Locate and verify the login button using XPath

Preconditions (3)

Step 1: Open the browser and navigate to 'https://example.com/login'

Step 2: Locate the login button using XPath '//button[@id="loginBtn"]'

Step 3: Verify that the login button is displayed on the page

✅ Expected Result: The login button is found using XPath and is visible on the page

Automation Requirements - Selenium WebDriver with Java

Assertions Needed:

Assert that the login button element is displayed

Best Practices:

Use explicit waits to wait for the element to be present and visible

Use By.xpath locator with clear and maintainable XPath expressions

Close the browser after test execution

Automated Solution

Selenium Java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;
import java.time.Duration;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;

public class FindElementByXPathTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("https://example.com/login");

            WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
            WebElement loginButton = wait.until(
                ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("//button[@id='loginBtn']"))
            );

            assertTrue(loginButton.isDisplayed(), "Login button should be visible");

        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

This code starts by setting up the Chrome WebDriver and opening the login page URL.

It uses an explicit wait to wait up to 10 seconds for the login button to be visible, locating it by the XPath expression //button[@id='loginBtn'].

Then it asserts that the button is displayed on the page, ensuring the element was found and is visible.

Finally, it closes the browser to clean up.

This approach avoids timing issues by waiting explicitly and uses a clear XPath locator for maintainability.

Common Mistakes - 3 Pitfalls

Using Thread.sleep() instead of explicit waits

Using a very long or complex XPath that is hard to maintain

Not closing the browser after the test

Bonus Challenge

Now add data-driven testing to locate and verify buttons with three different XPath expressions on the same page.

Show Hint