findElement by xpath in Selenium Java - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to find an element by XPath using Selenium WebDriver.

Selenium Java

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.[1]("//button[@id='submit']"));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Axpath

BcssSelector

Cid

Dname

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using By.id or By.name instead of By.xpath for XPath expressions.

Using By.cssSelector when the locator is an XPath.

The findElement method uses By.xpath to locate elements by XPath expressions.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to find an element by XPath that selects an input with a specific placeholder.

Selenium Java

WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.[1]("//input[@placeholder='Search']"));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Axpath

Bid

CclassName

DtagName

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using By.id or By.className when the locator is XPath.

Trying to use By.tagName for attribute-based selection.

XPath is used to locate elements by attributes like placeholder.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code to correctly find a button with text 'Submit' using XPath.

Selenium Java

WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.[1]("//button[text()='Submit']"));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

AlinkText

BcssSelector

Cxpath

DpartialLinkText

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using By.cssSelector which cannot select by text content.

Using By.linkText or By.partialLinkText for buttons.

To find an element by its text content, XPath with By.xpath is required.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to find a div element with class 'container' and attribute 'data-id' equal to '123'.

Selenium Java

WebElement div = driver.findElement(By.[1]("//div[@class=[2] and @data-id='123']"));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Axpath

B"container"

C"container-fluid"

DcssSelector

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using By.cssSelector with XPath syntax.

Not quoting the class attribute value in XPath.

The locator uses XPath to find a div with specific class and attribute values. The class value must be quoted as a string.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to find all list items with class 'active' inside an unordered list with id 'menu'.

Selenium Java

List<WebElement> items = driver.findElements(By.[1]("//ul[@id=[2]]/li[@class=[3]]"));

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Axpath

B"menu"

C"active"

DcssSelector

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using By.cssSelector with XPath syntax.

Not quoting attribute values in XPath expression.

This code uses XPath to find all li elements with class active inside a ul with id menu. The attribute values must be quoted strings.

Practice

1. What does the Selenium method findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit']")) do?

easy

A. Finds the first button element with id 'submit' on the page

B. Finds all button elements with id 'submit' on the page

C. Clicks the button with id 'submit' automatically

D. Deletes the button element with id 'submit'

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the method purpose

   The method findElement locates a single web element matching the given locator.

2. Step 2: Analyze the XPath expression

   The XPath //button[@id='submit'] selects the first <button> element with attribute id='submit'.

3. Final Answer:

   Finds the first button element with id 'submit' on the page -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   findElement + XPath = single matching element [OK]

Hint: findElement returns one element matching XPath [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing findElement with findElements
• Thinking it clicks or deletes element
• Assuming it returns multiple elements

2. Which of the following is the correct syntax to find an element with XPath in Selenium Java?

easy

A. driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@name='username']'));

B. driver.findElement(By.xpath=//input[@name='username']);

C. driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@name='username']"));

D. driver.findElement(By.xpath("input[@name='username']"));

Solution

1. Step 1: Check method call syntax

   The correct method call is driver.findElement(By.xpath("xpath_string")) with double quotes around the XPath string.

2. Step 2: Validate each option

   driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@name='username']")); uses correct syntax with double quotes and proper method call. driver.findElement(By.xpath=//input[@name='username']); uses invalid assignment syntax. driver.findElement(By.xpath('//input[@name='username']')); uses single quotes inside double quotes incorrectly. driver.findElement(By.xpath("input[@name='username']")); misses the leading '//' in XPath.

3. Final Answer:

   driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@name='username']")); -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Correct method call with By.xpath and string [OK]

Hint: Use By.xpath("xpath") with double quotes inside parentheses [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using assignment '=' instead of method argument
• Mixing single and double quotes incorrectly
• Omitting '//' in XPath expression

3. What will be the result of this code snippet?

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@class='menu']/ul/li[2]"));
System.out.println(element.getText());

Assuming the HTML is:

<div class='menu'>
  <ul>
    <li>Home</li>
    <li>About</li>
    <li>Contact</li>
  </ul>
</div>

medium

A. Home

B. NoSuchElementException

C. Contact

D. About

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the XPath expression

   The XPath //div[@class='menu']/ul/li[2] selects the second <li> child inside the <ul> within the div with class 'menu'.

2. Step 2: Match XPath to HTML content

   The second <li> inside the list is About. So element.getText() will print "About".

3. Final Answer:

   About -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   XPath li[2] = second list item text [OK]

Hint: XPath li[2] selects second list item text [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing index starting at 0 instead of 1
• Assuming XPath returns all matching elements
• Ignoring the class attribute filter

4. You wrote this code but it throws a NoSuchElementException. What is the likely error?

WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[text()='Submit']"));
button.click();

The HTML is:

<button id='submitBtn'>Submit</button>

medium

A. The button element is inside an iframe and not switched to

B. The XPath is missing the button's id attribute

C. XPath is case-sensitive and 'Submit' text does not match

D. The button is disabled and cannot be clicked

Solution

1. Step 1: Check XPath correctness

   The XPath //button[text()='Submit'] matches the button text exactly, which is correct here.

2. Step 2: Consider common Selenium issues

   If the element is inside an iframe, Selenium cannot find it unless switched to that iframe first. This causes NoSuchElementException.

3. Final Answer:

   The button element is inside an iframe and not switched to -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   NoSuchElementException often means iframe switch missing [OK]

Hint: Check if element is inside iframe before findElement [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming XPath text match is case-insensitive
• Ignoring iframe context
• Thinking disabled buttons cause NoSuchElementException

5. You want to find an input field that has either name='email' or placeholder='Email'. Which XPath expression should you use with findElement?

hard

A. //input[@name='email' | @placeholder='Email']

B. //input[@name='email' or @placeholder='Email']

C. //input[contains(@name, 'email') or contains(@placeholder, 'Email')]

D. //input[@name='email' and @placeholder='Email']

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the requirement

   You want to find an input element that matches either condition: name='email' OR placeholder='Email'.

2. Step 2: Analyze XPath options

   //input[@name='email' or @placeholder='Email'] uses the correct XPath OR operator or between attribute checks. //input[@name='email' and @placeholder='Email'] uses and which requires both attributes. //input[contains(@name, 'email') or contains(@placeholder, 'Email')] uses contains which is broader but acceptable, but the question asks exact match. //input[@name='email' | @placeholder='Email'] uses invalid XPath syntax with | inside predicate.

3. Final Answer:

   //input[@name='email' or @placeholder='Email'] -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Use 'or' inside XPath predicate for either condition [OK]

Hint: Use 'or' inside XPath brackets for multiple attribute options [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using 'and' instead of 'or' for either condition
• Using invalid XPath operators like '|' inside predicates
• Confusing contains() with exact match