Unable to extract the text using xpath on WebDriver version 2.42.2

Praveen Shivashankar

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Sep 10, 2014, 6:54:10 AM9/10/14

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Hello All,

For quite some time now, I have been trying to capture the text from a web page but have found absolutely no luck so far. The HTML of the content is given below. As highlighted, I am trying to extract the "Identification Requests" content from the span class "panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding". I have tried so many options that I have literally lost count of them but none of it seems to work. I keep running into element not found error. Now, the page contains a whole lot of graphs and each graphical content has a particular title. So there are many elements like this in the webpage. Even trying to capture them into a List <WebElement> results in '0' elements!!!!!

The most mind-boggling thing is.. the xpath that web Driver refuses to recognize works absolutely fine with Selenium RC!! I cannot figure out why an xPath that works for RC does not work for WebDriver!!!!!!!!!

<kibana-panel class="" type="panel.type">

<span class="panel-text panel-title ng-binding">Identification requests</span>

</div>

Below are some of the options that I have tried:

List<WebElement> someStrings = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//span[class='panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding']"));

List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//div[*/class()='panel-header']/descendant::span[@class='panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding']"));

String spanCssSelector ="span.panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding";

List <WebElement> spanItem=driver.findElements(By.cssSelector(spanCssSelector));*/

String textObtained= spanItem.getText().trim();

assertEquals(textObtained,"Identification requests");

try {

assertEquals("Identification requests", driver.findElement(By.xpath("html/body/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div[1]/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

Can someone please help me in resolving this?!! I am really at my wit's end! :( :( :(

Thanks,

P.S. I have also attached the snapshot of the page.

Firepath.jpg

Page1.jpg

Mr.Krishna Reddy Gtpv

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Sep 10, 2014, 7:25:19 AM9/10/14

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try with following xpaths

1. //span[text()='Identification requests']

2. //span[starts-with(@class,'panel-text panel-title')]

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Thanks & Regards,

Krishna Reddy Gtpv

Ph : 9494585126

Krishnan Mahadevan

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Sep 10, 2014, 7:26:49 AM9/10/14

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Try replacing

String textObtained= spanItem.getText().trim();

with

String textObtained= (String) driver.executeScript("return arguments[0].innerHTML;", spanItem);

and see if that helps.

I am assuming that your xPath is returning your span element correctly but you aren't getting any text because the span element doesnt have the value attribute which is what WebDriver is trying to query.

Thanks & Regards
Krishnan Mahadevan

"All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive, fattening or in love with someone else!"
My Scribblings @ http://wakened-cognition.blogspot.com/

My Technical Scribbings @ http://rationaleemotions.wordpress.com/

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Praveen Shivashankar

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Sep 10, 2014, 9:23:12 AM9/10/14

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@Krishnan,

Thanks for the response. I replaced the line as suggested, but it is giving an error that "The method executeScript(String, WebElement) is undefined for the type WebDriver"

Should I be importing some other package to address this?

Mr.Krishna Reddy Gtpv

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Sep 10, 2014, 9:37:08 AM9/10/14

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No need to import anything, just let share with us html page and code which you have written, I have tried with xpath which i have given , that is working fine.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/selenium-users/3788c1f3-fa3d-4218-a750-7d8bf3f4b809%40googlegroups.com.

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Thanks & Regards

Krishna Reddy Gtpv

Automation Test Engineer

Web Site :www.gtpvkr.in

Email Id :gtp...@gmail.com

Ph No :+91 9494585126

Krishnan Mahadevan

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Sep 10, 2014, 9:38:38 AM9/10/14

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Praveen,

This normally occurs when you are working with the WebDriver as a reference (WebDriver interface doesnt have the signatures for this method and they are present in the JavascriptExecutor interface).

I am guessing you have something like this in your code

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

So you can do something like the below before using that statement.

JavascriptExecutor jsExecutor = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;

String textObtained= (String) jsExecutor.executeScript("return arguments[0].innerHTML;", spanItem);

Thanks & Regards
Krishnan Mahadevan

"All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive, fattening or in love with someone else!"
My Scribblings @ http://wakened-cognition.blogspot.com/

My Technical Scribbings @ http://rationaleemotions.wordpress.com/

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/selenium-users/3788c1f3-fa3d-4218-a750-7d8bf3f4b809%40googlegroups.com.

Praveen Shivashankar

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Sep 10, 2014, 10:48:30 AM9/10/14

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Hi Krish,

Thanks again for your inputs. I have provided below my java code. The problem is that there are no elements at all for the script to work upon. The List<WebElement> is returning with 0 objects in it. The HTML code of the page is in the original question posted above.

@Test

public void testIdentificationDetails() throws Exception{

driver.get(baseUrl + "/#/home");

driver.findElement(By.xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[2]/ul/li[2]/a")).click();

driver.findElement(By.id("username")).clear();

driver.findElement(By.id("username")).sendKeys("asdf");

driver.findElement(By.id("password")).clear();

driver.findElement(By.id("password")).sendKeys("asadfadf");

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("button.btn.btn-default")).click();

Thread.sleep(10000);

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[1]/div/div/div[2]/ul/li[2]/a")).click();

Thread.sleep(10000);

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//td/button")).click();

Thread.sleep(20000);

String spanCssSelector ="span.panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding";

List <WebElement> spanItem=driver.findElements(By.cssSelector(spanCssSelector));

JavascriptExecutor jsExecutor = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;

String textObtained= (String) jsExecutor.executeScript("return arguments[0].innerHTML;", spanItem);

//assertEquals(textObtained,"Identification requests");

List<WebElement> someStrings = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//span[starts-with(@class='panel-text.panel-title')]"));

// List<WebElement> someStrings = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//span[starts-with(@class='panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding')]"));

//String kk = return driver.findElements(By.id("pieLabel0")).

List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(By.xpath("//div[*/class()='panel-header']/descendant::span[@class='panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding']"));

//String someElement = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("#pieLabel0>div")).getText();

//driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[(@id='03Q-legend')]/span[2]/span/i")).getText();

//System.out.println(someElement);

for (WebElement el: elements)

{

//el.click();

if (el.isDisplayed()){

new Actions(driver).moveToElement(el).perform();

if (el.getAttribute("text").isEmpty()) {

System.out.println("There is no text here.");

}

else{

String chartValue = el.getAttribute("text");

System.out.println(chartValue);

}

/*try {

assertEquals("Identification requests", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}*/

try {

assertEquals("Identification requests", driver.findElement(By.xpath("html/body/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div[1]/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

try {

assertEquals("Domain", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[2]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

try {

assertEquals("Authentication Policies", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[2]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

try {

assertEquals("Candidite List Gender breakdown", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[3]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

try {

assertEquals("candidate list year of birth breakdown", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[3]/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

try {

assertEquals("CANDIDATE LIST SIZE", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[4]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/kibana-panel/div/div/div[2]/div/span[8]")).getText());

} catch (Error e) {

verificationErrors.append(e.toString());

}

driver.findElement(By.linkText("Sign Out")).click();

}

The error I get is as follows:

org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException: Unable to locate element: {"method":"css selector","selector":"span.panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding"}

Command duration or timeout: 60.10 seconds

For documentation on this error, please visit: http://seleniumhq.org/exceptions/no_such_element.html

Build info: version: '2.42.2', revision: '6a6995d', time: '2014-06-03 17:42:30'

System info: host: 'PShivashankar', ip: '192.168.12.28', os.name: 'Windows 8.1', os.arch: 'x86', os.version: '6.3', java.version: '1.7.0_67'

Session ID: a70f46ee-890c-4dd6-93c9-4101ef39941a

Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver

Also, do you have any thoughts on why the xpath that works for RC does not work for the WebDriver?! I mean its rather counter intuitive!!

Krishnan Mahadevan

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Sep 10, 2014, 11:01:27 AM9/10/14

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Praveen,

You might want to open up your web page in Chrome, open up Developer tools, and from the console validate your xpath by typing it as below :

Lets say your xPath is "//div"

Then you would type : $x("//div")

This would basically list out all elements that satisfy your xPath. Its an easy way to figure out if your xPath is the correct one or not.

Thanks & Regards
Krishnan Mahadevan

"All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive, fattening or in love with someone else!"
My Scribblings @ http://wakened-cognition.blogspot.com/

My Technical Scribbings @ http://rationaleemotions.wordpress.com/

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Xiang Dong

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Sep 10, 2014, 9:16:02 PM9/10/14

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your xpath maybe wrong, try below:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//span[@class='panel-text panel-title ng-binding']"));

add @ before class and change the dot to blank

--david

Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 03:54:10 -0700
From: praveen.sh...@gmail.com
To: seleniu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [selenium-users] Unable to extract the text using xpath on WebDriver version 2.42.2

Hello All,

For quite some time now, I have been trying to capture the text from a web page but have found absolutely no luck so far. The HTML of the content is given below. As highlighted, I am trying to extract the "Identification Requests" content from the span class "panel-text.panel-title.ng-binding". I have tried so many options that I have literally lost count of them but none of it seems to work. I keep running into element not found error. Now, the page contains a whole lot of graphs and each graphical content has a particular title. So there are many elements like this in the webpage. Even trying to capture them into a List <WebElement> results in '0' elements!!!!!

The most mind-boggling thing is.. the xpath that web Driver refuses to recognize works absolutely fine with Selenium RC!! I cannot figure out why an xPath that works for RC does not work for WebDriver!!!!!!!!!

<kibana-panel type="panel.type">

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