Selenium Gmail Login Automation project

About the Project

This project is a step-by-step tutorial on how to automate the login process for Gmail using Python, WebDriver, and Selenium. The goal of this project is to showcase the developer's skills in user authentication. The tutorial provides detailed instructions on setting up the Python environment, installing the necessary packages (selenium and webdriver_manager), and configuring the Chrome browser options for automation. It also includes code snippets that demonstrate how to navigate to the Gmail login page, enter the username, click the "Next" button, and perform other actions using Selenium's WebDriver API. The project emphasizes the importance of enabling less secure apps to access the Gmail account, while also highlighting the potential security risks associated with this setting. Overall, this tutorial serves as a practical guide for automating the Gmail login

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Prerequisites

Before running the script, make sure you have the following installed:

• Python: Visit the official Python website at https://www.python.org/downloads/ and download the appropriate version for your operating system.
• Pip: Pip is included by default with Python 3.4 and later versions. You can verify if pip is installed by running pip --version in your terminal.

Installation

To install Python and pip, follow these steps:

1. Download Python: Visit the official Python website at https://www.python.org/downloads/. Download the version that is appropriate for your operating system (Windows, MacOS, Linux).

2. Install Python: Run the installer that you downloaded. On the first installer page, make sure you check the box labeled "Add Python to PATH" before clicking "Install Now".

3. Verify Python Installation: Open a new terminal window (Command Prompt for Windows, Terminal for MacOS and Linux). Type the following command and press Enter:

    python --version

If Python is installed correctly, you should see a response with the Python version number.

4. Install pip: Pip is included by default with Python 3.4 and later versions. You can check if pip is installed by typing the following command in your terminal and pressing Enter:

    pip --version

You can verify the installation by running pip --version

Once the Python environment is set up and the packages are installed, you can execute the code without any issues. If you don't have it yet, remember to read the above instruction before running the below code.

This code snippet installs the required packages: selenium, webdriver_manager

    pip install selenium webdriver_manager

Import necessary libraries

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
import time

When you try to login to your Google account, Google checks the browser and the app to ensure they meet certain security standards. If they don't, Google blocks the login attempt with the error "This browser or app may not be secure"

To workaround is to enable less secure apps to access your account Note! it can make your account more vulnerable to hacking. Test with extra account only

Setup Chrome options to

• Disable the "enable-automation" flag.
• Add the "no-sandbox" argument.
• Add the "disable-infobars" argument.
• Add the "disable-dev-shm-usage" argument.

chrome_options = Options()
chrome_options.add_argument("--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled")
chrome_options.add_argument("--no-sandbox")
chrome_options.add_argument("--disable-infobars")
chrome_options.add_argument("--disable-dev-shm-usage")

Set the driver

webdriver_service = Service(ChromeDriverManager().install())
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=webdriver_service, options=chrome_options)

Test open google website

driver.get('https://www.google.com')

Navigate to login Gmail

driver.get("https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F&hl=en&service=mail&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=AddSession")

For the Next Step, read the instruction first , then follow the instructions to add yourgmailacc@gmail.com

To find the ID of an element in a web browser, you can follow these steps:

1. Open your web browser and navigate to the desired webpage.
2. Right-click anywhere on the webpage and select "Inspect" or "Inspect Element" from the context menu. This will open the browser's developer tools.

3. In the developer tools, you can use the shortcut Ctrl + F (or Command + F on macOS) to open the search bar.
4. Type the ID you are looking for in the search bar and press Enter. The developer tools will highlight the element with the matching ID.
5. Take note of the ID for later use in your code. see the screenshot image below ..

Once you have identified the ID of the element you want to interact with, you can use the find_element_by_id function to locate it in the web browser. This function takes a single parameter, identifierID, which is a string representing the ID of the element to be found.

To replace "yourgmailacc@gmail.com" with the actual email address you want to use for login and excute the following code.

Identify the user name text box and enter the value

driver.find_element(By.ID, "identifierId").send_keys("yourgmailacc@gmail.com")
time.sleep(2)

Clicks on the 'Next' button and waits for 2 seconds

driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//span[text()='Next']").click()
time.sleep(2)

Search for the password in in the search bar and press Enter. The developer tools will highlight the element with the matching ID. See the below image ..

Identify the user name text box and enter the value

#don't forget to add your actual password in "yourpassword"
driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//input[@name="Passwd"]').send_keys("yourpassword") 
time.sleep(2)

Clicks on the 'Next' button again

driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//span[text()='Next']").click()
time.sleep(2)

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully completed all the necessary steps to automate the login process for your Gmail account using Selenium and Python.

After executing the code, you will be directed to your Gmail account inbox. Voila! You can now perform various actions such as reading emails, composing new emails, and managing your inbox using Selenium.

Closing the Browser To close the browser after performing the necessary actions, you can use the following code:

# close the browser
driver.close()

Remember to handle sensitive information, such as passwords, securely and avoid sharing them in plain text within your code. Additionally, it is important to note that automating login processes with less secure apps can make your account more vulnerable to hacking. Therefore, it is recommended to test these scripts with a separate account dedicated for testing purposes only.

Feel free to explore and enhance the automation script further to suit your specific needs. Happy coding!

License

MIT © Eaint Kyawt Hmu