findElement by xpath in Selenium Java - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of findElement with XPath using contains()

What will be the output of the following Selenium Java code snippet when the page contains a button with text 'Submit Form'?

Selenium Java

WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[contains(text(),'Submit')]");
System.out.println(button.getText());

A Submit

B Empty string

C NoSuchElementException

D Submit Form

💡 Hint

Remember that contains() matches any substring inside the text node.

The XPath expression selects the button element whose text contains 'Submit'. The getText() method returns the full visible text of the element, which is 'Submit Form'.

❓ assertion

intermediate

Correct assertion for element found by XPath

Which assertion correctly verifies that an element found by XPath has the expected text 'Login'?

Selenium Java

WebElement loginButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='login']"));

A assertEquals("Login", loginButton.getText());

B assertTrue(loginButton.getText() == "Login");

C assertFalse(loginButton.getText().equals("Login"));

D assertNull(loginButton.getText());

💡 Hint

Use the correct assertion method to compare strings in Java.

assertEquals compares the expected and actual strings correctly. Using '==' compares references, which is incorrect for strings.

❓ locator

advanced

Best XPath locator for a button with dynamic id but fixed text

Given a button with a dynamic id but fixed visible text 'Confirm', which XPath locator is best to find it reliably?

A //button[text()='Confirm']

B //button[@id='btn123']

C //button[contains(@id, 'btn') and text()='Confirm']

D //button[contains(text(), 'Conf')]

💡 Hint

Focus on stable attributes or text for locating elements.

Option A uses exact text match which is stable. Option A depends on partial id which is dynamic. Option A uses fixed id which changes. Option A uses partial text which may match multiple elements.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Identify the error in XPath usage

What error will occur when running this Selenium Java code? WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='content']")); String text = element.getText(); System.out.println(text);

Selenium Java

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='content']"));
String text = element.getText();
System.out.println(text);

A NullPointerException because element is null

B NoSuchElementException if no div with class 'content' exists

C SyntaxError in XPath expression

D ClassCastException when casting WebElement

💡 Hint

Consider what happens if the element is not found.

If the element is not found, findElement throws NoSuchElementException. It does not return null, so NullPointerException won't occur here.

❓ framework

expert

Best practice for waiting for element by XPath before interaction

In Selenium Java, which approach correctly waits up to 10 seconds for an element located by XPath before clicking it?

A Thread.sleep(10000); driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit']")).click();

B driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS); driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit']")).click();

C new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10)).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit']"))).click();

D driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit']")).click();

💡 Hint

Use explicit waits for better reliability than implicit waits or sleep.

Option C uses explicit wait with ExpectedConditions which waits until the element is clickable before clicking. Option C uses fixed sleep which is inefficient. Option C does not wait. Option C sets implicit wait but explicit wait is preferred for specific conditions.