How to Download a PDF with Selenium and Java: Save It with a Different Name

Discover how to effectively download a PDF file using Selenium with Java and rename it during the process. This guide provides clear steps and practical code examples to help you achieve seamless PDF downloads.
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How to Download a PDF with Selenium and Java: Save It with a Different Name

Downloading PDFs in automated testing can be tricky, especially when you're working with headless browsers like Chrome in Selenium. Many developers encounter challenges trying to save generated documents. If you're in a situation where you need to change the name of a downloaded PDF, you've come to the right place! In this post, we'll explore how to effectively download a PDF file using Selenium with Java and rename it during the process.

The Challenge

As part of an ongoing Selenium test pack, I faced the task of downloading server-generated PDF documents without using Firefox due to authentication issues. The previous implementation had limitations, as it wasn't following best software development practices. Thus, I decided to utilize Chrome in headless mode, but struggled with directly accessing the download feature since the browser merely displayed the document.

Here’s a breakdown of the requirements and what I needed:

Access a URL containing a UUID to generate a PDF document.

Download this document to a specified directory.

Rename the document to verify the process completion.

Solution Overview

The key to circumventing the challenges of downloading a PDF in headless Chrome using Selenium lies in tweaking the configuration of ChromeOptions. Here are the required steps we’ll go through:

Set Up ChromeOptions to Disable PDF Viewing: This avoids Chrome attempting to display the PDF rather than downloading it.

Specify the Download Directory: Determine where you want the PDFs to be saved.

Download the PDF: Use the Selenium WebDriver to access the PDF URL and trigger the download.

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Set Up ChromeOptions

Before initiating your ChromeDriver, you need to configure the ChromeOptions. Below is the code required for this setup:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Key Configurations Explained:

2. Initializing WebDriver

Once your options are set, the next step is initializing the driver and accessing the PDF document using its URL:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In this code snippet, we're invoking the designated download URL for the PDF.

3. Setting Up Renaming Mechanism

After downloading, you might want to rename the file to indicate success. This can be accomplished via Java's file manipulation capabilities:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This allows you to keep track of your downloads more efficiently, ensuring clarity in your testing process.

Conclusion

Downloading PDFs using Selenium and Java in a headless Chrome environment can effectively be managed through proper configurations in ChromeOptions. By disabling PDF viewing in the browser, you enable automatic downloads which can be organized and renamed as needed. This approach not only streamlines the process but improves the reliability of automated tests handling document generation.

Feel free to implement this strategy in your own Selenium projects, and happy testing!