WebDriverException: Could not parse "".

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Tan

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Mar 1, 2010, 9:13:54 PM3/1/10
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Hi guys,

We have recently been implementing BDD practices within the team using
JBehave/WebDriver. As part of the continuous build process, we will
run these scenarios on the build sever (i.e. invoke the scenarios,
open Firefox and execute those automated functional tests). For the
time being the build server throws a bunch of WebDriverException that
I am not really sure how to interpret. Hopefully, if anyone here can
give me a hand

The stack trace is:

Caused by: org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: Could not parse "".
System info: os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version:
'2.6.18-128.4.1.el5', java.version: '1.6.0_10'
Driver info: driver.version: firefox
at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.Response.<init>(Response.java:53)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.internal.AbstractExtensionConnection.nextResponse(AbstractExtensionConnection.java:
251)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.internal.AbstractExtensionConnection.readLoop(AbstractExtensionConnection.java:
216)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.internal.AbstractExtensionConnection.waitForResponseFor(AbstractExtensionConnection.java:
209)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.internal.AbstractExtensionConnection.sendMessageAndWaitForResponse(AbstractExtensionConnection.java:
177)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.sendMessage(FirefoxDriver.java:
294)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.sendMessage(FirefoxDriver.java:
290)
at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.fixId(FirefoxDriver.java:
301)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:
128)
at
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver.<init>(FirefoxDriver.java:
89)
at com.test.feature.step.support.WebDriverType
$1.createWebDriver(WebDriverType.java:15)
at
com.test.feature.step.support.WebDriverFactory.createDriver(WebDriverFactory.java:
11)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:
39)
at
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:
25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at
org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:
115)
... 67 more
Caused by: org.json.JSONException: A JSONObject text must begin with
'{' at character 0
at org.json.JSONTokener.syntaxError(JSONTokener.java:496)
at org.json.JSONObject.<init>(JSONObject.java:180)
at org.json.JSONObject.<init>(JSONObject.java:403)
at org.openqa.selenium.firefox.Response.<init>(Response.java:41)
... 83 more

This problem starts to occur about the same time we upgrade Firefox on
the build machine. Not sure if this is caused by the fact that Firefox
could not be open.

Really appreciated your guys help on this

Thanks

-Tan-

Jason Leyba

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Mar 2, 2010, 1:42:29 PM3/2/10
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I really hate this bug. Basically, something went wrong and the
extension is returning garbage to the client. If you check the
Firefox error console, you'll probably see an error in there that can
give us a better idea of what happened.

The good news is we've made some improvements to the FirefoxDriver in
the wire branch that should fix this bug. The bad news is I can't
give you an ETA on when these changes will land in trunk other than
"soon-ish".

-- Jason

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Eran M.

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Mar 3, 2010, 5:28:35 AM3/3/10
to webd...@googlegroups.com
As Jason pointed out, this is indeed not the most informative error...
It is often related to Firefox crashing on start-up. Since you mentioned you've recently updated a Firefox version, you should first check to see if you can launch FIrefox at all on this machine, by running:
export XRE_PROFILE_PATH=/tmp/temp_profile
mkdir -p $XRE_PROFILE_PATH
<path to firefox> -no-remote

If that's running, then perhaps there are several Firefox versions on the machine and WebDriver is finding the wrong / outdated one. You can specify a path to Firefox using:
-Dwebdriver.firefox.bin=<path_to_binary>
To get better logging, also add:
-Dwebdriver.firefox.logfile=/dev/stdout
This will get you the errors Firefox outputs before it crashes.

Eran

Tan

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Mar 3, 2010, 6:25:37 AM3/3/10
to webdriver
Hi Jason/Eran,

Thanks for your help. I will definitely try out your suggestion and
post my findings here.

Really appreciated

Cheers,
Tan

On Mar 3, 9:28 pm, "Eran M." <eran....@gmail.com> wrote:
> As Jason pointed out, this is indeed not the most informative error...
> It is often related to Firefox crashing on start-up. Since you mentioned
> you've recently updated a Firefox version, you should first check to see if
> you can launch FIrefox at all on this machine, by running:
> export XRE_PROFILE_PATH=/tmp/temp_profile
> mkdir -p $XRE_PROFILE_PATH
> <path to firefox> -no-remote
>
> If that's running, then perhaps there are several Firefox versions on the
> machine and WebDriver is finding the wrong / outdated one. You can specify a
> path to Firefox using:
> -Dwebdriver.firefox.bin=<path_to_binary>
> To get better logging, also add:
> -Dwebdriver.firefox.logfile=/dev/stdout
> This will get you the errors Firefox outputs before it crashes.
>
> Eran
>

> On 2 March 2010 18:42, Jason Leyba <jmle...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I really hate this bug.  Basically, something went wrong and the
> > extension is returning garbage to the client.  If you check the
> > Firefox error console, you'll probably see an error in there that can
> > give us a better idea of what happened.
>
> > The good news is we've made some improvements to the FirefoxDriver in
> > the wire branch that should fix this bug.  The bad news is I can't
> > give you an ETA on when these changes will land in trunk other than
> > "soon-ish".
>
> > -- Jason
>

> > webdriver+...@googlegroups.com<webdriver%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>


> > .
> > > For more options, visit this group at
> >http://groups.google.com/group/webdriver?hl=en.
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > "webdriver" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to webd...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> > webdriver+...@googlegroups.com<webdriver%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>

DenZie

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Mar 4, 2010, 2:28:38 AM3/4/10
to webdriver
I think we have a bug reported against this bug [http://
code.google.com/p/selenium/issues/detail?id=372] , It really pushing
me away from webdriver to conventional Selnium RC / Grid. Hope we will
get a fix soon on this.

> > > webdriver+...@googlegroups.com<webdriver%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups .com>


> > > .
> > > > For more options, visit this group at
> > >http://groups.google.com/group/webdriver?hl=en.
>
> > > --
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> > > "webdriver" group.
> > > To post to this group, send email to webd...@googlegroups.com.
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> > > webdriver+...@googlegroups.com<webdriver%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups .com>

Simon Stewart

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Mar 14, 2010, 12:36:57 PM3/14/10
to webd...@googlegroups.com
FWIW, the wire changes are now in trunk. When we push the selenium 2a3
out the door (soon, I hope!), this change will be included.

Simon

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DenZie

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Mar 26, 2010, 5:46:56 AM3/26/10
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Thats a good news, Thanks Simon. Waiting for the next release.
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