Element Locators

Element Locators allow Selenium to identify which HTML element a command refers to. We support the following strategies for locating elements:

id=id

Select the element with the specified @id attribute.

name=name

Select the first element with the specified @name attribute.

identifier=id

Select the element with the specified @id attribute. If no match is found, select the first element whose @name attribute is id.

dom=javascriptExpression

Find an element using JavaScript traversal of the HTML Document Object Model. DOM locators must begin with "document.".

• dom=document.forms['myForm'].myDropdown
• dom=document.images[56]

xpath=xpathExpression

Locate an element using an XPath expression. XPath locators must begin with "//".

• xpath=//img[@alt='The image alt text']
• xpath=//table[@id='table1']//tr[4]/td[2]

link=textPattern

Select the link (anchor) element which contains text matching the specified pattern.

• link=The link text

Without a locator prefix, Selenium uses:

• dom, for locators starting with "document."
• xpath, for locators starting with "//"
• identifier, otherwise

Select Option Specifiers

Select Option Specifiers provide different ways of specifying options of an HTML Select element (e.g. for selecting a specific option, or for asserting that the selected option satisfies a specification). There are several forms of Select Option Specifier.

label=labelPattern

matches options based on their labels, i.e. the visible text.

• label=regexp:^[Oo]ther

value=valuePattern

matches options based on their values.

• value=other

id=id

matches options based on their ids.

• id=option1

index=index

matches an option based on its index (offset from zero).

• index=2

Without a prefix, the default behaviour is to only match on labels.

String-match Patterns

Various Pattern syntaxes are available for matching string values:

glob:pattern

Match a string against a "glob" (aka "wildmat") pattern. "Glob" is a kind of limited regular-expression syntax typically used in command-line shells. In a glob pattern, "*" represents any sequence of characters, and "?" represents any single character. Glob patterns match against the entire string.

regexp:regexp

Match a string using a regular-expression. The full power of JavaScript regular-expressions is available.

exact:string

Match a string exactly, verbatim, without any of that fancy wildcard stuff.

If no pattern prefix is specified, Selenium assumes that it's a "glob" pattern.

Selenium Actions

Actions tell Selenium to do something in the application. They generally represent something a user would do.

Many Actions can be called with the "AndWait" suffix. This suffix tells Selenium that the action will cause the browser to make a call to the server, and that Selenium should wait for a new page to load. The exceptions to this pattern are the "open" and "click" actions, which will both wait for a page to load by default.

open( url )

Opens a URL in the test frame. This accepts both relative and absolute URLs.

Note: The URL must be on the same site as Selenium due to security restrictions in the browser (Cross Site Scripting).

examples:

open	/mypage
open	http://localhost/

click( elementLocator )

Clicks on a link, button, checkbox or radio button. If the click action causes a new page to load (like a link usually does), use "clickAndWait".

examples:

click	aCheckbox
clickAndWait	submitButton
clickAndWait	anyLink

note:

Selenium will always automatically click on a popup dialog raised by the alert() or confirm() methods. (The exception is those raised during 'onload', which are not yet handled by Selenium). You must use [verify|assert]Alert or [verify|assert]Confirmation to tell Selenium that you expect the popup dialog. You may use chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation to click 'cancel' on the next confirmation dialog instead of clicking 'OK'.

type( inputLocator, value )

Sets the value of an input field, as though you typed it in.

Can also be used to set the value of combo boxes, check boxes, etc. In these cases, value should be the value of the option selected, not the visible text.

examples:

type	nameField	John Smith
typeAndWait	textBoxThatSubmitsOnChange	newValue

select( dropDownLocator, optionSpecifier )

Select an option from a drop-down, based on the optionSpecifier. If more than one option matches the specifier (e.g. due to the use of globs like "f*b*", or due to more than one option having the same label or value), then the first matches is selected.

examples:

select	dropDown	Australian Dollars
select	dropDown	index=0
selectAndWait	currencySelector	value=AUD
selectAndWait	currencySelector	label=Aus*lian D*rs

selectWindow( windowId )

Selects a popup window. Once a popup window has been selected, all commands go to that window. To select the main window again, use "null" as the target.

target: The id of the window to select.

value: ignored

examples:

selectWindow	myPopupWindow
selectWindow	null

goBack()

Simulates the user clicking the "back" button on their browser.

examples:

goBack

close()

Simulates the user clicking the "close" button in the titlebar of a popup window.

examples:

close

pause( milliseconds )

Pauses the execution of the test script for a specified amount of time. This is useful for debugging a script or pausing to wait for some server side action.

examples:

pause	5000
pause	2000

fireEvent( elementLocator, eventName )

Explicitly simulate an event, to trigger the corresponding "onevent" handler.

examples:

fireEvent	textField	focus
fireEvent	dropDown	blur

waitForValue( inputLocator, value )

Waits for a specified input (e.g. a hidden field) to have a specified value. Will succeed immediately if the input already has the value. This is implemented by polling for the value. Warning: can block indefinitely if the input never has the specified value.

example:

waitForValue

finishIndication

isfinished

store( valueToStore, variableName )

Stores a value into a variable. The value can be constructed using either variable substitution or javascript evaluation, as detailed in 'Parameter construction and Variables' (below).

examples:

store	Mr John Smith	fullname
store	${title} ${firstname} ${surname}	fullname
store	javascript{Math.round(Math.PI * 100) / 100}	PI

storeValue( inputLocator, variableName )

Stores the value of an input field into a variable.

examples:

storeValue	userName	userID
type	userName	${userID}

storeText( elementLocator, variableName )

Stores the text of an element into a variable.

examples:

storeText	currentDate	expectedStartDate
verifyValue	startDate	${expectedStartDate}

storeAttribute( elementLocator@attributeName, variableName )

Stores the value of an element attribute into a variable.

examples:

storeAttribute	input1@class	classOfInput1
verifyAttribute	input2@class	${classOfInput1}

chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation()

Instructs Selenium to click Cancel on the next javascript confirmation dialog to be raised. By default, the confirm function will return true, having the same effect as manually clicking OK. After running this command, the next confirmation will behave as if the user had clicked Cancel.

examples:

chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation

answerOnNextPrompt( answerString )

Instructs Selenium to return the specified answerString in response to the next prompt.

examples:

answerOnNextPrompt

Kangaroo

Selenium Checks

Checks are used to verify the state of the application. They can be used to check the value of a form field, the presense of some text, or the URL of the current page.

All Selenium Checks can be used in 2 modes, "assert" and "verify". These behave identically, except that when an "assert" check fails, the test is aborted. When a "verify" check fails, the test will continue execution. This allows a single "assert" to ensure that the application is on the correct page, followed by a bunch of "verify" checks to test form field values, labels, etc.

assertLocation( relativeLocation )

examples:

verifyLocation	/mypage
assertLocation	/mypage

assertTitle( titlePattern )

Verifies the title of the current page.

examples:

verifyTitle	My Page
assertTitle	My Page

assertValue( inputLocator, valuePattern )

Verifies the value of an input field (or anything else with a value parameter). For checkbox/radio elements, the value will be "on" or "off" depending on whether the element is checked or not.

examples:

verifyValue	nameField	John Smith
assertValue	document.forms[2].nameField	John Smith

assertSelected( selectLocator, optionSpecifier )

Verifies that the selected option of a drop-down satisfies the optionSpecifier.

examples:

verifySelected	dropdown2	John Smith
verifySelected	dropdown2	value=js*123
assertSelected	document.forms[2].dropDown	label=J* Smith
assertSelected	document.forms[2].dropDown	index=0

assertSelectOptions( selectLocator, optionLabelList )

Verifies the labels of all options in a drop-down against a comma-separated list. Commas in an expected option can be escaped as ",".

examples:

verifySelectOptions	dropdown2	John Smith,Dave Bird
assertSelectOptions	document.forms[2].dropDown	Smith\, J,Bird\, D

assertText( elementLocator, textPattern )

Verifies the text of an element. This works for any element that contains text. This command uses either the textContent (Mozilla-like browsers) or the innerText (IE-like browsers) of the element, which is the rendered text shown to the user.

examples:

verifyText	statusMessage	Successful
assertText	//div[@id='foo']//h1	Successful

assertAttribute( elementLocator@attributeName, valuePattern )

Verifies the value of an element attribute.

examples:

verifyAttribute	txt1@class	bigAndBold
assertAttribute	document.images[0]@alt	alt-text
verifyAttribute	//img[@id='foo']/@alt	alt-text

assertTextPresent( text )

Verifies that the specified text appears somewhere on the rendered page shown to the user.

examples:

verifyTextPresent	You are now logged in.
assertTextPresent	You are now logged in.

assertTextNotPresent( text )

Verifies that the specified text does NOT appear anywhere on the rendered page.

assertElementPresent( elementLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is somewhere on the page.

examples:

verifyElementPresent	submitButton
assertElementPresent	//img[@alt='foo']

assertElementNotPresent( elementLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is NOT on the page.

examples:

verifyElementNotPresent	cancelButton
assertElementNotPresent	cancelButton

assertTable( cellAddress, valuePattern )

Verifies the text in a cell of a table. The cellAddress syntax tableName.row.column, where row and column start at 0.

examples:

verifyTable	myTable.1.6	Submitted
assertTable	results.0.2	13

assertVisible( elementLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is both present and visible. An element can be rendered invisible by setting the CSS "visibility" property to "hidden", or the "display" property to "none", either for the element itself or one if its ancestors.

examples:

verifyVisible	postcode
assertVisible	postcode

assertNotVisible( elementLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is NOT visible. Elements that are simply not present are also considered invisible.

examples:

verifyNotVisible	postcode
assertNotVisible	postcode

verifyEditable / assertEditable( inputLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is editable, ie. it's an input element, and hasn't been disabled.

examples:

verifyEditable	shape
assertEditable	colour

assertNotEditable( inputLocator )

Verifies that the specified element is NOT editable, ie. it's NOT an input element, or has been disabled.

assertAlert( messagePattern )

Verifies that a javascript alert with the specified message was generated. Alerts must be verified in the same order that they were generated.

Verifying an alert has the same effect as manually clicking OK. If an alert is generated but you do not verify it, the next Selenium action will fail.

NOTE: under Selenium, javascript alerts will NOT pop up a visible alert dialog.

NOTE: Selenium does NOT support javascript alerts that are generated in a page's onload() event handler. In this case a visible dialog WILL be generated and Selenium will hang until you manually click OK.

examples:

verifyAlert	Invalid Phone Number
assertAlert	Invalid Phone Number

assertConfirmation( messagePattern )

Verifies that a javascript confirmation dialog with the specified message was generated. Like alerts, confirmations must be verified in the same order that they were generated.

By default, the confirm function will return true, having the same effect as manually clicking OK. This can be changed by prior execution of the chooseCancelOnNextConfirmation command (see above). If an confirmation is generated but you do not verify it, the next Selenium action will fail.

NOTE: under Selenium, javascript confirmations will NOT pop up a visible dialog.

NOTE: Selenium does NOT support javascript confirmations that are generated in a page's onload() event handler. In this case a visible dialog WILL be generated and Selenium will hang until you manually click OK.

examples:

assertConfirmation	Remove this user?
verifyConfirmation	Are you sure?

assertPrompt( messagePattern )

Verifies that a javascript prompt dialog with the specified message was generated. Like alerts, prompts must be verified in the same order that they were generated.

Successful handling of the prompt requires prior execution of the answerOnNextPrompt command (see above). If a prompt is generated but you do not verify it, the next Selenium action will fail.

examples:

answerOnNextPrompt	Joe
click	id=delegate
verifyPrompt	Delegate to who?

Parameter construction and Variables

All Selenium command parameters can be constructed using both simple variable substitution as well as full javascript. Both of these mechanisms can access previously stored variables, but do so using different syntax.

Stored Variables

The commands store, storeValue and storeText can be used to store a variable value for later access. Internally, these variables are stored in a map called "storedVars", with values keyed by the variable name. These commands are documented in the command reference.

Variable substitution

Variable substitution provides a simple way to include a previously stored variable in a command parameter. This is a simple mechanism, by which the variable to substitute is indicated by ${variableName}. Multiple variables can be substituted, and intermixed with static text.

Example:

store	Mr	title
storeValue	nameField	surname
store	${title} ${surname}	fullname
type	textElement	Full name is: ${fullname}

Javascript evaluation

Javascript evaluation provides the full power of javascript in constructing a command parameter. To use this mechanism, the entire parameter value must be prefixed by 'javascript{' with a trailing '}'. The text inside the braces is evaluated as a javascript expression, and can access previously stored variables using the storedVars map detailed above. Note that variable substitution cannot be combined with javascript evaluation.

Example:

store	javascript{'merchant' + (new Date()).getTime()}	merchantId
type	textElement	javascript{storedVars['merchantId'].toUpperCase()}

Extending Selenium

It can be quite simple to extend Selenium, adding your own actions, checks and locator-strategies. This is done with javascript by adding methods to the Selenium object prototype, and the PageBot object prototype. On startup, Selenium will automatically look through methods on these prototypes, using name patterns to recognise which ones are actions, checks and locators.

The following examples try to give an indication of how Selenium can be extended with javascript.

Actions

All doFoo methods on the Selenium prototype are added as actions. For each action foo there is also an action fooAndWait registered. An action method can take up to 2 parameters, which will be passed the second and third column values in the test.

Example: Add a "typeRepeated" action to Selenium, which types the text twice into a text box.

Selenium.prototype.doTypeRepeated = function(locator, text) {
    // All locator-strategies are automatically handled by "findElement"
    var element = this.page().findElement(locator);

    // Create the text to type
    var valueToType = text + text;

    // Replace the element text with the new text
    this.page().replaceText(element, valueToType);
};

Checks

All assertFoo methods on the Selenium prototype are added as checks. For each check foo there is an assertFoo and verifyFoo registered. An assert method can take up to 2 parameters, which will be passed the second and third column values in the test.

Example: Add a valueRepeated check, that makes sure that the element value consists of the supplied text repeated. The 2 commands that would be available in tests would be assertValueRepeated and verifyValueRepeated.

Selenium.prototype.assertValueRepeated = function(locator, text) {
    // All locator-strategies are automatically handled by "findElement"
    var element = this.page().findElement(locator);

    // Create the text to verify
    var expectedValue = text + text;

    // Get the actual element value
    var actualValue = element.value;

    // Make sure the actual value matches the expected
    this.assertMatches(expectedValue, actualValue);
};

Locator Strategies

All locateElementByFoo methods on the PageBot prototype are added as locator-strategies. A locator strategy takes 2 parameters, the first being the locator string (minus the prefix), and the second being the document in which to search.

Example: Add a "valuerepeated=" locator, that finds the first element a value attribute equal to the the supplied value repeated.

// The "inDocument" is a the document you are searching.
PageBot.prototype.locateElementByValueRepeated = function(text, inDocument) {
    // Create the text to search for
    var expectedValue = text + text;

    // Loop through all elements, looking for ones that have 
    // a value === our expected value
    var allElements = inDocument.getElementsByTagName("*");
    for (var i = 0; i < allElements.length; i++) {
        var testElement = allElements[i];
        if (testElement.value && testElement.value === expectedValue) {
            return testElement;
        }
    }
    return null;
};

user-extensions.js

By default, Selenium looks for a file called "user-extensions.js", and loads the javascript code found in that file. This file provides a convenient location for adding features to Selenium, without needing to modify the core Selenium sources.

In the standard distibution, this file does not exist. Users can create this file and place their extension code in this common location, removing the need to modify the Selenium sources, and hopefully assisting with the upgrade process.

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