How do I establish an open connection to an open web browser in C#?

[Xarzu]

How do I establish an open connection to an open web browser in C#?

In a Microsoft C# program using a Visual Studio Code I am using the following namespaces:

using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;

After I get a string variable, "url", assigned with a URL of a website page, I use the following commands which successfully opens a browser window and loads the web site:

IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(url);

But this opens a chrome browser which is denoted somewhere as being a "test" session. It somehow knows it was launched from a program. And, since I am using this program to automate some interactions with linkedin, this information is passed along to linkedin which prompts me that it requires I login. This creates a cascading seriies of events that are difficult to automate including using my cell as a means of verification.

So, instead of taking this route, how do I establish an open connection to an open web browser in C#? I figure, if I instead connect to a web browser that is already open and already has its veriication steps done with linkedin, then I won't be prompted to log in and do any user verification.

On a personal note, if this is intentional security measures to prevent people from abusing a system, then this is a sad thing.

On a broader view, will all this mean I will have to make a web browser from scratch?

[PlausiblyDamp]

Automation like this is against their terms https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement#dose however they do have an api https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/linkedin/ that you can use

[Xarzu]

How do I establish an open connection to an open web browser in C#?

In a Microsoft C# program using a Visual Studio Code I am using the following namespaces:

 using OpenQA.Selenium;
 using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
 using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;

After I get a string variable, "url", assigned with a URL of a website page, I use the following commands which successfully opens a browser window and loads the web site:

 IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
 driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(url);

But this opens a chrome browser which is denoted somewhere as being a "test" session. It somehow knows it was launched from a program. And, since I am using this program to automate some interactions with linkedin, this information is passed along to linkedin which prompts me that it requires I login. This creates a cascading seriies of events that are difficult to automate including using my cell as a means of verification.

Here, let me show you what I am up against. This screen shot:

https://www.likablelogic.org/images/Direct/01.png
shows that the web browser that my code launches through selenium commands has a label on it, "Chrome is bring controlled by automated test software". Yes, and I wrote this automated test software.

What is most annoying is the fact that there is no log in to the session which is done automatically when I normally launch a browser. Here see this screen shot

https://www.likablelogic.org/images/Direct/02.png
where you can see that the user icon is this nondescript non-person.
I made a video to demonstrate how pointless and frusturating this is:



So, instead of taking this route, how do I establish an open connection to an open web browser in C#? I figure, if I instead connect to a web browser that is already open and already has its veriication steps done with linkedin, then I won't be prompted to log in and do any user verification.

On a personal note, if this is intentional security measures to prevent people from abusing a system, then this is a sad thing.

On a broader view, will all this mean I will have to make a web browser from scratch?

I do not think so. Here is the bottom line. I am using selenium commands. Selenium is used for software testing. So there must be some way to attack a C# program to an actively open chrome web browser and interact with it. How do I do that?

Is it better to use a different browser other than Chrome? How would I do that in C# code?

[jmcilhinney]

It's not OK to create multiple threads for the same issue. If you want to add more information, add a post to the existing thread. Threads merged.

[PlausiblyDamp]

On a broader view, will all this mean I will have to make a web browser from scratch?

I do not think so. Here is the bottom line. I am using selenium commands. Selenium is used for software testing. So there must be some way to attack a C# program to an actively open chrome web browser and interact with it. How do I do that?

Is it better to use a different browser other than Chrome? How would I do that in C# code?

Or you could try using the API like I already suggested. Automating access to LinkedIn is against their T&Cs and they are probably making it harder to do this to prevent people doing exactly what you are trying to do. Creating an entire web browser from scratch is a massive undertaking, doing this to circumvent the current system seems overkill; especially as they could change the system at any point and completely render your custom browser useless in this regard.

The API exists as a way to get at information in a supported way, it is going to be a lot easier to use a supported method than create a web browser from scratch.