Launchpad


You can launch browsers! With NodeJS!

* __Local browsers__ for MacOS, Windows and Linux (like) operating systems
* __BrowserStack__ browsers using the BrowserStack API

API

The general API for any launcher () looks like this:

``js
var launch = require('launchpad');
launch.(configuration, function(error, launcher) {
launcher.browsers(function(error, browsers) {
// -> List of available browsers with version
});

launcher(url, configuration, function(error, instance) {
instance // -> A browser instance
instance.id // -> unique instance id
instance.stop(callback) // -> Stop the instance
instance.status(callback) // -> Get status information about the instance
});

launcher.(url, function(error, instance) {
// Same as above
});
});
`

Local launchers

Local launchers look up all currently installed browsers (unless limited by LAUNCHPAD_BROWSERS - see below for details) and allow you to start new browser processes.

`js
// Launch a local browser
launch.local(function(err, local) {
local.browsers(function(error, browsers) {
// -> List of all browsers found locally with version
});

local.firefox('http://url', function(err, instance) {
// An instance is an event emitter
instance.on('stop', function() {
console.log('Terminated local firefox');
});
});
});
`

$3

By default Launchpad looks up all installed browsers. To speed-up this process you can define the following env variables:
* LAUNCHPAD_BROWSERS - comma delimited list of browsers you want to use, e.g. LAUNCHPAD_BROWSERS=chrome,firefox,opera. Other browsers will not be detected even if they are installed.
* LAUNCHPAD_ - specifies where given browser is installed so that Launchpad does not need to look for it, e.g.
LAUNCHPAD_CHROME=/usr/bin/chromium

The following browser names are recognized: chrome, firefox, safari, ie, edge, opera, canary, aurora, electron, phantom, nodeWebKit.
Not all platforms support all browsers - see platform for details.

Browserstack

BrowserStack is a great cross-browser testing tool and offers API access to any account that is on a monthly plan.
Launchpad allows you to start BrowserStack workers through its API like this:

`js
launch.browserstack({
username : 'user',
password : 'password'
},
function(err, browserstack) {
browserstack.browsers(function(error, browsers) {
// -> List of all Browserstack browsers
});

browserstack.ie('http://url', function(err, instance) {
// Shut the instance down after 5 seconds
setTimeout(function() {
instance.stop(function (err) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
}
console.log('Browser instance has stopped');
});
}, 5000);
});
});
``

Behind the scenes we have the node-browserstack
module do all the work (API calls) for us.