Different methods to locate UI Elements (WebElements) or Object Recognize Methods

Different methods to locate UI Elements (WebElements) or Object Recognize Methods:

There are different methods to locate UI Elements (WebElements) or to recognize objects which are as follows:
· By ID
· By Tag Name
· By Class Name
· By Link Text
· By Name
· By Partial Link Text
· By XPATH

By ID:

This method is most efficient and mostly used to locate the elements. Every element has its unique id.

Let’s take the example for Google, suppose we have to find/locate the search box of goggle. Use firebug option of Mozilla Firefox with which you can easily locate the element in HTML format. Please refer following screenshot:

<td id=”gs_tti0″ class=”gsib_a”>

Id of Search box of goggle is gs_tti0.

Now Example for how to find an element via using ID:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id(“gs_tti0”));

 By Tag Name:

To find tag name of a use fire bug.

Let’s take the example for Google, suppose we have to find/locate the “Google Search” button of goggle via tag name. Use firebug option of Mozilla Firefox with which you can easily locate the element in HTML format. Please refer following screenshot:

<input type=”submit” onclick=”this.checked=1″ name=”btnK” value=”Google Search”/>

Tag Name of Google Search” button of goggle is input here.

Now Example for how to find an element via using TagName:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.tagName("input"));

By Class Name:

There may be many elements that are associated with same class name so finding multiple elements becomes the more practical option over finding the first element.

Example of how to find an element that looks like this:

<div class=”tsf-p” style=”position:relative”>

Here tsf-p is classname.

List<WebElement> element = driver.findElements(By.className("tsf-p "))
Remember that use findElements method instead of findElement to find multiple elements.

 By Link Text:

By using By Link Text method of class “By “you can find link element with matching visible text.

Let’s take the example for Google, suppose you want to find/locate the “Advertising Programs” link of goggle via Link Text.

Now Example for how to find an element i.e. link via using linkText:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Advertising Programs"));

By Name:

By using By Name method of class “By “you can find link element via name attribute of element.

Example of how to find an element that looks like this:

<input type=”submit” onclick=”this.checked=1″ name=”btnK” value=”Google Search”>

Here” btnK” is name.

List<WebElement> element = driver.findElements(By.name("btnK "))

By Partial Link Text:

By using “BypartialLinkText” method of class “By “you can find link element with Partial matching visible text.

Let’s take the example for Google, suppose you want to find/locate the “Advertising Programs” link of goggle via BypartialLinkText. For this you can use:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By. partialLinkText ("Advertising"));

 By XPATH:

Xpath is a locator, it is an unique address which identifies each and every element.WebDriver uses a browser’s native XPath capabilities wherever possible. To find xpath of an element use firebug and fire path adons on Mozilla Firefox.

Let’s take the example for Google, suppose we have to find/locate the search box of goggle via using xpath. Use firebug option of Mozilla Firefox with which you can easily locate the element in HTML format and copy the xpath from xpath bar of firepath tab.Please refer following screenshot:

Now Example for how to find an element via using xpath:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='gs_tti0']"));
 Note: Don’t copy the dot from xpath bar.