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Web elements

Identifying and working with element objects in the DOM.

The majority of most people’s Selenium code involves working with web elements.

1 - File Upload

The file upload dialog could be handled using Selenium, when the input element is of type file. An example of it, could be found on this web page- https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload We will require to have a file available with us, which we need to upload. The code to upload the file for different programming languages will be as follows -

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
class fileUploadDoc{
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
		driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
		//we want to import selenium-snapshot file. 
		driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg");
		driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit();
		if(driver.getPageSource().contains("File Uploaded!")) {
			System.out.println("file uploaded");
		}
		else{
				System.out.println("file not uploaded");
			}
		driver.quit();
	}
}

  
from selenium import webdriver
driver.implicitly_wait(10)
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
driver.find_element(By.ID,"file-upload").send_keys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
driver.find_element(By.ID,"file-submit").submit()
if(driver.page_source.find("File Uploaded!")):
    print("file upload success")
else:
    print("file upload not successful")
driver.quit()

  
using System;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

namespace SeleniumDocumentation.SeleniumPRs
{
    class FileUploadExample
    {
        static void Main(String[] args)
        {
            IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
            try
            {
                // Navigate to Url
                driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");
                driver.FindElement(By.Id("file-upload")).SendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg");
                driver.FindElement(By.Id("file-submit")).Submit();
                if (driver.PageSource.Contains("File Uploaded!"))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("file uploaded");
                }
                else
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("file not uploaded");
                }
                driver.Quit();

            }

            }
}

  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload")
driver.find_element(:id,"file-upload").send_keys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
driver.find_element(:id,"file-submit").submit()

if driver.page_source().include? "File Uploaded!"
  puts "file upload success"
else
  puts "file upload not successful"
end

  
import {Builder,By} from "selenium-webdriver"


let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build()
await driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload");

await driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
await driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit()

driver.getPageSource().then(result => {
    if (result.indexOf("File Uploaded!")){
        console.log("file upload success")
    }else {
        console.log("file upload not successful")
    }
})
  

import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = ChromeDriver()
    driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload")
    driver.findElement(By.id("file-upload")).sendKeys("selenium-snapshot.jpg")
    driver.findElement(By.id("file-submit")).submit()
    if(driver.pageSource.contains("File Uploaded!")) {
        println("file uploaded")
    }
    else{
        println("file not uploaded")
    }
}

So the above example code helps to understand how we can upload a file using Selenium.

2 - Locator strategies

Ways to identify one or more specific elements in the DOM.

A locator is a way to identify elements on a page. It is the argument passed to the Finding element methods.

Check out our encouraged test practices for tips on locators, including which to use when and why to declare locators separately from the finding methods.

Traditional Locators

Selenium provides support for these 8 traditional location strategies in WebDriver:

Locator Description
class name Locates elements whose class name contains the search value (compound class names are not permitted)
css selector Locates elements matching a CSS selector
id Locates elements whose ID attribute matches the search value
name Locates elements whose NAME attribute matches the search value
link text Locates anchor elements whose visible text matches the search value
partial link text Locates anchor elements whose visible text contains the search value. If multiple elements are matching, only the first one will be selected.
tag name Locates elements whose tag name matches the search value
xpath Locates elements matching an XPath expression

Creating Locators

To work on a web element using Selenium, we need to first locate it on the web page. Selenium provides us above mentioned ways, using which we can locate element on the page. To understand and create locator we will use the following HTML snippet.

<html>
<body>
<style>
.information {
  background-color: white;
  color: black;
  padding: 10px;
}
</style>
<h2>Contact Selenium</h2>

<form action="/action_page.php">
  <input type="radio" name="gender" value="m" />Male &nbsp;
  <input type="radio" name="gender" value="f" />Female <br>
  <br>
  <label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
  <input class="information" type="text" id="fname" name="fname" value="Jane"><br><br>
  <label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
  <input class="information" type="text" id="lname" name="lname" value="Doe"><br><br>
  <label for="newsletter">Newsletter:</label>
  <input type="checkbox" name="newsletter" value="1" /><br><br>
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form> 

<p>To know more about Selenium, visit the official page 
<a href ="www.selenium.dev">Selenium Official Page</a> 
</p>

</body>
</html>

class name

The HTML page web element can have attribute class. We can see an example in the above shown HTML snippet. We can identify these elements using the class name locator available in Selenium. 

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.className("information"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "information")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.ClassName("information"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(class: 'information')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.className('information'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.className("information"))

css selector

CSS is the language used to style HTML pages. We can use css selector locator strategy to identify the element on the page. If the element has an id, we create the locator as css = #id. Otherwise the format we follow is css =[attribute=value] . Let us see an example from above HTML snippet. We will create locator for First Name textbox, using css.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fname"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#fname")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("#fname"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(css: '#fname')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.css('#fname'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.css("#fname"))

id

We can use the ID attribute available with element in a web page to locate it. Generally the ID property should be unique for a element on the web page. We will identify the Last Name field using it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.id("lname"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.ID, "lname")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Id("lname"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(id: 'lname')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.id('lname'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.id("lname"))

name

We can use the NAME attribute available with element in a web page to locate it. Generally the NAME property should be unique for a element on the web page. We will identify the Newsletter checkbox using it.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.name("newsletter"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.NAME, "newsletter")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Name("newsletter"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(name: 'newsletter')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.name('newsletter'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.name("newsletter"))

link text

If the element we want to locate is a link, we can use the link text locator to identify it on the web page. The link text is the text displayed of the link. In the HTML snippet shared, we have a link available, lets see how will we locate it. 

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.linkText("Selenium Official Page"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "Selenium Official Page")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Selenium Official Page"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(link_text: 'Selenium Official Page')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.linkText('Selenium Official Page'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Selenium Official Page"))

partial link text

If the element we want to locate is a link, we can use the partial link text locator to identify it on the web page. The link text is the text displayed of the link. We can pass partial text as value. In the HTML snippet shared, we have a link available, lets see how will we locate it. 

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Official Page"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "Official Page")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.PartialLinkText("Official Page"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(partial_link_text: 'Official Page')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText('Official Page'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText("Official Page"))

tag name

We can use the HTML TAG itself as a locator to identify the web element on the page. From the above HTML snippet shared, lets identify the link, using its html tag “a”. 

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.tagName("a"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "a")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.TagName("a"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(tag_name: 'a')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.tagName('a'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.tagName("a"))

xpath

A HTML document can be considered as a XML document, and then we can use xpath which will be the path traversed to reach the element of interest to locate the element. The XPath could be absolute xpath, which is created from the root of the document. Example - /html/form/input[1]. This will return the male radio button. Or the xpath could be relative. Example- //input[@name=‘fname’]. This will return the first name text box. Let us create locator for female radio button using xpath.

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@value='f']"));
  
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
	driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@value='f']")
  
    var driver = new ChromeDriver();
	driver.FindElement(By.Xpath("//input[@value='f']"));
  
    driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
	driver.find_element(xpath: '//input[@value='f']')
  
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
	const loc = await driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@value='f']'));
  

    val driver = ChromeDriver()
	val loc: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@value='f']'))

Relative Locators

Selenium 4 introduces Relative Locators (previously called as Friendly Locators). These locators are helpful when it is not easy to construct a locator for the desired element, but easy to describe spatially where the element is in relation to an element that does have an easily constructed locator.

How it works

Selenium uses the JavaScript function getBoundingClientRect() to determine the size and position of elements on the page, and can use this information to locate neighboring elements.
find the relative elements.

Relative locator methods can take as the argument for the point of origin, either a previously located element reference, or another locator. In these examples we’ll be using locators only, but you could swap the locator in the final method with an element object and it will work the same.

Let us consider the below example for understanding the relative locators.

Relative Locators

Available relative locators

Above

If the email text field element is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the password text field element is, we can locate the text field element using the fact that it is an “input” element “above” the password element.

By emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).above(By.id("password"));
email_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").above({By.ID: "password"})
var emailLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.TagName("input")).Above(By.Id("password"));
email_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', above: {id: 'password'}}}
let emailLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).above(By.id('password'));
val emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).above(By.id("password"))

Below

If the password text field element is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the email text field element is, we can locate the text field element using the fact that it is an “input” element “below” the email element.

By passwordLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).below(By.id("email"));
password_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").below({By.ID: "email"})
var passwordLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.TagName("input")).Below(By.Id("email"));
password_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', below: {id: 'email'}}}
let passwordLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).below(By.id('email'));
val passwordLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).below(By.id("email"))

Left of

If the cancel button is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the submit button element is, we can locate the cancel button element using the fact that it is a “button” element to the “left of” the submit element.

By cancelLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toLeftOf(By.id("submit"));
cancel_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").to_left_of({By.ID: "submit"})
var cancelLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).LeftOf(By.Id("submit"));
cancel_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', left: {id: 'submit'}}}
let cancelLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).toLeftOf(By.id('submit'));
val cancelLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toLeftOf(By.id("submit"))

Right of

If the submit button is not easily identifiable for some reason, but the cancel button element is, we can locate the submit button element using the fact that it is a “button” element “to the right of” the cancel element.

By submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"));
submit_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").to_right_of({By.ID: "cancel"})
var submitLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).RightOf(By.Id("cancel"));
submit_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', right: {id: 'cancel'}}}
let submitLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).toRightOf(By.id('cancel'));
val submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"))

Near

If the relative positioning is not obvious, or it varies based on window size, you can use the near method to identify an element that is at most 50px away from the provided locator. One great use case for this is to work with a form element that doesn’t have an easily constructed locator, but its associated input label element does.

By emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).near(By.id("lbl-email"));
email_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "input").near({By.ID: "lbl-email"})
var emailLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("input")).Near(By.Id("lbl-email"));
email_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'input', near: {id: 'lbl-email'}}}
let emailLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('input')).near(By.id('lbl-email'));
val emailLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("input")).near(By.id("lbl-email"));

Chaining relative locators

You can also chain locators if needed. Sometimes the element is most easily identified as being both above/below one element and right/left of another.

By submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).below(By.id("email")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"));
submit_locator = locate_with(By.TAG_NAME, "button").below({By.ID: "email"}).to_right_of({By.ID: "cancel"})
var submitLocator = RelativeBy.WithLocator(By.tagName("button")).Below(By.Id("email")).RightOf(By.Id("cancel"));
submit_locator = {relative: {tag_name: 'button', below: {id: 'email'}, right: {id: 'cancel'}}}
let submitLocator = locateWith(By.tagName('button')).below(By.id('email')).toRightOf(By.id('cancel'));
val submitLocator = RelativeLocator.with(By.tagName("button")).below(By.id("email")).toRightOf(By.id("cancel"))

3 - Finding web elements

Locating the elements based on the provided locator values.

One of the most fundamental aspects of using Selenium is obtaining element references to work with. Selenium offers a number of built-in locator strategies to uniquely identify an element. There are many ways to use the locators in very advanced scenarios. For the purposes of this documentation, let’s consider this HTML snippet:

<ol id="vegetables">
 <li class="potatoes">…
 <li class="onions">…
 <li class="tomatoes"><span>Tomato is a Vegetable</span>…
</ol>
<ul id="fruits">
  <li class="bananas">…
  <li class="apples">…
  <li class="tomatoes"><span>Tomato is a Fruit</span>…
</ul>

First matching element

Many locators will match multiple elements on the page. The singular find element method will return a reference to the first element found within a given context.

Evaluating entire DOM

When the find element method is called on the driver instance, it returns a reference to the first element in the DOM that matches with the provided locator. This value can be stored and used for future element actions. In our example HTML above, there are two elements that have a class name of “tomatoes” so this method will return the element in the “vegetables” list.

WebElement vegetable = driver.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"));
  
vegetable = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "tomatoes")
  
var vegetable = driver.FindElement(By.ClassName("tomatoes"));
  
vegetable = driver.find_element(class: 'tomatoes')
  
const vegetable = await driver.findElement(By.className('tomatoes'));
  

val vegetable: WebElement = driver.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"))

Evaluating a subset of the DOM

Rather than finding a unique locator in the entire DOM, it is often useful to narrow the search to the scope of another located element. In the above example there are two elements with a class name of “tomatoes” and it is a little more challenging to get the reference for the second one.

One solution is to locate an element with a unique attribute that is an ancestor of the desired element and not an ancestor of the undesired element, then call find element on that object:

WebElement fruits = driver.findElement(By.id("fruits"));
WebElement fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"));
  
fruits = driver.find_element(By.ID, "fruits")
fruit = fruits.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME,"tomatoes")
  
IWebElement fruits = driver.FindElement(By.Id("fruits"));
IWebElement fruit = fruits.FindElement(By.ClassName("tomatoes"));
  
fruits = driver.find_element(id: 'fruits')
fruit = fruits.find_element(class: 'tomatoes')
  
const fruits = await driver.findElement(By.id('fruits'));
const fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className('tomatoes'));
  

val fruits = driver.findElement(By.id("fruits"))
val fruit = fruits.findElement(By.className("tomatoes"))

Java and C#
WebDriver, WebElement and ShadowRoot classes all implement a SearchContext interface, which is considered a role-based interface. Role-based interfaces allow you to determine whether a particular driver implementation supports a given feature. These interfaces are clearly defined and try to adhere to having only a single role of responsibility.

Optimized locator

A nested lookup might not be the most effective location strategy since it requires two separate commands to be issued to the browser.

To improve the performance slightly, we can use either CSS or XPath to find this element in a single command. See the Locator strategy suggestions in our Encouraged test practices section.

For this example, we’ll use a CSS Selector:

WebElement fruit = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"));
  
fruit = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR,"#fruits .tomatoes")
  
var fruit = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"));
  
fruit = driver.find_element(css: '#fruits .tomatoes')
  
const fruit = await driver.findElement(By.css('#fruits .tomatoes'));
  

val fruit = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#fruits .tomatoes"))

All matching elements

There are several use cases for needing to get references to all elements that match a locator, rather than just the first one. The plural find elements methods return a collection of element references. If there are no matches, an empty list is returned. In this case, references to all fruits and vegetable list items will be returned in a collection.

List<WebElement> plants = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"));
  
plants = driver.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, "li")
  
IReadOnlyList<IWebElement> plants = driver.FindElements(By.TagName("li"));
  
plants = driver.find_elements(tag_name: 'li')
  
const plants = await driver.findElements(By.tagName('li'));
  

val plants: List<WebElement> = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"))

Get element

Often you get a collection of elements but want to work with a specific element, which means you need to iterate over the collection and identify the one you want.

List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.tagName("li"));

for (WebElement element : elements) {
    System.out.println("Paragraph text:" + element.getText());
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Firefox()

    # Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
elements = driver.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, 'p')

for e in elements:
    print(e.text)
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace FindElementsExample {
 class FindElementsExample {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
   try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

    // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    IList < IWebElement > elements = driver.FindElements(By.TagName("p"));
    foreach(IWebElement e in elements) {
     System.Console.WriteLine(e.Text);
    }

   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
     # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

     # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
  elements = driver.find_elements(:tag_name,'p')

  elements.each { |e|
    puts e.text
  }
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');
(async function example() {
    let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').build();
    try {
        // Navigate to Url
        await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

        // Get all the elements available with tag 'p'
        let elements = await driver.findElements(By.css('p'));
        for(let e of elements) {
            console.log(await e.getText());
        }
    }
    finally {
        await driver.quit();
    }
})();
  

import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver

fun main() {
    val driver = FirefoxDriver()
    try {
        driver.get("https://example.com")
        // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
        val elements = driver.findElements(By.tagName("p"))
        for (element in elements) {
            println("Paragraph text:" + element.text)
        }
    } finally {
        driver.quit()
    }
}

Find Elements From Element

It is used to find the list of matching child WebElements within the context of parent element. To achieve this, the parent WebElement is chained with ‘findElements’ to access child elements

  import org.openqa.selenium.By;
  import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
  import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
  import java.util.List;

  public class findElementsFromElement {
      public static void main(String[] args) {
          WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
          try {
              driver.get("https://example.com");

              // Get element with tag name 'div'
              WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("div"));

              // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
              List<WebElement> elements = element.findElements(By.tagName("p"));
              for (WebElement e : elements) {
                  System.out.println(e.getText());
              }
          } finally {
              driver.quit();
          }
      }
  }
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Get element with tag name 'div'
element = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'div')

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
elements = element.find_elements(By.TAG_NAME, 'p')
for e in elements:
    print(e.text)
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace FindElementsFromElement {
 class FindElementsFromElement {
  public static void Main(string[] args) {
   IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
   try {
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

    // Get element with tag name 'div'
    IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.TagName("div"));

    // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    IList < IWebElement > elements = element.FindElements(By.TagName("p"));
    foreach(IWebElement e in elements) {
     System.Console.WriteLine(e.Text);
    }
   } finally {
    driver.Quit();
   }
  }
 }
}
  
  require 'selenium-webdriver'
  driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  begin
    # Navigate to URL
    driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Get element with tag name 'div'
    element = driver.find_element(:tag_name,'div')

    # Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
    elements = element.find_elements(:tag_name,'p')

    elements.each { |e|
      puts e.text
    }
  ensure
    driver.quit
  end
  
  const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');

  (async function example() {
      let driver = new Builder()
          .forBrowser('chrome')
          .build();

      await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

      // Get element with tag name 'div'
      let element = driver.findElement(By.css("div"));

      // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
      let elements = await element.findElements(By.css("p"));
      for(let e of elements) {
          console.log(await e.getText());
      }
  })();
  

  import org.openqa.selenium.By
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

  fun main() {
      val driver = ChromeDriver()
      try {
          driver.get("https://example.com")

          // Get element with tag name 'div'
          val element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("div"))

          // Get all the elements available with tag name 'p'
          val elements = element.findElements(By.tagName("p"))
          for (e in elements) {
              println(e.text)
          }
      } finally {
          driver.quit()
      }
  }

Get Active Element

It is used to track (or) find DOM element which has the focus in the current browsing context.

  import org.openqa.selenium.*;
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

  public class activeElementTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      try {
        driver.get("http://www.google.com");
        driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("[name='q']")).sendKeys("webElement");

        // Get attribute of current active element
        String attr = driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title");
        System.out.println(attr);
      } finally {
        driver.quit();
      }
    }
  }
  
  from selenium import webdriver
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

  driver = webdriver.Chrome()
  driver.get("https://www.google.com")
  driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, '[name="q"]').send_keys("webElement")

    # Get attribute of current active element
  attr = driver.switch_to.active_element.get_attribute("title")
  print(attr)
  
    using OpenQA.Selenium;
    using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

    namespace ActiveElement {
     class ActiveElement {
      public static void Main(string[] args) {
       IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
       try {
        // Navigate to Url
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.google.com");
        driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("[name='q']")).SendKeys("webElement");

        // Get attribute of current active element
        string attr = driver.SwitchTo().ActiveElement().GetAttribute("title");
        System.Console.WriteLine(attr);
       } finally {
        driver.Quit();
       }
      }
     }
    }
  
  require 'selenium-webdriver'
  driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
  begin
    driver.get 'https://www.google.com'
    driver.find_element(css: '[name="q"]').send_keys('webElement')

    # Get attribute of current active element
    attr = driver.switch_to.active_element.attribute('title')
    puts attr
  ensure
    driver.quit
  end
  
  const {Builder, By} = require('selenium-webdriver');

  (async function example() {
      let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
      await driver.get('https://www.google.com');
      await  driver.findElement(By.css('[name="q"]')).sendKeys("webElement");

      // Get attribute of current active element
      let attr = await driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title");
      console.log(`${attr}`)
  })();
  

  import org.openqa.selenium.By
  import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver

  fun main() {
      val driver = ChromeDriver()
      try {
          driver.get("https://www.google.com")
          driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("[name='q']")).sendKeys("webElement")

          // Get attribute of current active element
          val attr = driver.switchTo().activeElement().getAttribute("title")
          print(attr)
      } finally {
          driver.quit()
      }
  }

4 - Interacting with web elements

A high-level instruction set for manipulating form controls.

There are only 5 basic commands that can be executed on an element:

  • click (applies to any element)
  • send keys (only applies to text fields and content editable elements)
  • clear (only applies to text fields and content editable elements)
  • submit (only applies to form elements)
  • select (see Select List Elements)

Additional validations

These methods are designed to closely emulate a user’s experience, so, unlike the Actions API, it attempts to perform two things before attempting the specified action.

  1. If it determines the element is outside the viewport, it scrolls the element into view, specifically it will align the bottom of the element with the bottom of the viewport.
  2. It ensures the element is interactable before taking the action. This could mean that the scrolling was unsuccessful, or that the element is not otherwise displayed. Determining if an element is displayed on a page was too difficult to define directly in the webdriver specification, so Selenium sends an execute command with a JavaScript atom that checks for things that would keep the element from being displayed. If it determines an element is not in the viewport, not displayed, not keyboard-interactable, or not pointer-interactable, it returns an element not interactable error.

Click

The element click command is executed on the center of the element. If the center of the element is obscured for some reason, Selenium will return an element click intercepted error.

Send keys

The element send keys command types the provided keys into an editable element. Typically, this means an element is an input element of a form with a text type or an element with a content-editable attribute. If it is not editable, an invalid element state error is returned.

Here is the list of possible keystrokes that WebDriver Supports.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

public class HelloSelenium {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://google.com");

      // Enter text "q" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
      driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("q" + Keys.ENTER);
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}

  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
driver = webdriver.Firefox()

    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")

    # Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").send_keys("webdriver" + Keys.ENTER)
  
using (var driver = new FirefoxDriver())
{
  // Navigate to Url
  driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://google.com");

  // Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
  driver.FindElement(By.Name("q")).SendKeys("webdriver" + Keys.Enter);
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :firefox
begin
    # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://google.com'

    # Enter "webdriver" text and perform "ENTER" keyboard action
  driver.find_element(name: 'q').send_keys 'webdriver', :return

ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
const {Builder, By, Key} = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function example() {
  let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').build();

  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    await driver.get('https://www.google.com');

    // Enter text "webdriver" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
    await driver.findElement(By.name('q')).sendKeys('webdriver', Key.ENTER);
  }
  finally {
    await driver.quit();
  }
})();
  

import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.Keys
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver

fun main() {
  val driver = FirefoxDriver()
  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.get("https://google.com")

    // Enter text "q" and perform keyboard action "Enter"
    driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("q" + Keys.ENTER)
  } finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}

Clear

The element clear command resets the content of an element. This requires an element to be editable, and resettable. Typically, this means an element is an input element of a form with a text type or an element with acontent-editable attribute. If these conditions are not met, an invalid element state error is returned.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class clear {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    try {
      // Navigate to Url
      driver.get("https://www.google.com");
      // Store 'SearchInput' element
      WebElement searchInput = driver.findElement(By.name("q"));
      searchInput.sendKeys("selenium");
      // Clears the entered text
      searchInput.clear();
    } finally {
      driver.quit();
    }
  }
}
  
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
    # Store 'SearchInput' element
SearchInput = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q")
SearchInput.send_keys("selenium")
    # Clears the entered text
SearchInput.clear()
  
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using System;

namespace SnipetProjectDelete
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
      try
      {
        // Navigate to Url
        driver.Navigate().GoToUrl(@"https://www.google.com");
        // Store 'SearchInput' element
        IWebElement searchInput = driver.FindElement(By.Name("q"));
        searchInput.SendKeys("selenium");
        // Clears the entered text
        searchInput.Clear();
      }
      finally
      {
        driver.Quit();
      }
    }
  }
}
  
require 'selenium-webdriver'
driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for :chrome
begin
    # Navigate to URL
  driver.get 'https://google.com'
    # store 'search_input' element
  search_input = driver.find_element(name: 'q')
  search_input.send_keys('selenium')
    # Clears the entered text
  search_input.clear
ensure
  driver.quit
end
  
        await driver.get('https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html');
        let inputField = await driver.findElement(By.name('no_type'));
        await inputField.clear();
Check code on GitHub 
import org.openqa.selenium.By
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
fun main() {
  val driver =  ChromeDriver()
  try {
    // Navigate to Url
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
    // Store 'searchInput' element
    val searchInput = driver.findElement(By.name("q"))
    searchInput.sendKeys("selenium")
    // Clears the entered text
    searchInput.clear()
  } finally {
    driver.quit()
  }
}

Submit

In Selenium 4 this is no longer implemented with a separate endpoint and functions by executing a script. As such, it is recommended not to use this method and to click the applicable form submission button instead.

5 - Information about web elements

What you can learn about an element.

There are a number of details you can query about a specific element.

Is Displayed

This method is used to check if the connected Element is displayed on a webpage. Returns a Boolean value, True if the connected element is displayed in the current browsing context else returns false.

This functionality is mentioned in, but not defined by the w3c specification due to the impossibility of covering all potential conditions. As such, Selenium cannot expect drivers to implement this functionality directly, and now relies on executing a large JavaScript function directly. This function makes many approximations about an element’s nature and relationship in the tree to return a value.

// Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// Get boolean value for is element display
boolean isEmailVisible = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed();
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

# Get boolean value for is element display
is_email_visible = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "email_input").is_displayed()
//Navigate to the url
driver.Url = "https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html";

//Get boolean value for is element display
Boolean is_email_visible = driver.FindElement(By.Name("email_input")).Displayed;
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

#fetch display status
val = driver.find_element(name: 'email_input').displayed?
// Navigate to url
await driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// Resolves Promise and returns boolean value
let result =  await driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed();
 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

 //returns true if element is displayed else returns false
 val flag = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).isDisplayed()

Is Enabled

This method is used to check if the connected Element is enabled or disabled on a webpage. Returns a boolean value, True if the connected element is enabled in the current browsing context else returns false.

  //navigates to url
  driver.get("https://www.google.com/");

  //returns true if element is enabled else returns false
  boolean value = driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("http://www.google.com")

    # Returns true if element is enabled else returns false
value = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'btnK').is_enabled()
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://google.com");

// Store the WebElement
IWebElement element = driver.FindElement(By.Name("btnK"));

// Prints true if element is enabled else returns false
System.Console.WriteLine(element.Enabled);
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'http://www.google.com/'

    # Returns true if element is enabled else returns false
ele = driver.find_element(name: 'btnK').enabled?
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://www.google.com');

// Resolves Promise and returns boolean value
let element =  await driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled();
  

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.google.com/")

 //returns true if element is enabled else returns false
 val attr = driver.findElement(By.name("btnK")).isEnabled()

Is Selected

This method determines if the referenced Element is Selected or not. This method is widely used on Check boxes, radio buttons, input elements, and option elements.

Returns a boolean value, True if referenced element is selected in the current browsing context else returns false.

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes");

 //returns true if element is checked else returns false
 boolean value = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type")).isSelected();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes")

    # Returns true if element is checked else returns false
value = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type").is_selected()
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes");

// Returns true if element ins checked else returns false
bool value = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type")).Selected;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes'

    # Returns true if element is checked else returns false
ele = driver.find_element(css: "input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type").selected?
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes');

// Returns true if element ins checked else returns false
let res = await driver.findElement(By.css("input[type='checkbox']:last-of-type")).isSelected();
  

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes")

 //returns true if element is checked else returns false
 val attr =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type='checkbox']:first-of-type")).isSelected()

Tag Name

It is used to fetch the TagName of the referenced Element which has the focus in the current browsing context.

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.example.com");

 //returns TagName of the element
 String value = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getTagName();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Returns TagName of the element
attr = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").tag_name
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

// Returns TagName of the element
string attr = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1")).TagName;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Returns TagName of the element
attr = driver.find_element(css: "h1").tag_name
  
// Navigate to URL
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Returns TagName of the element
let value = await driver.findElement(By.css('h1')).getTagName();
  

 //navigates to url
 driver.get("https://www.example.com")

 //returns TagName of the element
 val attr =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getTagName()

Size and Position

It is used to fetch the dimensions and coordinates of the referenced element.

The fetched data body contain the following details:

  • X-axis position from the top-left corner of the element
  • y-axis position from the top-left corner of the element
  • Height of the element
  • Width of the element
// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
Rectangle res =  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getRect();

// Rectangle class provides getX,getY, getWidth, getHeight methods
System.out.println(res.getX());
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
res = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").rect
  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");

var res = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1"));
// Return x and y coordinates referenced element
System.Console.WriteLine(res.Location);
// Returns height, width
System.Console.WriteLine(res.Size);
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
res = driver.find_element(css: "h1").rect
  
// Navigate to url
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
let element =  await driver.findElement(By.css("h1")).getRect();
  

// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// Returns height, width, x and y coordinates referenced element
val res = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).rect

// Rectangle class provides getX,getY, getWidth, getHeight methods
println(res.getX())

Get CSS Value

Retrieves the value of specified computed style property of an element in the current browsing context.

// Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
String cssValue = driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue("color");

  
    # Navigate to Url
driver.get('https://www.example.com')

    # Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
cssValue = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "More information...").value_of_css_property('color')

  
// Navigate to Url
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://www.example.com");

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
String cssValue = driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("More information...")).GetCssValue("color");

  
    # Navigate to Url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
cssValue = driver.find_element(:link_text, 'More information...').css_value('color')

  
// Navigate to Url
await driver.get('https://www.example.com');

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
let cssValue = await driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue('color');

    

// Navigate to Url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// Retrieves the computed style property 'color' of linktext
val cssValue = driver.findElement(By.linkText("More information...")).getCssValue("color")

Text Content

Retrieves the rendered text of the specified element.

// Navigate to url
driver.get("https://example.com");

// Retrieves the text of the element
String text = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getText();
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

    # Retrieves the text of the element
text = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "h1").text
  
// Navigate to url
driver.Url="https://example.com";

// Retrieves the text of the element
String text = driver.FindElement(By.CssSelector("h1")).Text;
  
    # Navigate to url
driver.get 'https://www.example.com'

    # Retrieves the text of the element
text = driver.find_element(:css, 'h1').text
  
// Navigate to URL
await driver.get('http://www.example.com');

// retrieves the text of the element
let text = await driver.findElement(By.css('h1')).getText();
    

// Navigate to URL
driver.get("https://www.example.com")

// retrieves the text of the element
val text = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("h1")).getText()

Fetching Attributes or Properties

Fetches the run time value associated with a DOM attribute. It returns the data associated with the DOM attribute or property of the element.

//Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

//identify the email text box
WebElement emailTxt = driver.findElement(By.name(("email_input")));

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
String valueInfo = eleSelLink.getAttribute("value");
  
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

# Identify the email text box
email_txt = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "email_input")

# Fetch the value property associated with the textbox
value_info = email_txt.get_attribute("value")
  
 //Navigate to the url
driver.Url="https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html";

//identify the email text box
IWebElement emailTxt = driver.FindElement(By.Name(("email_input")));

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
String valueInfo = eleSelLink.GetAttribute("value");
  
# Navigate to the url
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

#identify the email text box
email_element=driver.find_element(name: 'email_input')

#fetch the value property associated with the textbox
emailVal = email_element.attribute("value");
  
// Navigate to the Url
await driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html");

// identify the email text box
const emailElement = await driver.findElements(By.xpath('//input[@name="email_input"]'));

//fetch the attribute "name" associated with the textbox
const nameAttribute = await emailElement.getAttribute("name");
    

// Navigate to URL
driver.get("https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/web/inputs.html")

//fetch the value property associated with the textbox
val attr = driver.findElement(By.name("email_input")).getAttribute("value")