Finding the CSS selector of an element can be a tedious task, but don't worry, I've got you covered.
To start, you need to inspect the element on your web page using the browser's developer tools, as demonstrated in the "Inspecting Elements" section.
The CSS selector is a unique identifier that allows you to target a specific element on the page.
By using the `find_element_by_css_selector` method in Selenium WebDriver, you can locate the element using its CSS selector.
The CSS selector is usually in the form of `css_selector=element_name element_attribute`, as shown in the "CSS Selector Syntax" section.
What Are Locators?
Locators in Selenium WebDriver are used to identify and locate web elements on a web page. They can be found by inspecting the HTML source code of the web page using the Developer tools option provided by the browsers.
There are eight different locator strategies that can be used with Selenium WebDriver. The following are various Locator Strategies supported by Selenium WebDriver:
ID locators are unique and faster than any other selector for locating a web element on the page.
What Are?
CSS Selectors are a type of locator used in Selenium to identify and locate web elements based on their id, class name, name, or other attributes. They are faster and simpler than XPath and allow for a clearer and more crisp method to locate web elements.
CSS Selectors can be used by chaining them together, offering a lot of flexibility and allowing you to write precise test scripts. This helps in accurately identifying and interacting with the required web elements on the web page.
CSS Selectors are supported in all modern browsers and are a great way to quickly and precisely locate elements within a web page. They can be used in combination with each other and can also be chained together.
Here are some ways CSS Selectors can be used:
- Using ID
- Using ClassName
- Using Attribute
- Using Substring
- Using nth-child
CSS Selectors are strings of text that can be used to identify an element or group of elements on a webpage. They can be used to select a set of elements or select a single element from a set of elements.
A selector represents a structure that can be used as a condition that determines which elements a selector matches in a document tree. There are several types of selectors, including:
- Universal: The qualified name of any element type (*)
- Type: An optional namespace component prefix prepended to an element name (|)
- Attribute: Represents an element's attribute ([])
- Class: Period or "full stop" notation to represent the class attribute for the respective namespace (.)
- ID: Attributes declared to be of type ID uniquely identifies an element with a number sign (#)
- Pseudo-classes: Selection of information outside the document tree that can't be expressed with simple selectors (:)
- Pseudo-elements: Two colons followed by the name of a pseudo-element allow for access to content beyond the current document tree, and only one per selector is allowed (::)
- Combinators: Allow for specification of a hierarchical path to show ancestry such as child or sibling elements ( ) or (+)
What Are Locators in Selenium?
Locators in Selenium are used to identify and locate web elements on a web page. They can be found by inspecting the HTML source code of the web page by using the Developer tools option provided by the browsers.
There are eight different locator strategies that can be used with Selenium WebDriver, including ID, Name, TagName, ClassName, Link Text, Partial Link Text, XPath, and CSS Selector. ID locators are unique and faster than any other selector for locating a web element on the page.
A web element can be identified by its ID, Name, TagName, ClassName, or other attributes. In fact, there are five types of CSS Selectors in Selenium WebDriver: Using ID, Using ClassName, Using Attribute, Using Substring, and Using nth-child.
Here are the different types of locator strategies supported by Selenium WebDriver:
CSS Selectors are beneficial because they are shorter than XPath locators and allow for a more clear and crisp method to locate the element.
Finding CSS Selectors
Finding CSS Selectors is a crucial step in web development and automation testing. To do this, you can use the "developer tools" that come with your web browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.
Inspecting the HTML source code of the web page using the "Inspect Tools" menu is a great way to find the CSS selector of an element. You can right-click on the element and select "Copy >> Copy selector" to copy the CSS selector.
To copy a CSS selector from a page, you can use the Inspect Element from the menu to launch the Inspector, select an element on the page, and then copy the CSS selector you want to target. You can paste the selector you copied into the Selector field.
Here are the eight different types of locator strategies that can be used with Selenium WebDriver:
What Is a Selector?
A selector is a way to identify a specific element on a web page so you can apply CSS styles to it. It's like a unique address that tells the browser which element to target.
In CSS, there are different types of selectors, such as class selectors, which are formatted with a period (.) character followed by the class name. For example, .orange-text and .blue-text are class selectors that target elements with those classes.
Class names can be descriptive, like .bright-blue or .fancy-text, and they help explain the purpose of the class. Class names can also be multiple words, which is where hyphens come in handy.
You can use class selectors to apply unique styles to specific elements on a page. Simply adding a class attribute to an element without any CSS will not change its appearance or formatting.
There are eight different locator strategies in Selenium WebDriver that can be used to identify and locate web elements on a web page. These strategies include ID, Name, TagName, ClassName, LinkText, PartialLinkText, XPath, and CSS selector.
Here are the different types of CSS Selectors in Selenium WebDriver:
- ID: Used to locate an element by its ID.
- Name: Used to locate an element by its name.
- TagName: Used to locate an element by its HTML tag.
- ClassName: Used to locate an element by its CSS class.
- LinkText: Used to locate a link by its visible text.
- PartialLinkText: Used to locate a link by the partial value of its visible text.
- XPath: Used to locate an element within the HTML document by evaluating an XPath expression.
- CSS selector: Used to locate an element by its CSS selector.
You can also use a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName to locate a web element. This is useful when you need to target a specific element with multiple attributes.
Strategies
Finding the right CSS selector can be a challenge, but there are some strategies that can make it easier. One approach is to use the ID attribute, which is unique and faster than other selectors.
To use the ID attribute, you can right-click on the element and select "Inspect" to launch the Inspector. From there, you can copy the CSS selector by right-clicking and selecting "Copy Unique Selector". The resulting selector will be in the format #id, where id is the value of the element's id attribute.
For example, if you want to select an element with the id "main", the selector would be #main. This is a powerful tool for identifying and locating web elements on a page.
Using the ID attribute is not always possible, so it's good to know about other strategies. One option is to use the CSS selector strategy, which can be used to locate web elements using a variety of different attributes, such as class names and tag names.
Here are some common locator strategies used with CSS selectors:
Another strategy is to use a combination of HTML tag name and class name. For example, if you want to select an element with a tag name of "div" and a class name of "container", the selector would be "div.container". This can be a useful approach when you need to select an element that has multiple attributes.
Locating Elements
To locate elements on a web page, you can use the developer tools that come with your web browser. These tools have different names depending on the browser type, and each offers keyboard shortcuts for accessing the tools and navigating within them.
You can open the developer tools in Chrome by pressing F12 or clicking on the three dots below the "X" button, then selecting More tools > Developer tools.
Browsers also provide an option to copy the CSS Selectors directly from the DOM, which can be done by following the steps mentioned in Example 3.
To locate an element, you can inspect it by right-clicking on the element and selecting Inspect Element. This will launch the Inspector tool, where you can select the element and copy its CSS selector.
You can also use the Elements tab in the developer tools to locate an element. To do this, click on the three dots on the right-hand top of the browser, expand the "More Tools" option, and click on the "Developer Tools" menu. Then, navigate to the Elements tab and locate the element you want to target.
To copy the CSS selector of an element, right-click on the element and select Copy > Copy selector. This will copy the CSS selector to your clipboard, which you can then paste into your code.
Here are the different types of locator strategies supported by Selenium WebDriver:
- ID: Used to locate an element by its ID.
- Name: Used to locate an element by its name.
- TagName: Used to locate an element by its HTML tag.
- ClassName: Used to locate an element by its CSS class.
- LinkText: Used to locate a link by its visible text.
- PartialLinkText: Used to locate a link by the partial value of its visible text.
- XPath: Used to locate an element within the HTML document by evaluating an XPath expression.
- CSS selector: Used to locate an element by its CSS selector.
To create a CSS selector, you can use the HTML TagName with an attribute using a matching word, such as the "~" character. For example, to locate an element with a class name that contains the word "country", you can use the CSS selector li[class~='country'].
Using HTML Elements
You can locate a web element using a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName. This is a powerful locator strategy in CSS Selector in Selenium.
The "Get Checked Value" button on a page is located using the "ID" locator, but you can also use a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName to find it.
Using a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName can narrow the search and speed up the search of the element, as seen in the example of the "Select Number Of Rows" field.
The HTML TagName "select" can be used in conjunction with the ClassName "form-control" to locate a web element, as demonstrated in the CSS Selector "select.form-control".
Locating the "Name" field on the Input Form page can be done using a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName.
You can use the HTML TagName "textarea" in conjunction with the name attribute "description" to locate the "Comment" field on the Ajax Form Submit page.
To get the list of all the options available in the "Select Country" dropdown field, you can use a combination of HTML TagName and ClassName.
Copying Selectors
Copying Selectors is a crucial step in finding the CSS selector of an element. You can copy CSS selectors directly from the browser using the Inspect Element window.
To do this, click on the three dots on the right-hand top of the browser and expand the "More Tools" option. Then, click on the "Developer Tools" menu, or press the shortcut key "F12".
You can also locate the web element using the "Elements" tab and right-click on the DOM element to select "Copy >> Copy selector". This will copy the CSS selector of the element.
For example, to copy the CSS selector for the "Enter Message" field on the Simple Form Demo, right-click on the DOM element and select "Copy >> Copy selector". This will copy the value "#user-message", which is the ID of the "Enter Message" field.
You can also use the "Inspect Element" window to copy the CSS selector. Press "Ctrl/Cmd + F" to open the finder, and paste the value you copied by pressing "Ctrl/Cmd + V".
Here are some examples of properly formatted CSS selectors:
- Selector: #id - The #id selector styles the element with the specified id.
- Example: #main - The specified id is main.
- Example Reference: Selects the element with id="main".
Note that when using Chrome Browser, you may encounter an error when copying the CSS selector using the "Copy>xpath" or "Copy>Full xpath" option. In this case, try finding the ID for the CSS selector and use the "Copy>Copy selector" option instead.
Sources
- https://www.lambdatest.com/learning-hub/css-selectors
- https://www.pcloudy.com/blogs/understanding-css-selectors-in-selenium/
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors
- https://docs.deque.com/auditor/2.21/en/css-selector-process/
- https://blog.hubspot.com/website/what-is-css-class
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