How to use Selenium to set up UKBinCollectionData with Home Assistant and Proxmox

[ttaggorf]

Afternoon everyone. I simply wanted to post here how I got Selenium setup with Home Assistant and Proxmox to successfully pull data using this addon. I'm not a overly strong programmer and I'd never heard of Selenium, so this was somewhat of a learning curve for me, plus there is very little information on Google which was easy to follow, so hopefully this helps someone.

Nb. This guide assumes that Proxmox is configured, HA is configured and the UKBinCollectionData integration has already been added via HACS. The dev's documentation can be found here if required.

Step One: Create an LXC Container in Proxmox

1. Create CT
2. Give it a name (I used selenium)
3. I used a Debian image I'd already got saved for the template
4. Create a password
5. Boot the LXC container and navigate to root
6. Use command ip addr to find the correct IPv4 address
7. Then run command apt-get update
8. Install Docker using commands apt install docker.io and apt-get install docker
9. Install Selenium using command docker run -d -p 4444:4444 --restart=always selenium/standalone-chrome

Step Two: Navigate to Selenium to check its running

Enter the IP address followed by port 4444 in an internet browser, for example

http://172.16.0.100:4444

Obviously replace the IP with the true IP address of your LXC container.

If you have done everything right, you should reach a webpage which says 'Selenium Grid' at the top. This confirms Selenium is running OK. ✅

Step Three: Configure the integration in Home Assistant

1. In the Home Assistant UI go to Settings > Devices & Services click + Add Integration and search for UK Bin Collection Data.
2. If you see a "URL of the remote Selenium web driver to use" field when setting up your council, you'll need to provide the URL to a web driver you've set up, for example http://172.16.0.100:4444.
3. Press Submit and let the magic happen.

Hope that helps. Feel free to comment below if you need any help and I'll try my best wherever possible to assist 👍

[robbrad]

Thank you @ttaggorf

[davida72]

I keep hearing about Proxmox. It seems inevitable I'll try it at some point so I appreciate the guide!

[Wrightdesigns]

Thank you.
Didn't really know what I was doing, but understood the steps and most importantly it worked.

[ttaggorf]

Glad I could help! :)

[bfranke1973]

Is this guide still up to date?

The reason I am asking is that I don't see the "URL of the remote Selenium web driver to use" field here.

I am using Version 0.166.0 for Midlothian Council, and I came here because I am seeing this error message "Failed setup, will retry: Unexpected error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/root/.wdm/drivers/chromedriver/linux64/114.0.5735.90/chromedriver'", which makes me believe that I would need to set up Selenium as explained in this guide. I am using HAOS and Proxmox.

Does the guide need to be updated, or is there a bug in the implementation for Midlothian (which recently got updated)?

[robbrad]

Hi @bfranke1973 on setup did it ask for a selenium grid url? With the checks etc or not?

[ttaggorf]

@bfranke1973 Have you ticked the 'Don't run on remote Selenium server, use local install of Chrome instead' option in the add-in settings?

[bfranke1973]

No, it didn't ask for a selenium grid url on setup. In fact, I can't see where the 'Don't run on remote Selenium server, use local install of Chrome instead' would be. Sorry, it seems I am doing something wrong here. On setup I am being asked about location/council details in a first pop-up window, and then post code/house number etc information in a second pop-up window. After that I am being shown a "Success" window and then back on the UK Bin Collection Data main page it shows "Needs attention" and the error message mentioned in my earlier post.

Where would I find the 'Don't run on remote Selenium server, use local install of Chrome instead' option? I have been looking through a number of "..." menues and "System Options", but can't find it.

[robbrad]

I don't think you are that's a bug. Will fix asap

[bfranke1973]

Ok, thanks a lot!