Find elements by xpath selenium python
- Action Chains in Selenium Python
- click method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- click_and_hold – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- context_click – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- double_click method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- drag_and_drop – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- key_down method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- key_up method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- move_by_offset – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- move_to_element method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- move_to_element_with_offset method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- release method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- reset_actions method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- send_keys method – Action Chains in Selenium Python
- add_cookie driver method – Selenium Python
- back driver method – Selenium Python
- close driver method – Selenium Python
- create_web_element driver method – Selenium Python
- delete_all_cookies driver method – Selenium Python
- delete_cookie driver method – Selenium Python
- execute_async_script driver method – Selenium Python
- execute_script driver method – Selenium Python
- forward driver method – Selenium Python
- fullscreen_window driver method – Selenium Python
- get_cookies driver method – Selenium Python
- get_log driver method – Selenium Python
- get_screenshot_as_base64 driver method – Selenium Python
- get_screenshot_as_file driver method – Selenium Python
- get_screenshot_as_png driver method – Selenium Python
- get_window_position driver method – Selenium Python
- get_window_rect driver method – Selenium Python
- get_window_size driver method – Selenium Python
- implicitly_wait driver method – Selenium Python
- maximize_window driver method – Selenium Python
- minimize_window driver method – Selenium Python
- quit driver method – Selenium Python
- refresh driver method – Selenium Python
- set_page_load_timeout driver method – Selenium Python
- set_script_timeout driver method – Selenium Python
- set_window_position driver method – Selenium Python
- set_window_rect driver method – Selenium Python
- current_url driver method – Selenium Python
- current_window_handle driver method – Selenium Python
- page_source driver method – Selenium Python
- title driver method – Selenium Python
- is_displayed() element method – Selenium Python
- is_enabled() element method – Selenium Python
- get_property() element method – Selenium Python
- get_attribute() element method – Selenium Python
- send_keys() element method – Selenium Python
- click() element method – Selenium Python
- clear() element method – Selenium Python
- screenshot() element method – Selenium Python
- submit() element method – Selenium Python
- value_of_css_property() element method – Selenium Python
- location element method – Selenium Python
- screenshot_as_png element method – Selenium Python
- parent element method – Selenium Python
- size element method – Selenium Python
- tag_name element method – Selenium Python
- text element method – Selenium Python
- rect element method – Selenium Python
- screenshot_as_base64 element method – Selenium Python
4. Locating Elements¶
There are various strategies to locate elements in a page. You can use the most appropriate one for your case. Selenium provides the following method to locate elements in a page:
To find multiple elements (these methods will return a list):
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//button[text()="Some text"]') driver.find_elements(By.XPATH, '//button')
The attributes available for the By class are used to locate elements on a page. These are the attributes available for By class:
ID = "id" NAME = "name" XPATH = "xpath" LINK_TEXT = "link text" PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT = "partial link text" TAG_NAME = "tag name" CLASS_NAME = "class name" CSS_SELECTOR = "css selector"
The ‘By’ class is used to specify which attribute is used to locate elements on a page. These are the various ways the attributes are used to locate elements on a page:
find_element(By.ID, "id") find_element(By.NAME, "name") find_element(By.XPATH, "xpath") find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "link text") find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, "partial link text") find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "tag name") find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "class name") find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "css selector")
If you want to locate several elements with the same attribute replace find_element with find_elements.
4.1. Locating by Id¶
Use this when you know the id attribute of an element. With this strategy, the first element with a matching id attribute will be returned. If no element has a matching id attribute, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> form id="loginForm"> input name="username" type="text" /> input name="password" type="password" /> input name="continue" type="submit" value="Login" /> form> body> html> The form element can be located like this:
login_form = driver.find_element(By.ID, 'loginForm')
4.2. Locating by Name¶
Use this when you know the name attribute of an element. With this strategy, the first element with a matching name attribute will be returned. If no element has a matching name attribute, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> form id="loginForm"> input name="username" type="text" /> input name="password" type="password" /> input name="continue" type="submit" value="Login" /> input name="continue" type="button" value="Clear" /> form> body> html> The username & password elements can be located like this:
username = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'username') password = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'password')
This will give the “Login” button as it occurs before the “Clear” button:
continue = driver.find_element(By.NAME, 'continue')
4.3. Locating by XPath¶
XPath is the language used for locating nodes in an XML document. As HTML can be an implementation of XML (XHTML), Selenium users can leverage this powerful language to target elements in their web applications. XPath supports the simple methods of locating by id or name attributes and extends them by opening up all sorts of new possibilities such as locating the third checkbox on the page.
One of the main reasons for using XPath is when you don’t have a suitable id or name attribute for the element you wish to locate. You can use XPath to either locate the element in absolute terms (not advised), or relative to an element that does have an id or name attribute. XPath locators can also be used to specify elements via attributes other than id and name.
Absolute XPaths contain the location of all elements from the root (html) and as a result are likely to fail with only the slightest adjustment to the application. By finding a nearby element with an id or name attribute (ideally a parent element) you can locate your target element based on the relationship. This is much less likely to change and can make your tests more robust.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> form id="loginForm"> input name="username" type="text" /> input name="password" type="password" /> input name="continue" type="submit" value="Login" /> input name="continue" type="button" value="Clear" /> form> body> html> The form elements can be located like this:
login_form = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "/html/body/form[1]") login_form = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//form[1]") login_form = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//form[@id='loginForm']")
- Absolute path (would break if the HTML was changed only slightly)
- First form element in the HTML
- The form element with attribute id set to loginForm
The username element can be located like this:
username = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//form[input/@name='username']") username = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//form[@id='loginForm']/input[1]") username = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@name='username']")
- First form element with an input child element with name set to username
- First input child element of the form element with attribute id set to loginForm
- First input element with attribute name set to username
The “Clear” button element can be located like this:
clear_button = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//input[@name='continue'][@type='button']") clear_button = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//form[@id='loginForm']/input[4]")
- Input with attribute name set to continue and attribute type set to button
- Fourth input child element of the form element with attribute id set to loginForm
These examples cover some basics, but in order to learn more, the following references are recommended:
Here is a couple of very useful Add-ons that can assist in discovering the XPath of an element:
4.4. Locating Hyperlinks by Link Text¶
Use this when you know the link text used within an anchor tag. With this strategy, the first element with the link text matching the provided value will be returned. If no element has a matching link text attribute, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
Are you sure you want to do this?
Continue Cancel
The continue.html link can be located like this:
continue_link = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, 'Continue') continue_link = driver.find_element(By.PARTIAL_LINK_TEXT, 'Conti')
4.5. Locating Elements by Tag Name¶
Use this when you want to locate an element by tag name. With this strategy, the first element with the given tag name will be returned. If no element has a matching tag name, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> h1>Welcomeh1> p>Site content goes here.p> body> html> The heading (h1) element can be located like this:
heading1 = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, 'h1')
4.6. Locating Elements by Class Name¶
Use this when you want to locate an element by class name. With this strategy, the first element with the matching class name attribute will be returned. If no element has a matching class name attribute, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> p class="content">Site content goes here.p> body> html> The “p” element can be located like this:
content = driver.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, 'content')
4.7. Locating Elements by CSS Selectors¶
Use this when you want to locate an element using CSS selector syntax. With this strategy, the first element matching the given CSS selector will be returned. If no element matches the provided CSS selector, a NoSuchElementException will be raised.
For instance, consider this page source:
html> body> p class="content">Site content goes here.p> body> html> The “p” element can be located like this:
content = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, 'p.content')