Auto-complete field handling in Selenium Java - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this Selenium Java code snippet?

Consider the following Selenium Java code that tries to select an option from an auto-complete field. What will be printed to the console?

Selenium Java

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("https://example.com/autocomplete");
WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.id("searchBox"));
input.sendKeys("App");
Thread.sleep(1000); // wait for suggestions
List<WebElement> options = driver.findElements(By.cssSelector("ul.suggestions li"));
for (WebElement option : options) {
    if (option.getText().equals("Apple")) {
        option.click();
        System.out.println("Selected: " + option.getText());
        break;
    }
}
driver.quit();

A Selected: Apple

B No output, throws NoSuchElementException

C Selected: App

D Selected: Apple Pie

💡 Hint

Look at the loop and the condition inside it. The code clicks the option with exact text "Apple".

The code waits for suggestions, then loops through them. When it finds the option with text exactly "Apple", it clicks it and prints "Selected: Apple". Other options do not match exactly, so they are skipped.

❓ locator

intermediate

Which locator is best to select all auto-complete suggestions?

You want to locate all suggestion items in an auto-complete dropdown. The HTML structure is:

<ul class="suggestions">
  <li>Apple</li>
  <li>Apricot</li>
  <li>Avocado</li>
</ul>

Which locator will correctly find all <li> elements inside the suggestions list?

A By.className("li")

B By.cssSelector("ul.suggestions li")

C By.xpath("//ul[@class='suggestions']/li")

D By.id("suggestions")

💡 Hint

Look for a locator that selects all list items inside the suggestions list by class.

Option B uses a CSS selector to find all <li> elements inside a <ul> with class "suggestions". Option B looks for an element with id "suggestions" which does not exist. Option B is valid XPath but less preferred than CSS selectors for simplicity. Option B looks for elements with class "li" which is incorrect because "li" is a tag, not a class.

❓ assertion

advanced

Which assertion correctly verifies the selected auto-complete value?

After selecting "Banana" from an auto-complete field, you want to assert the input field's value is "Banana". Which assertion is correct in Java with JUnit?

Selenium Java

WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.id("fruitInput"));
String value = input.getAttribute("value");

A assertNotNull(value);

B assertTrue(value == "Banana");

C assertFalse(value.equals("Banana"));

D assertEquals("Banana", value);

💡 Hint

Use the correct JUnit assertion to compare string values for equality.

Option D correctly uses assertEquals to compare the expected string "Banana" with the actual value. Option D uses == which compares references, not string content, so it can fail. Option D asserts the opposite of what is needed. Option D only checks that value is not null, not that it equals "Banana".

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this auto-complete selection code fail with ElementNotInteractableException?

Given this code snippet:

WebElement input = driver.findElement(By.id("search"));
input.sendKeys("Che");
List options = driver.findElements(By.cssSelector("ul#list li"));
options.get(0).click();

The test fails with ElementNotInteractableException on the click line. What is the most likely reason?

A The input field is disabled, so click fails.

B The locator "ul#list li" is incorrect and finds no elements.

C The suggestions list is not visible yet when click is attempted.

D The first option is already selected, so click is redundant.

💡 Hint

Think about timing and visibility of elements before clicking.

ElementNotInteractableException usually means the element is present in the DOM but not visible or not ready for interaction. Here, the suggestions list likely appears with delay after typing, so clicking immediately fails. Option C would cause NoSuchElementException, not this error. Option C is unrelated to the clicked element. Option C does not cause this exception.

❓ framework

expert

Which Selenium Java code snippet correctly waits for auto-complete suggestions to appear before selecting "Orange"?

You want to wait up to 5 seconds for the auto-complete suggestions to appear, then select the option "Orange". Which code snippet correctly implements this using WebDriverWait and ExpectedConditions?

A

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(5));
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.cssSelector("ul.suggestions li")));
List<WebElement> options = driver.findElements(By.cssSelector("ul.suggestions li"));
for (WebElement option : options) {
    if (option.getText().equals("Orange")) {
        option.click();
        break;
    }
}

B

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 5);
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(By.id("Orange")));
WebElement option = driver.findElement(By.id("Orange"));
option.click();

C

Thread.sleep(5000);
WebElement option = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//li[text()='Orange']"));
option.click();

D

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(5));
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//ul[@class='suggestions']/li[contains(text(),'Orange')]");
WebElement option = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//li[text()='Orange']"));
option.click();

💡 Hint

Use WebDriverWait with Duration and check visibility of suggestions before clicking.

Option A correctly creates a WebDriverWait with Duration.ofSeconds(5), waits for visibility of any suggestion item, then loops to find and click "Orange". Option A uses deprecated constructor and wrong locator. Option A uses Thread.sleep which is not recommended. Option A has a syntax error (missing closing parenthesis in wait.until).