WebDriver.checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment as property

[dornech]

I want to use SeleniumVBA with Cloakbrowser https://github.com/CloakHQ/CloakBrowser to overcome Cloudflare / reCAPTCHA issues.
I do call Python from within VBA to download cloakbrowser to retrieve the parameters I have to set in the WebDriver / WebCapabilities in advance. This works.

In VBA I do

Set objWebDriver = New_WebDriver
objWebDriver.DefaultDriverFolder = "H:\cloakbrowser\chromium-145.0.7632.159.7"
startWebDriver objWebDriver, "chrome"

Set objWebCapabilities = objWebDriver.CreateCapabilities
objWebCapabilities.SetBrowserBinary "H:\cloakbrowser\chromium-145.0.7632.159.7\chrome.exe"
objWebCapabilities..AddArguments ....
...

objWebDriver.OpenBrowser objWebCapabilities

This did not work at the very beginning and I tracked it back to an issue caused by the auto-update of chromedriver.exe.
In generel this auto-update is OK for me but not for applications using cloakbrowser.
So I would need to set WebDriver.checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment more easily than changing seleniumVBA.ini back and forth.
Wonder if WebDriver.checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment can be made public or otherwise set/get be provided.

NB: CloakBrowser did not help me to overcome my specific cloudflare issue but it might be useful for other sites (and other SeleniumVBA user).

[hanamichi77777]

To make it possible to set checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment directly in the code instead of via an ini file, it seems we'd need to modify the WebDriver class and create a new public property.
However, whether it's better to handle this through the ini file or in the code touches upon SeleniumVBA's design policies, so it's hard to say definitively which approach is best.

[dornech]

Well, I use SeleniumVBA for different use cases and do not use a SeleniumVBA-INI file per use case nor did I plan to do so. So for structure of my developments it is definitely beneficial to have the property.

In general I wonder if not every setting from an INI file should be possible to be set programmatically without providing/adjusting an INI file. A use case might have specific INI setting requirements and for that reason it should be possible to set it via code. Having to maintain an INI file would mean a) dependency between code and additionaly provided INI file or b) adjusting INI file programmatically in the program for the use case. Neither a nor b seems to me to be really best comfortable solution.

[dornech]

BTW: similar use case as with cloakbrwoser is with undetected-chromebrowser which overcomes my cloudflare issue (i e the cloudflare turnstile checkbox pops up once but if clicked away does not re-appear anymore). Approach for using these external solutions is pretty much the same: I do call a small Python callstub to download and patching chromedriver file via the respective Python package and then use the patched chromedriver.exe (or cloakdriver) in SeleniumVBA via setting the respective executables.

Of course, the webdriver manager should not update this specific webdriver files again.
In case of undetected chromedriver this should not happen as this updating would undo the patching.
In case of cloakbrowser the chromedriver.exe must match the base version of the cloak-patched Chromium browser. It this base version is too far behind the version of the installed Chrome browser (being the anchor for the webdriver update in SeleniumVBA), the cloakbrowser would not start due to version gap after the automated update.

[GCuser99]

So is this something like this what you are proposing?

'@Description("Installs an updated driver if out-of-date. System default is True.")
Public Property Let AutoDriverUpdate(ByVal v As Boolean)
    checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment = v
End Property
Public Property Get AutoDriverUpdate() As Boolean
    AutoDriverUpdate = checkDriverBrowserVersionAlignment
End Property

You would call it right before driver.StartChrome.

[GCuser99]

Or an alternative (maybe better) idea would be to add it as an optional argument to StartXXXXX.

In either case, the INI file value (if it exists) will take precedence.

[dornech]

Either way would work I think.
Thanks for caring

[hanamichi77777]

That reminds me, I recall making a similar proposal previously.
#179

[dornech]

Well, in the end we both have the same basic idea but just suggest different ways how to implement. I think both would work

[GCuser99]

That reminds me, I recall making a similar proposal previously. #179

In both issue reports (@dornech's and @hanamichi77777's), I took careful consideration of the issue context. @hanamichi77777's issue had to do with a user wanting to temporarily update the WebDriver manually, while evaluating whether SeleniumVBA suited their needs, as I understood it. IMO, I didn't think that was a very compelling reason to add another property to the code base given the .ini file solution would serve that purpose. @dornech's issue seems more compelling to me - different use-cases would require modifying the .ini file for each. That seems like a good enough reason to add the property to turn the auto-update feature off, depending on which browser is being used.

Thanks to both of you for your reports!