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WebDriver 5: Test fails with option manualStart=true: Cannot read property '$$' of undefined

See original GitHub issue

It seems to be a regression in WebDriver 5. It works well with WebDriver 4 unless you upgrade using npm i webdriver@5. It doesn’t depend if you change the string “WebDriverIO” => “WebDriver” (ver. 5) in config file and helper or if you keep using “WebDriverIO” (ver. 4) in your config/helper.

What are you trying to achieve?

I want to start browser manually

What do you get instead?

Provide console output if related. Use --verbose mode for more details.

$ ../../node_modules/.bin/codeceptjs run --verbose
2019-03-10T11:07:43.152Z DEBUG @wdio/config: @wdio/sync not found, running tests asynchronous
CodeceptJS v2.0.7
Using test root "/home/mira/workspace/mycodeceptjs/tests/manual"
Helpers: WebDriver, My
Plugins: screenshotOnFail

Manual --
    [1] Starting recording promises
    Emitted | suite.before ([object Object])
  test something
    Emitted | test.before ([object Object])
    [1] Error | TypeError: Cannot read property '$$' of undefined
    Emitted | test.failed ([object Object])
  ✖ "before each" hook: codeceptjs.before for "test something" in 2ms
    [1] Error | TypeError: Cannot read property '$$' of undefined
TypeError: Cannot read property '$$' of undefined
    Emitted | test.after ([object Object])
    Emitted | suite.after ([object Object])

-- FAILURES:

  1) Manual
       "before each" hook: codeceptjs.before for "test something":
     Cannot read property '$$' of undefined
  ypeError: Cannot read property '$$' of undefined
      at WebDriver._before (/home/mira/workspace/mycodeceptjs/node_modules/codeceptjs/lib/helper/WebDriver.js:419:28)
      at recorder.add (/home/mira/workspace/mycodeceptjs/node_modules/codeceptjs/lib/listener/helpers.js:21:69)
      at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:68:7)


  FAIL  | 0 passed, 1 failed   // 8ms
    Emitted | global.result ([object Object])
    Emitted | global.after ([object Object])

Provide test source code if related


Feature("Manual");

Scenario("test something", (I) => {
    I.startBrowser();
    I.amOnPage("/");
    I.stopBrowser();
});

my_helper.js:

class My extends Helper {
    startBrowser() {
        this.helpers["WebDriver"]._startBrowser();
    }
    stopBrowser() {
        this.helpers["WebDriver"]._stopBrowser();
    }
}

module.exports = My;

Details

CodeceptJS version: 2.0.7
NodeJS Version: 10.15.1
Operating System: Ubuntu 18.10
WebDriverIO: 5.7.1
Configuration file:

exports.config = {
    tests: "./*_test.js",
    output: "./output",
    helpers: {
        WebDriver: {
            url: "https://codecept.io",
            browser: "chrome",
            manualStart: true
        },
        My: {
            require: "./my_helper.js",
        },
    },
    include: {
        I: "./steps_file.js"
    },
    bootstrap: null,
    mocha: {},
    name: "manual"
};