Clicking a button with Java Selenium

Question

Clicking a button with Java Selenium

While trying to navigate all the pages on a website, I encountered an issue where after scrolling to the second page, I received an exception stating that the element does not exist on the page. Upon further investigation, I realized that the CSS selector for the elements changed at different points in the website's structure. Sometimes it appears as

WebElement nextButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#pagination-head>a>div>span.hidden-xs.hidden-sm"));

, while other times it is

WebElement nextButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#pagination-head > a:nth-child(3) > div > span.hidden-xs.hidden-sm"));

. My question is, how can I handle this scenario in Selenium? I looked into methods to check if a given WebElement exists or not, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any :/

java html css selenium

Answer 1

Answer №1

Here is a helpful CSS selector that will work for either path:

WebElement next = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#pagination-head span.hidden-xs.hidden-sm"));

Answer 2

Here is a helpful CSS selector that will work for either path:

WebElement next = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#pagination-head span.hidden-xs.hidden-sm"));

Answer 3

Answer №2

In the case where you are limited to just two choices, one possibility is to utilize a workaround using an if/else statement.

One approach could be to establish a boolean variable that assesses whether or not the element can be located via your initial findElement method. If this evaluation yields true, proceed with executing the first block of code; otherwise, switch to the second block of code.

Answer 4

In the case where you are limited to just two choices, one possibility is to utilize a workaround using an if/else statement.

One approach could be to establish a boolean variable that assesses whether or not the element can be located via your initial findElement method. If this evaluation yields true, proceed with executing the first block of code; otherwise, switch to the second block of code.

Answer 5

Answer №3

If you want to ensure that your automation script can locate the next button reliably, it's best to use xpath instead of relying solely on specific locators. By using xpath, even if the locator changes on a later page, your code will still be able to find and interact with the next button successfully. Below is a sample code snippet demonstrating how to locate and click on the next button:

WebElement nextButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//*[contains(text(),'Replace this text with the actual text displayed on your next button')]"));
nextButton.click();

Simply replace 'Replace this text with the actual text displayed on your next button' in the code above with the exact text shown on your next button. This code will then perform a click operation on the element matching the specified text.

I hope this explanation proves useful for your automation tasks!

Answer 6

If you want to ensure that your automation script can locate the next button reliably, it's best to use xpath instead of relying solely on specific locators. By using xpath, even if the locator changes on a later page, your code will still be able to find and interact with the next button successfully. Below is a sample code snippet demonstrating how to locate and click on the next button:

WebElement nextButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//*[contains(text(),'Replace this text with the actual text displayed on your next button')]"));
nextButton.click();

Simply replace 'Replace this text with the actual text displayed on your next button' in the code above with the exact text shown on your next button. This code will then perform a click operation on the element matching the specified text.

I hope this explanation proves useful for your automation tasks!

Clicking a button with Java Selenium

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

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