Start WebDriver

This node starts a Selenium workflow by creating a new WebDriver. A WebDriver serves as an interface to a web browser, and allows to open web pages, control the browser, and extract data from it. The actual WebDriver to use must be configured using an upstream WebDriver Factory node.

The WebDriver is automatically closed, when this node is being reset, or the workflow or KNIME is closed. Additionally, you can explicitly close the browser with a Quit WebDriver node.

Important note: Because of the way Selenium works, KNIME workflows using the Selenium Nodes behave differently than you might be used from other nodes. As a Selenium workflow relies on a running browser instance, it is for example not possible to re-run a saved KNIME workflow from in between after it has been loaded from disk. In such cases, you need to re-run the workflow starting from the initial Start WebDriver node, as the downstream Selenium nodes require a WebDriver instance for operation.