Sending request to WinAppDriver (WebDriver) using Postman - selenium-webdriver

Question

Recently I was attempting to use an xPath query to find a set of elements within my Windows Universal application. I was using WinAppDriver to automate the tests. The specific challenge was that due to the nature of the application and the automation it would take 60-90 seconds to automate my application to the point where I could execute my xPath query. Since I am not terribly familiar with xPath queries I needed to identify the desired query via what can only be described as a trial and error process. The combined time of making a code change, rebuilding the application and then running the app until the point where the xPath query was evaluated meant that it took me a few minutes per iteration and the process was very slow. I decided that it would be much more efficient if I could set a break point in the test code, execute the code to the point where the application under test was in the desired state and then use Postman to execute multiple queries while I figure out the exact query I need to be running.

Answer 1

It is possible to send Appium or Selenium requests to a WebDriver compatible service. This approach is not recommended as an alternative automation technique but can be convenient to debug specific commands.
The steps are outlined below:
Create a new Postman environment to contain your WinAppDriver requests
Create a new request tab within this environment
The URL for WebDriver requests should be of the following form “http://[ip address:port]/session/{{sessionID}}/[command].
The ip address should match the WebDriver address used when launching your WebDriver service. Typically, this is 127.0.0.1 by default
The port is the port specified when connecting to the WebDriver service. By default, this is typically 4723 but it can be specified at run time when you launch the WebDriver service on your local machine.
The session id can be found in the WinAppDriver console window
The screen shot below shows a capture of a WinAppDriver command. The first circled area is the Session ID value that should be used in the query above. The second circled area is the ip address and the port ID value and the third area is the query body that was sent. This query body corresponds to the WinAppDriver command.
The corresponding Postman query would look like the screen shot below.
I set the Content-Type to be “application/json”. Note that the last line in the screen grab above is the response content and contains the session variable again along with the element ID of the discovered element.
The [command] value and any optional query body is specific to the desired command. The best way to figure that out is to run the desired command from within your automation software and refer to the WinAppDriver output to see the command that is getting sent. Typically, I set a breakpoint in the debugger on the line I want to execute and then single step through that command while looking at the WinAppDriver output window. This lets me determine exactly the output corresponding to my command. You can then send multiple command from PostMan while the test application is stopped in the debugger. Do not close the test application until you are done because this will free up the session connection.
This approach lets you quickly try different iterations of the desired command and see if WinAppDriver finds the desired control