Selenium is struggling to identify the XPath displayed on the developer tools

Question

Selenium is struggling to identify the XPath displayed on the developer tools

https://i.stack.imgur.com/enl7F.jpg

https://i.stack.imgur.com/LNQW9.jpg

I am currently facing an issue with validating the visibility of a comment I posted on my profile. The comment appears on my wall and profile feeds, but Selenium is unable to recognize it. Despite being able to view the xpaths in devtools, I keep encountering the following error within Selenium:

org.openqa.selenium.TimeoutException: Expected condition failed: waiting for visibility of proxy element.

Here is where the locator is defined in homeLocators:

@FindBy(how=How.XPATH ,using="(/html/body/main/div/section/div[2]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/div[last()-1])/div[2]/div[2]‹")                      
public WebElement firstPostLastComment;

And here is how it's defined in profileLocators:

@FindBy(how=How.XPATH ,using="(/html/body/main/div/section/div[3]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div/div/div)[last()-1]/div[2]/div[2]")
public WebElement firstPostLastComment;

The functions in my actions file are as follows:

public void postCommentProfile() {
    js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,450)", "");
    String random = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
    String randomShortened = random.substring(random.length() - 10);
    commentProfile = randomShortened;
    profileLocators.firstPostCommentInput.clear();
    profileLocators.firstPostCommentInput.sendKeys(randomShortened);
    profileLocators.firstPostCommentInput.sendKeys(Keys.ENTER);
}

public void newCommentShowsOnWallAndProfile() throws InterruptedException {
    navLocators.navProfile.click();
    js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,450)", "");
      new WebDriverWait(SeleniumDriver.getDriver(), 60)
      .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(profileLocators.firstPostLastComment));
    boolean flag = true;
    String expectedText = commentProfile;
    System.out.println("this is expected text in newCommentShows" + expectedText);
    String profileActualText = profileLocators.firstPostLastComment.getText();
    System.out.println("this is profile actual text in newCommentShows" + profileActualText);
     if(!profileActualText.equals(expectedText)) {
          flag = false;
          System.out.println("flag false fired");
      }
    
    navLocators.navHome.click();
    js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,450)", "");
      new WebDriverWait(SeleniumDriver.getDriver(), 60)
      .until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(homeLocators.firstPostLastComment));
    String wallActualText = homeLocators.firstPostLastComment.getText();
    System.out.println("this is wall actual text in newCommentShows" + wallActualText);
    if(!wallActualText.equals(expectedText)) {
          flag = false;
      }
    Assert.assertTrue(flag);
}

If I remove the waits, I encounter the following error:

Org.openqq.selenium.InvalidSelectorException: invalid selector: Unable to locate an element with the xpath expression.

For more information on the app, visit

java selenium xpath

Answer 1

Answer №1

If you want to improve your xpath, it might be beneficial to search by text for better robustness.

To achieve this, consider having your test generate a random string before making the call:

@Test public void should_add_review()
{
  String randomReviewText = createRandomReview();
  postReview(randomReviewText);
  checkReviewIsDisplayed(randomReviewText);
}

public String createRandomReview()
{
  String random = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
  String shortenedRandom = random.substring(random.length() - 10);
  return shortenedRandom;
}

public void postReview(String shortenedRandom) {
    js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,450)", "");
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.clear();
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.sendKeys(shortenedRandom);
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.sendKeys(Keys.ENTER);
}

If for some reason obtaining the text is not possible, or if you cannot modify the test steps to include the text, you can still locate an element using an explicit locator. In the case of the specified app example, to retrieve the latest comment (last) on the most recent post (top), you could use the following XPATH:

//div[@class='body-content-col'][1]//div[@class='post-comment-article group'][last()]

This XPATH selection would look something like this:

@FindBy(how=How.XPATH ,using="(//div[@class='body-content-col'][1]//div[@class='post-comment-article group'][last()]")                      
public WebElement firstPostLastComment;

https://i.stack.imgur.com/6kyG2.png

Answer 2

If you want to improve your xpath, it might be beneficial to search by text for better robustness.

To achieve this, consider having your test generate a random string before making the call:

@Test public void should_add_review()
{
  String randomReviewText = createRandomReview();
  postReview(randomReviewText);
  checkReviewIsDisplayed(randomReviewText);
}

public String createRandomReview()
{
  String random = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
  String shortenedRandom = random.substring(random.length() - 10);
  return shortenedRandom;
}

public void postReview(String shortenedRandom) {
    js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0,450)", "");
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.clear();
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.sendKeys(shortenedRandom);
    reviewLocators.firstReviewInput.sendKeys(Keys.ENTER);
}

If for some reason obtaining the text is not possible, or if you cannot modify the test steps to include the text, you can still locate an element using an explicit locator. In the case of the specified app example, to retrieve the latest comment (last) on the most recent post (top), you could use the following XPATH:

//div[@class='body-content-col'][1]//div[@class='post-comment-article group'][last()]

This XPATH selection would look something like this:

@FindBy(how=How.XPATH ,using="(//div[@class='body-content-col'][1]//div[@class='post-comment-article group'][last()]")                      
public WebElement firstPostLastComment;

https://i.stack.imgur.com/6kyG2.png

Answer 3

Answer №2

It's recommended to utilize relative xpath instead of absolute ones for improved flexibility. Here's a simple example:

Let's say your comment is:

"Sample Comment"

You can find it using the following method:

browser.findElement(By.xpath(".//span[text()='Sample Comment']"));

This is just a basic illustration, you may explore more effective XPath locators.

Answer 4

It's recommended to utilize relative xpath instead of absolute ones for improved flexibility. Here's a simple example:

Let's say your comment is:

"Sample Comment"

You can find it using the following method:

browser.findElement(By.xpath(".//span[text()='Sample Comment']"));

This is just a basic illustration, you may explore more effective XPath locators.

Selenium is struggling to identify the XPath displayed on the developer tools

Answer №1

Answer №2

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