Automate PDF Comparison with Selenium in Python

Automate PDF Comparison with Selenium in Python

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Downloading a PDF File
3. Comparing PDF Files
4. Installing Selenium and PyPDF2 Libraries
5. Setting Up Chrome Driver
6. Downloading a PDF File Using Selenium
7. Extracting Text from a PDF File
8. Comparing Text from Two PDF Files
9. Handling Different File Names and Locations
10. Complete Code Example

Introduction

In this tutorial, we will learn how to download a PDF file from any web page and compare it with a predefined file using Python. This method can be very useful in quality assurance (QA) automation, where we need to verify the content of PDF files. We will use the Selenium library for downloading the PDF file and the PyPDF2 library for extracting text from the PDF. Let's get started!

Downloading a PDF File

To download the PDF file from a web page, we will use the Selenium library. First, we need to install the Selenium and PyPDF2 libraries in our project. Then, we will set up the Chrome driver and configure it to download the file in our desired location. We will use the Chrome Option library and set the download directory path to where we want to save the PDF file. In the code, we will navigate to the web page and find the download link using XPath. We will use the click method to download the file. After the download is complete, we will wait for a few seconds to ensure the file is downloaded before proceeding.

Comparing PDF Files

Once we have downloaded the PDF file, we will extract the text from it using the PyPDF2 library. We will Create a function that takes the file path as input and returns the text from the PDF. We will extract the text page by page and store it in a variable. To compare two PDF files, we will call this function for both the expected file and the actual downloaded file. Then, we will use the assert function to compare the text. If the text is identical, we will print a message saying that the PDF files are identical. If the text is not identical, we will print a message saying that the PDF files are not identical.

Installing Selenium and PyPDF2 Libraries

Before we can use Selenium and PyPDF2, we need to install them in our project. To install Selenium, we can use the command pip install selenium. To install PyPDF2, we can use the command pip install PyPDF2. These commands will download and install the required libraries in our project.

Setting Up Chrome Driver

To use the Chrome driver with Selenium, we need to set up the Chrome driver manager. This allows us to dynamically install the Chrome driver during the project run. We can import the ChromeDriverManager class from the webdriver_manager module and use it to install the Chrome driver. This ensures that we always have the correct version of the Chrome driver for our machine.

Downloading a PDF File Using Selenium

Once we have set up the Chrome driver, we can use Selenium to download the PDF file from the web page. We will maximize the Chrome window using the driver.maximize_window() method. Then, we will find the download link using XPath and click on it using the click() method. We will also add a delay of a few seconds to allow the file to be downloaded before proceeding.

Extracting Text from a PDF File

After the PDF file is downloaded, we will extract the text from it using the PyPDF2 library. We will create a function that takes the file path as input and returns the text from the PDF. We will use the PdfFileReader class from the PyPDF2 library to Read the content of the PDF file. We will then extract the text from the pages and store it in a variable. This function will allow us to extract the text from any PDF file.

Comparing Text from Two PDF Files

To compare the text from two PDF files, we will call the function for both the expected file and the actual downloaded file. We will pass the file paths as parameters to the function and store the returned text in variables. Then, we will use the assert function to compare the text. If the text is identical, we will print a message saying that the PDF files are identical. If the text is not identical, we will print a message saying that the PDF files are not identical.

Handling Different File Names and Locations

In some cases, the file name or location may differ for each run of the code. To handle this, we can provide a directory path where the input files and output files are stored. We can use the glob library to list all the files from the directory. Then, we can use a for loop to compare each pair of files. This ensures that all the files in the directory are compared.

Complete Code Example

To see the complete code example for downloading a PDF file and comparing it with a predefined file, please refer to the code provided in the tutorial. You can modify the code according to your specific requirements and file paths. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section if you need any assistance.

Highlights:

• Learn how to download a PDF file from any web page using Selenium
• Extract text from a PDF file using PyPDF2 library
• Compare text from two PDF files
• Handle different file names and locations
• Includes complete code example for reference

FAQ:

Q: Can this method be used to compare PDF files with images or tables? A: This method focuses on comparing text from PDF files. If you need to compare images or tables, you can convert the PDF into images and then use image comparison libraries or methods.