Is it possible to hide a browser window in splinter python (both Windows, Linux)?

Question

I wrote a program to take a screenshoot of a chosen webpage. User types an url and then my application takes a screenshoot of typed page. I wonder is it possible (and how) to hide a browser window? I mean, no to open it but take a screenshoot? thanks in advance :)

I use python 2.7 and splinter for this. Code below:

from splinter import Browser
import socket
url = raw_input('> ')
browser = None 
try:
 browser = Browser('firefox')
 try:
 browser.visit(url)
 if browser.status_code.is_success():
 browser.driver.save_screenshot('picture.png')
 except socket.gaierror, e:
 print "URL not found: %s" % url
finally:
 if browser is not None:
 browser.quit()

For Ubuntu, I found this: Selenium-Python Client Library - Automating in Background but how about Windows?

• Techfiz: Works on Linux as per stackoverflow.com/questions/6924387/…

Answer 1

You have a few options:

1. Use a "dumb" headless browser, like mechanize. This is fast, and perfect for a quick visit and a screenshot. However, it doesn't understand javascript.

2. Use the zope.testbrowser browser in your splinter tests. It's a headless browser, so it won't appear on screen. It understands javascript, but will take more investment to get up and going.

3. Just use urllib2 with some special headers.