How can I set up Eclipse/Selenium to run scripts on other browsers on a Mac? - eclipse

Question

Im new to Macs and Im having issues trying to run scripts on any browser, let alone IE or Chrome. Here is what Ive done so far:
Installed the latest versions of Eclipse, Selenium standalone server and Selenium IDE
Installed TestNG framework for Eclipse
Installed Selenium web driver and the JAVA libraries
So far all I can do is just run the test scripts Ive created on FF12.
I have created some test scripts on FF12 using Selenium IDE, then exported them to Eclipse with TestNG and when I try to run them I get this error message "Please add the directory containing ''firefox-bin' or 'firefox'' to your PATH environment"
I have a feeling im missing a lot of steps to properly configure Eclipse & Selenium to run scripts on other browsers (ideally IE9 and the latest version of Chrome). And if thats not bad enough, im using a MacBook Pro (Ive been a PC person all my life). Please be gentle and any advice that I can get would be highly appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

Short answer
Seems like your firefox executable in not in the system path or in the default location. There are multiple ways to fix this
1.Set the firefox binary path in code
You need to set the webdriver.firefox.bin property. In java you can do this by using the following code:
FirefoxProfile profile = new FirefoxProfile();
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(new FirefoxBinary(new File("path/to/your/firefox.exe")), profile);
2.Find where your firefox is installed and update that path in your path variable
export PATH=/my/firefox/path/bin:$PATH
3.Specify webdriver.firefox.bin as a system property when you start selenium server.
java -jar seleniumserver.jar -D webdriver.firefox.bin = "/path/to/firefox-bin
Once you do one of the above, your issue should be resolved.
Not so short answer - Why it fails?
Per FirefoxDriver javadoc -
org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver
An implementation of the {#link WebDriver} interface that drives
Firefox. This works through a firefox extension, which gets installed
automatically if necessary. Important system variables are:
webdriver.firefox.bin - Which firefox binary to use (normally
"firefox" on the PATH).
webdriver.firefox.profile - The name of the
profile to use (normally "WebDriver").
Here, webdriver.firefox.bin determines the path of firefox.exe (in windows) or firefox (in mac).
Usually, when you install firefox in your machine the path to firefox file gets added to the path variable. This will allow the user to call firefox from any place.
Webdriver will look for this firefox executable in the path variable and then in the default location. From selenium code, this default path is defined as given below:
case MAC:
if (!binaryName.endsWith(".app"))
binaryName += ".app";
binaryName += "/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin";
break;
If your firefox file is not available in /Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin then webdriver will not know where to find it. Hence the failure.