Why is CodeCeption acceptance test unable to access web page through webdriver?

Question

I'm trying to build a CodeCeption acceptance test environment for Joomla. To make it easier to reproduce the tests on any developer's machine, I want to provide a Docker based environment.

I'm creating the environment using docker-compose:

web:
  image: php:5-apache
  volumes:
    - ../..:/var/www/html
  ports:
    - 8080:80
  links:
    - db:db

db:
  image: mysql
  volumes:
    - ../../tests/_envs/sql:/var/lib/mysql
  ports:
    - 3306:3306

hub:
  image: selenium/hub
  ports:
    - 4444:4444

firefox:
  image: selenium/node-firefox-debug
  ports:
    - 5900
  links:
    - hub:hub

The CodeCeption setup looks like this (JoomlaBrowser is just extending WebDriver, adding Joomla specific functionality):

class_name: AcceptanceTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - JoomlaBrowser:
            url: 'http://localhost:8080/'     # the url that points to the joomla installation at /tests/system/joomla-cms
            browser: 'firefox'
            window_size: 1024x768
            capabilities:
              unexpectedAlertBehaviour: 'accept'
            username: 'admin'
            password: 'admin'
            database host: 'localhost'             # place where the Application is Hosted #server Address
            database user: 'root'                  # MySQL Server user ID, usually root
            database password: '1234'                  # MySQL Server password, usually empty or root
            database name: 'dbname'            # DB Name, at the Server
            database type: 'mysqli'                # type in lowercase one of the options: MySQL\MySQLi\PDO
            database prefix: 'jos_'                # DB Prefix for tables
            install sample data: 'Yes'              # Do you want to Download the Sample Data Along with Joomla Installation, then keep it Yes
            sample data: 'Default English (GB) Sample Data'    # Default Sample Data
            admin email: '[email protected]'      # email Id of the Admin
            language: 'English (United Kingdom)'   # Language in which you want the Application to be Installed
            joomla folder: '/home/.../path to Joomla Folder' # Path to Joomla installation where we execute the tests
        - \Helper\Acceptance
error_reporting: E_ALL

Once started, the web environment is accessible through http://localhost:8080 (redirecting to installation/index.php on a fresh copy of Joomla as expected) manually. So is the Selenium grid at http://localhost:4444/grid/console. Nevertheless, when running a CodeCeption acceptance test, the test only sees the 'Problem loading page' browser message.

What did I miss?

Answer 1

Finally solved it myself.

The problem is, that the firefox container should not access localhost, but the web container. Thus, a link to that container is needed. The fixed docker-compose.yml file now looks like

web:
  image: php:5-apache
  volumes:
    - .:/var/www/html
  ports:
    - "8080:80"
  links:
    - db:db

db:
  image: mysql
  volumes:
    - tests/_envs/sql:/var/lib/mysql
  environment:
    - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
  ports:
    - "3306:3306"

hub:
  image: selenium/hub
  ports:
    - "4444:4444"

firefox:
  image: selenium/node-firefox-debug
  links:
    - hub:hub
    - web:web
  ports:
    - "5900:5900"
  expose:
    - "5555"

The main difference is the link to web.

The acceptance test setup has to be changed accordingly:

class_name: AcceptanceTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - JoomlaBrowser:
            url: 'http://web/'     # the url that points to the joomla installation at /tests/system/joomla-cms
            browser: 'firefox'
            window_size: 1024x768
            capabilities:
              unexpectedAlertBehaviour: 'accept'
            username: 'admin'
            password: 'admin'
            database host: 'localhost'             # place where the Application is Hosted #server Address
            database user: 'root'                  # MySQL Server user ID, usually root
            database password: '1234'                  # MySQL Server password, usually empty or root
            database name: 'dbname'            # DB Name, at the Server
            database type: 'mysqli'                # type in lowercase one of the options: MySQL\MySQLi\PDO
            database prefix: 'jos_'                # DB Prefix for tables
            install sample data: 'Yes'              # Do you want to Download the Sample Data Along with Joomla Installation, then keep it Yes
            sample data: 'Default English (GB) Sample Data'    # Default Sample Data
            admin email: '[email protected]'      # email Id of the Admin
            language: 'English (United Kingdom)'   # Language in which you want the Application to be Installed
            joomla folder: '/home/.../path to Joomla Folder' # Path to Joomla installation where we execute the tests
        - \Helper\Acceptance
error_reporting: E_ALL

The main change here is to point the URL to http:/web/ instead of localhost.