementById('selenium-mouse').style.left = e.pageX + 'px';
      document.getElementById('selenium-mouse').style.top = e.pageY + 'px';
    };
  }, []);
};

And right after that you can access it everywhere you have browser variable, i.e. in your test case:

// Visit some page ...
browser.showCursor();
...