Difference between findElement and findElements Commands with examples
This article will present you with a complete idea about findElement() and findElements() command in selenium WebDriver with examples
We will learn below topics in this article
findElement() method
- findElement() command is used to find a single element on the web page.
- This command returns the object of the first matching element.
- When element is not found using findElement() command , it will throw the exception ‘NoSuchElementException’
- There are several ways for identifying a web element within the web page for e.g. ID, Name, Class Name, Link Text, Partial Link Text, Tag Name and XPATH.
Syntax-
WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.LocatorStrategy<br />(“Locator Value”));
Locator Strategy can be the following values.
- ID
- Name
- Class Name
- Tag Name
- Link Text
- Xpath
Locator Strategy | Syntax | Description |
| By ID | driver.findElement(By.id()) | Locate Element using ID |
| By Name | driver.findElement(By.name()) | Locate Element using Name |
| By Xpath | driver.findElement(By.xpath ()) | Locates Element using XPath |
| By CSS | driver.findElement(By.cssSelector()) | Locate Element using css selector |
| By Tag Name | driver.findElement(By.tagName(<tagname)) | Locate Element using html Tag name |
| By Link Text | driver.findElement(By.linkText()) | Locate Element using link text |
| By Patial Link text | driver.findElement(By.partialLinkText()) | Locate Element using Partial link text |
| By Class Name | driver.findElement(By.className()) | Locate Element using Class Name |
findElements() method.
- findElements() command is used to identify the list of web elements in the web page.
- Return type of this method is the list of all the elements matching within the Page
- If None of the elements is matching then this method will return an empty List.
Syntax-
List links =driver.findElements(By.xpath(“//table/tr”));
How to use Selenium findElement Command ?
Scenario:
-
- Open the browser
- Navigate to https://tutorialshut.com/demo-website-for-selenium-automation-practice/
- Navigate to section “Sum of two numbers ‘A’ & ‘B’ (Input Form)”
- Find and enter values of A and B
- find element and click ‘Get Sum’ button
Code Implementation
package com.test;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
public class DemoFindElement {
public static WebDriver driver;
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
// Create a new instance of the Chrome driver
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\\Drivers\\chromedriver.exe");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
// Launch the URL
driver.get("https://tutorialshut.com/demo-website-for-selenium-automation-practice/");
//Maximize the window
driver.manage().window().maximize();
// find element using ID and enter value
driver.findElement(By.id("num1")).sendKeys("1");
driver.findElement(By.id("num2")).sendKeys("2");
// find element using Xpath and click
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[text()='Get Sum']")).click();
// close the driver
driver.close();
}
}
How to use Selenium findElements Command?
Scenario
-
- Open the browser
- Navigate to https://tutorialshut.com/demo-website-for-selenium-automation-practice/
- Find the text of radio buttons and print on console.
Code Implementation
package com.test;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
public class DemoFindElements {
public static WebDriver driver;
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
// Create a new instance of the Chrome driver
System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "D:\\Drivers\\chromedriver.exe");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
// Launch the URL
driver.get("https://tutorialshut.com/demo-website-for-selenium-automation-practice/");
// Maximize the window
driver.manage().window().maximize();
// find elements for Radio button using Name
List elements = driver.findElements(By.name("gender"));
System.out.println("Number of elements:" + elements.size());
for (int i = 0; i < elements.size(); i++) {
System.out.println("Radio button text:" + elements.get(i).getAttribute("value"));
}
// close the driver
driver.close();
}
}