CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyfirefoxwatirwatir-webdriverruby-watir
Anderson Barcelos
Anderson Barcelos

Reputation: 3

Watir finds element by xpath, but not by id or class

I can find an element using its XPath, but not using its ID, class, or text. I don't want to use XPath because I know it will break easily.

This is what it looks like:

$browser.div(:xpath => "/html/body/nav/div[1]/div/div[3]/div/div/div[3]/div/div/div[2]/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div[1]/div[2]/div/div/div").present?
$browser.div(:xpath => "/html/body/nav/div[1]/div/div[3]/div/div/div[3]/div/div/div[2]/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div[1]/div[2]/div/div/div").click

It returns true and clicks on the element.

Following the path, I find the element, then try use its ID, like:

$browser.div(:id => "PaymentSelector").present?
$browser.div(:id => "PaymentSelector").click

It returns false and times out trying to click. The same happens with text or class.

The element is not inside a frame or iframe.

Why would this happen and how do I fix it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1187

Answers (1)

Justin Ko
Justin Ko

Reputation: 46826

As discussed in the comments, the problem is that there are multiple elements with the same id. This can be seen by calling:

$browser.divs(:id => "PaymentSelector").count
#=> 5

Watir returns the first matching element, which in this case, happens to be a hidden element. It is not the one that a user is interested in. You need to craft a more specific locator so that the right element is returned.

One option is to specify the :index since you now know it is the second one:

$browser.div(:id => "PaymentSelector", :index => 2).click

However, it will likely be more robust to just find the first visible one by using the :visible locator:

$browser.div(:id => "PaymentSelector", :visible => true).click

Upvotes: 3

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