findElement by xpath in Selenium Java - Test Execution Trace

Test Overview

This test opens a browser, navigates to a sample page, finds a button using an XPath locator, clicks it, and verifies the expected text appears.

Test Code - JUnit with Selenium WebDriver

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.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

public class FindElementByXPathTest {
    private WebDriver driver;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        // Set the path to chromedriver executable if necessary
        // System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
    }

    @Test
    public void testFindElementByXPath() {
        driver.get("https://example.com/testpage");
        WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='submit-btn']"));
        button.click();
        WebElement message = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[@id='message']"));
        assertEquals("Success", message.getText());
    }

    @AfterEach
    public void tearDown() {
        if (driver != null) {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

Execution Trace - 6 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Test starts and Chrome browser opens	Chrome browser window is open and ready	-	PASS
2	Navigates to https://example.com/testpage	Page loads with a button having id 'submit-btn' and a hidden message div	-	PASS
3	Finds button element using XPath //button[@id='submit-btn']	Button element located on the page	Element is found and not null	PASS
4	Clicks the button element	Button click triggers message display	-	PASS
5	Finds message element using XPath //div[@id='message']	Message element is visible with text 'Success'	Element text equals 'Success'	PASS
6	Test ends and browser closes	Browser window closed	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: The XPath locator does not find the button element because the id is incorrect or element is missing

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the test do after opening the browser?

A Clicks a button immediately

B Navigates to the test page URL

C Closes the browser

D Finds the message element first

Key Result

Use clear and specific XPath locators to find elements reliably. Always verify the element exists before interacting and assert expected outcomes to confirm test success.