The clientutils module — CasperJS 1.1.0-DEV documentation

# The `clientutils` module

Casper ships with a few client-side utilities which are injected in the remote DOM environment, and accessible from there through the `__utils__` object instance of the `ClientUtils` class from the `clientutils` module:

    casper.evaluate(function() {
      __utils__.echo("Hello World!");
    });

Note

These tools are provided to avoid coupling CasperJS to any third-party library like jQuery, Mootools or something; but you can always include these and have them available client-side using the Casper.options.clientScripts option.

## Bookmarklet

A bookmarklet is also available to help injecting Casper’s client-side utilities in the DOM of your favorite browser.

Just drag the following link onto your favorites toobar; when clicking it, a `__utils__` object will be available within the console of your browser:

CasperJS Utils

Note

CasperJS and PhantomJS being based on Webkit, you’re strongly encouraged to use a recent Webkit compatible browser to use this bookmarklet (Chrome, Safari, etc…)

## `ClientUtils` prototype

### `echo()`

Signature: `echo(String message)`

New in version 1.0.

Print a message out to the casper console from the remote page DOM environment:

    casper.start('http://foo.ner/').thenEvaluate(function() {
        __utils__.echo('plop'); // this will be printed to your shell at runtime
    });

### `encode()`

Signature: `encode(String contents)`

Encodes a string using the base64 algorithm. For the records, CasperJS doesn’t use builtin `window.btoa()` function because it can’t deal efficiently with strings encoded using >8b characters:

    var base64;
    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        base64 = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.encode("I've been a bit cryptic recently");
        });
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.echo(base64).exit();
    });

### `exists()`

Signature: `exists(String selector)`

Checks if a DOM element matching a given selector expression exists:

    var exists;
    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        exists = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.exists('#some_id');
        });
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.echo(exists).exit();
    });

### `findAll()`

Signature: `findAll(String selector)`

Retrieves all DOM elements matching a given selector expression:

    var links;
    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        links = this.evaluate(function() {
            var elements = __utils__.findAll('a.menu');
            return elements.map(function(e) {
                return e.getAttribute('href');
            });
        });
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.echo(JSON.stringify(links)).exit();
    });

### `findOne()`

Signature: `findOne(String selector)`

Retrieves a single DOM element by a selector expression:

    var href;
    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        href = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.findOne('#my_id').getAttribute('href');
        });
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.echo(href).exit();
    });

### `forceTarget()`

Signature: `forceTarget(String selector, String target)`

Force the engine to use another target instead of the one provided. Very useful to limit the number of open windows and reduce memory consumption:

    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        var href = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.forceTarget('#my_id', '_self').click();
        });
        this.echo(href);
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.exit();
    });

### `getBase64()`

Signature: `getBase64(String url[, String method, Object data])`

This method will retrieved a base64 encoded version of any resource behind a url. For example, let’s imagine we want to retrieve the base64 representation of some website’s logo:

    var logo = null;
    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        logo = this.evaluate(function() {
            var imgUrl = document.querySelector('img.logo').getAttribute('src');
            return __utils__.getBase64(imgUrl);
        });
    });

    casper.run(function() {
        this.echo(logo).exit();
    });

### `getBinary()`

Signature: `getBinary(String url[, String method, Object data])`

This method will retrieved the raw contents of a given binary resource; unfortunately though, PhantomJS cannot process these data directly so you’ll have to process them within the remote DOM environment. If you intend to download the resource, use getBase64() or Casper.base64encode() instead:

    casper.start('http://foo.bar/', function() {
        this.evaluate(function() {
            var imgUrl = document.querySelector('img.logo').getAttribute('src');
            console.log(__utils__.getBinary(imgUrl));
        });
    });

    casper.run();

### `getDocumentHeight()`

Signature: `getDocumentHeight()`

New in version 1.0.

Retrieves current document height:

    var documentHeight;

    casper.start('http://google.com/', function() {
        documentHeight = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.getDocumentHeight();
        });
        this.echo('Document height is ' + documentHeight + 'px');
    });

    casper.run();

### `getDocumentWidth()`

Signature: `getDocumentWidth()`

New in version 1.0.

Retrieves current document width:

    var documentHeight;

    casper.start('http://google.com/', function() {
        documentWidth = this.evaluate(function() {
            return __utils__.getDocumentWidth();
        });
        this.echo('Document width is ' + documentWidth + 'px');
    });

    casper.run();

### `getElementBounds()`

Signature: `getElementBounds(String selector)`

Retrieves boundaries for a DOM elements matching the provided selector.

It returns an Object with four keys: `top`, `left`, `width` and `height`, or `null` if the selector doesn’t exist.

### `getElementsBounds()`

Signature: `getElementsBounds(String selector)`

Retrieves boundaries for all DOM element matching the provided selector.

It returns an array of objects each having four keys: `top`, `left`, `width` and `height`.

### `getElementByXPath()`

Signature: `getElementByXPath(String expression [, HTMLElement scope])`

Retrieves a single DOM element matching a given XPath expression.

New in version 1.0.

The `scope` argument allow to set the context for executing the XPath query:

    // will be performed against the whole document
    __utils__.getElementByXPath('.//a');

    // will be performed against a given DOM element
    __utils__.getElementByXPath('.//a', __utils__.findOne('div.main'));

### `getElementsByXPath()`

Signature: `getElementsByXPath(String expression [, HTMLElement scope])`

Retrieves all DOM elements matching a given XPath expression, if any.

New in version 1.0.

The `scope` argument allows to set the context for executing the XPath query.

### `getFieldValue()`

Signature: `getFieldValue(String selector[, HTMLElement scope])`

New in version 1.0.

Retrieves the value from the field named against the `inputNamed` argument:

    <form>
        <input type="text" name="plop" value="42">
    </form>

Using the `getFieldValue()` method for `plop`:

    __utils__.getFieldValue('[name="plop"]'); // 42

Options:

### `getFormValues()`

Signature: `getFormValues(String selector)`

New in version 1.0.

Retrieves a given form and all of its field values:

    <form id="login" action="/login">
        <input type="text" name="username" value="foo">
        <input type="text" name="password" value="bar">
        <input type="submit">
    </form>

To get the form values:

    __utils__.getFormValues('form#login'); // {username: 'foo', password: 'bar'}

### `log()`

Signature: `log(String message[, String level])`

Logs a message with an optional level. Will format the message a way CasperJS will be able to log phantomjs side. Default level is `debug`:

    casper.start('http://foo.ner/').thenEvaluate(function() {
        __utils__.log("We've got a problem on client side", 'error');
    });

### `makeSelector()`

Signature: `makeSelector(String selector [, String type])`

New in version 1.1-beta5.

Makes selector by defined type XPath, Name or Label. Function has same result as selectXPath in Casper module for XPath type - it makes XPath object. Function also accepts name attribute of the form field or can select element by its label text.

#### Parameter `type` values:

- ‘css’

  CSS3 selector - selector is returned transparently

- ‘xpath’ || null

  XPath selector - return XPath object

- ‘name’ || ‘names’

  select input of specific name, internally covert to CSS3 selector

- ‘label’ || ‘labels’

  select input of specific label, internally converted into XPath selector. As selector is label’s text used

Examples:

    __utils__.makeSelector('//li[text()="blah"]', 'xpath'); // return {type: 'xpath', path: '//li[text()="blah"]'}
    __utils__.makeSelector('parameter', 'name'); // return '[name="parameter"]'
    __utils__.makeSelector('My label', 'label'); // return {type: 'xpath', path: '//*[@id=string(//label[text()="My label"]/@for)]'}

### `mouseEvent()`

Signature: `mouseEvent(String type, String selector, [Number|String X, Number|String Y])`

Dispatches a mouse event to the DOM element behind the provided selector.

Supported events are `mouseup`, `mousedown`, `click`, `dblclick`, `mousemove`, `mouseover`, `mouseout`, `mouseenter`, `mouseleave` and `contextmenu`:

    .. index:: XPath

### `removeElementsByXPath()`

Signature: `removeElementsByXPath(String expression)`

Removes all DOM elements matching a given XPath expression.

### `sendAJAX()`

Signature: `sendAJAX(String url[, String method, Object data, Boolean async, Object settings])`

New in version 1.0.

Sends an AJAX request, using the following parameters:

- `url`: The url to request.
- `method`: The HTTP method (default: `GET`).
- `data`: Request parameters (default: `null`).
- `async`: Flag for an asynchroneous request? (default: `false`)
- `settings`: Custom Headers when perform the AJAX request (default: `null`). WARNING: an invalid header here may make the request fail silently.

Warning

Don’t forget to pass the `--web-security=no` option in your CLI call in order to perform cross-domains requests when needed:

    var data, wsurl = 'http://api.site.com/search.json';

    casper.start('http://my.site.com/', function() {
        data = this.evaluate(function(wsurl) {
            return JSON.parse(__utils__.sendAJAX(wsurl, 'GET', null, false));
        }, {wsurl: wsurl});
    });

    casper.then(function() {
        require('utils').dump(data);
    });

### `setFieldValue()`

Signature: `setFieldValue(String|Object selector, Mixed value [, HTMLElement scope])`

New in version 1.1-beta5.

Sets a value to form field by CSS3 or XPath selector. With makeSelector() function can be easily used with `name` or `label` selector

#### Options

- `(String|Object) scope: selector :`

  specific form scope

Examples:

    __utils__.setFieldValue("input[name='email']", 'chuck@norris.com');
    __utils__.setFieldValue("input[name='email']", 'chuck@norris.com', {'formSelector': '#myform'});
    __utils__.setFieldValue(__utils__.makeSelector('email', 'name'), 'chuck@norris.com');

### `visible()`

Signature: `visible(String selector)`

Checks if an element is visible:

    var logoIsVisible = casper.evaluate(function() {
        return __utils__.visible('h1');
    });