Upload File on selenium node (grid environment) , where in upload button is not of input(type='file') - file-upload

Question

I do have a page , where import button looks like this .
Dom Structure of above import button is as below
<button ngf-select="" ng-model="$parent.enduserMashups.files" class="btn btn-default text-center ng-pristine ng-untouched ng-valid ng-empty">
<i class="icon-import-data"></i>
<span>Import</span></button>
I have written selenium upload utility as below , which works fine in case of NON-GRID environment (local machine)
public void uploadFile(String filePath)
{
// Setting up clipBoard location
StringSelection ss = new StringSelection(filePath);
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard().setContents(ss, null);
// Using Robot class to upload file
Robot robot;
try
{
robot = new Robot();
try
{
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
// Press Enter
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
// Release Enter
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
// Press CTRL+V
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_V);
// Release CTRL+V
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_V);
try
{
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
};
// Press Enter
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER);
} catch (AWTException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
In case of running above code on selenium grid-node environment , 'import' button gets clicked on node browser instance and here it doesn't find file(obviously), as it is saved on another machine from where testcase is running .
Googling a lot , I found some solutions which states that in case of having button , we can use webdriver.sendKeys(file) method , which sends file to selenium node directly , however that is applicable in case of tag only .
What about in case of NOT having element ?

Answer 1

Here's what you can do to solve your issue.
You need to build a custom servlet which has a POST/GET method defined and which can be used to trigger a file upload. ( See here for an example). You need to also make sure that this servlet will return back the absolute file path of where the file was saved after it was accepted.
You now inject the newly built custom servlet into the Grid node ( See here to learn how to do it )
Similar to (1) and (2) you build another servlet with a GET/POST action which when invoked can internally call your uploadFile() method. [ You will basically pass the filepath that you obtain from invoking the servlet explained in (1)
You refer to this blog post of mine to learn how to find out where did the Grid route your tests to and using the mechanism I have explained you retrieve the IP and port of the node to which your test was routed to.
Using the IP and Port number obtained from (4) you first invoke the Upload file servlet to first upload your file to the remote machine on which the node is running and get back the saved file's absolute file path from the servlet.
You now invoke your other servlet which contains the uploadFile() method and driven by the ROBOT APIs by passing the absolute file path from (5) and have it perform the upload action using ROBOT on the remote host.
That should do the trick.