• Sendkeys : Click : Clear : Submit ~ Element Input Operations

SendKeys in selenium

The sendKeys() method used to pass the Keyboard keys or text into editable elements (text bar, text area, button) without replacing the previously available content.

Using multiple sendkeys to a particular field, selenium appends all of the text one by one (example below).

Parameter(s) Accepted : sendKeys(CharSequence... keysToSend )
Return Type : void

Complete Program for Sendkeys

public class Textbar {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// set value to textbar
		 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
	}
}

If we use Multiple sendkeys to a particular field, selenium appends them one by one to the field.

public class TextbarTwoSendkeys {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
		//send text to the same textbar and notice the change | text appended
		driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
	}
}

We can clear any editable field using clear() method present in selenium, most of the time clear()will be used along with sendkeys().

public class TextbarClearSendkeys {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// set value to textbar
		 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
		 // clear() method clears the content of a editable item
		 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).clear();
		 //send text to the same textbar and notice the change
		 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
	}
}

Capture screenshot in selenium

Handle button with sendkeys

There is a misconception among most of the testers that we can use send keys only for Textbar, TextAreas, but in reality, we can use sendKeys to handle button actions like clicking operation by sending enter key from the keyboard with Keys.keys

public class ButtonSendkeys {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// send enter key to button
		driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='btn-sendkeys']")).sendKeys(Keys.ENTER);
	}
}

What is CharSequence in Sendkeys?

Have you ever noticed that the Sendkeys method accepts CharSequence... arg0 parameter, but what we pass to sendkeys is a String.


CharSequence : CharSequence is an interface that represents a sequence of characters (topmost class in string group ). Mutability is not enforced by this interface. Therefore, both mutable (StringBuffer, StringBuilder) and immutable (String) classes implement this interface.

As CharSequence is the topmost interface, we can cast all the subclasses into this type; this is the reason behind sendkeys accepting String. When we pass a String parameter, it will be automatically upcasted into CharSequence.

String - Immutable (leaves dead objects when we reassign the value)
StringBuilder and StringBuffer - Mutable (we can change the value without leaving dead object)

CharSequence csString = new String("chercher.tech");
CharSequence csStrBuffer = new StringBuffer("seleiumhq.org");
CharSequence csStrBuilder = new StringBuilder("testng.org");

In the above line auto-upcasting occurs, which similar to our Browser classes casting into WebDriver Interface.

String : String is a sequence of characters in Java. It is an immutable class and one of the most frequently used types in Java.

Usage of CharSequence : When we are not sure which kind of values is going to come and if we want to accept everything we would be using Object class, similarly when we want to limit the inputs only to String types (String, StringBuilder, StringBuffer) we can use CharSequence.

import org.testng.annotations.Test;
public class CharSequenceTest {
	@Test
	public void test(){
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://google.com");
		// define all the strings
		CharSequence csString = new String("https://");
		CharSequence csStrBuffer = new StringBuffer("selenium-");
		CharSequence csStrBuilder = new StringBuilder("webdriver.");
		CharSequence csString2 = "com";
		// send the string to search bar without clearing
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(csString);
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(csStrBuffer);
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(csStrBuilder);
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(csString2);
	}
}



The above program entered all the values into the search box of Google without clearing the field. So we can pass StringBuilder, StringBuffer instead of string in the sendkeys() method of webdriver

Selenium Tricky Interview questions

... in 'CharSequence... arg0'

What is the ... present in the Sendkeys() along with CharSequence, this symbol is known as Ellipsisaka varrags in java.

Ellipsis denotes that this method accepts Zero or more parameter of the same type, Such methods can have a variable number of arguments and thus useful for the passing of dynamic data.

Using the varargs, we can avoid writing the overload methods (overload methods are nothing but the same methods accepting more number of parameters or different type of parameters in the same java class).

sendkeys() method in selenium accepts the varargs as a parameter, which means we can pass more than one string at a time, have you ever tried ?. Let's try.

import org.testng.annotations.Test;
public class VarargsTest {
	@Test
	public void test(){
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://google.com");
		// send multiple string in send keys
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("hello -", "Selenium -", "varargs");
	}
}



If you have noticed the above program entered all three strings into the Search box.

Below code snippet gives details about how the Varargs internally works along with sendKeys, this is my assumption, and it could differ from the actual sendkeys() method in webdriver.

static String asOneValue(CharSequence... args) {
	// create object for StringBuilder
	StringBuilder totalString = new StringBuilder();
	// iterate through the input values
	for(CharSequence arg : args) {
		// append the total value to the total string
		totalString.append(arg);
	}
	 // return the total string
	return totalString.toString();
}

Experiment with sendkeys in selenium

This is not a big experiment but probably an idea, what happens when we pass an array of strings to sendkeys ? or What happens when you pass element sendkeys('string1", "string2", "string3");

Sendkeys method will add all the strings by iterating them and forms into one single string using StringBuilder and sends this value into a field in webdriver.

public class StringArraySendkeys {
	@Test
	public void test(){
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://google.com");
		// strings
		String[] strings = {"str1", "str2", "str3"};
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(strings);
	}
}

Create Headless Firefox Browser in webdriver

Keys.keys with Sendkeys in Webdriver

We can stimulate the Keyboard using selenium with the help of Keys Enum; Keys Enum also implements CharSequence.

Fields (variable or keys) Present in the Keys Enum represents pressable keys which are not text, for example : a-z are text, but Shift, Ctrl, Alt are pressable keys but not text.


The below program presses 1 from the Numpad and uE01C, which is nothing but the Unicode value of number 2 from the Numpad.

public class KeysSendkeys {
	@Test
	public void test(){
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://google.com");
		// press number 1
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys(Keys.NUMPAD1);
		// press number 2 key
		driver.findElement(By.name("q")).sendKeys("uE01C");
	}
}

Output :


Every key represents a Unicode value, Instead of Keys.value we can also pass unicode to sendkeys method in selenium. Few are given below.

NULL         ('uE000'),	          |	  ESCAPE       ('uE00C'),
CANCEL       ('uE001'), /*^break*/|	  SPACE        ('uE00D'),
HELP         ('uE002'),	          |	  PAGE_UP      ('uE00E'),
BACK_SPACE   ('uE003'),	          |	  PAGE_DOWN    ('uE00F'),
TAB          ('uE004'),	          |	  END          ('uE010'),
CLEAR        ('uE005'),	          |	  HOME         ('uE011'),
RETURN       ('uE006'),	          |	  LEFT         ('uE012'),
ENTER        ('uE007'),	          |	  ARROW_LEFT   (Keys.LEFT),
SHIFT        ('uE008'),	          |	  UP           ('uE013'),
LEFT_SHIFT   (Keys.SHIFT),	      |	  ARROW_UP     (Keys.UP),
CONTROL      ('uE009'),	          |	  RIGHT        ('uE014'),
LEFT_CONTROL (Keys.CONTROL),	      |	  ARROW_RIGHT  (Keys.RIGHT),
ALT          ('uE00A'),	          |	  DOWN         ('uE015'),
LEFT_ALT     (Keys.ALT),	          |	  ARROW_DOWN   (Keys.DOWN),
PAUSE        ('uE00B'),	          |	  INSERT       ('uE016'),
SEMICOLON    ('uE018'),	          |	  EQUALS       ('uE019'),
	  // Number pad keys
NUMPAD0      ('uE01A'),	          |	  NUMPAD8      ('uE022'),
NUMPAD1      ('uE01B'),	          |	  NUMPAD9      ('uE023'),
NUMPAD2      ('uE01C'),	          |	  MULTIPLY     ('uE024'),
NUMPAD3      ('uE01D'),	          |	  ADD          ('uE025'),
NUMPAD4      ('uE01E'),	          |	  SEPARATOR    ('uE026'),
NUMPAD5      ('uE01F'),	          |	  SUBTRACT     ('uE027'),
NUMPAD6      ('uE020'),	          |	  DECIMAL      ('uE028'),
NUMPAD7      ('uE021'),	          |	  DIVIDE       ('uE029'),
	  // Function keys
F1           ('uE031'),	          |	  F7           ('uE037'),
F2           ('uE032'),	          |	  F8           ('uE038'),
F3           ('uE033'),	          |	  F9           ('uE039'),
F4           ('uE034'),	          |	  F10          ('uE03A'),
F5           ('uE035'),	          |	  F11          ('uE03B'),
F6           ('uE036'),	          |	  F12          ('uE03C'),
META         ('uE03D'),		  ZENKAKU_HANKAKU ('uE040');
COMMAND      (Keys.META),

Fluent wait in webdriver

Multiple Keys with Keys.chord in SendKeys method

We can send multiple keys using sendkeys() in webdriver, for example if we want press shift button and enter some text to a field

public class SendMultipleKeys {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// enter text with capital letters by pressing Shift
		 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).
                               sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.SHIFT, "UserName"));
	}
}

clear() method

We can clear any editable field using clear() method present in webdriver, most of the time clear() will be used along with sendkeys().

public class TextbarClearSendkeys {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // set chrome driver exe path
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
    // set value to textbar
     driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
     // clear() method clears the content of a editable item
     driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).clear();
     //send text to the same textbar and notice the change
     driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='textbar']")).sendKeys("selenium webdriver");
  }
}

Add Screenshots to the PDF file in selenium

click() method in webdriver

Web page testing happens with clicks most of the time, selenium provides a method called click() which helps the user to click on the elements on a webpage.

To click any element on webpage selenium must find the element first, an element should have width and height more than '0px'.

The Element must be visible on the webpage.

public class Link {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// clicks the link which has id = 'button'
		driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@id='link']")).click();
	}
}


To click a button

public class Button {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// clicks the button which has id = 'button'
		driver.findElement(By.id("button")).click();
	}
}


We can use click() method to click the checkbox and uncheck the checkbox

public class Checkbox {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// clicks the check which has id = 'checkbox'
		driver.findElement(By.id("checkbox")).click();
	}
}


We can use click() method to click the radio button, as we know we cannot unselect a radio button by clicking it. To un-select a radio button we need to click another radio button.

public class Radio {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// clicks the radio button which has id = 'radio'
		driver.findElement(By.id("radio")).click();
	}
}

Type Casting in Method Overloading in Java Selenium

How to write a custom click method in selenium?

Sometimes we may need to write our own methods to click so that before click or after click we can perform some operations, also we will have the clicking operation happening in one place.

In case if there is a change in click() method of webdriver, we can easily modify or update the method in one place instead of multiple places.

public class CustomClick {
	// open firefox and store it in driver and driver is static here (driver not webdriver)
	public static WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/java/explicit-wait-sample");
		WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@id='disable']"));
		customClick(button);
	}
	public static void customClick(WebElement element){
		System.out.println("you can write the custom loogin/ or print statements");
		element.click();
		System.out.println("you can write the custom loogin/ or print statements");
	}
}

Xpath in Selenium

Reasons for click() method to fail in selenium

  • There no such element
  • Element is not visible
  • Element Not clickable
  • Element Height and width is less than 0 (zero)
  • Check the xpath case(upper and lower) few it depends on the browser

Exceptions in Selenium

Submit

submit() method in webdriver submits a form, user can use it only along with form or with form element only.

submit() method clicks a button is a misconception, it works only when that particular button is associated with the form.

@parameters : accepts nothing
@return : nothing

public class Submit {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// set chrome driver exe path
		System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:/~/chromedriver.exe");
		WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
		driver.get("https://chercher.tech/selenium-webdriver-sample");
		// submits the button which has type as submit
		driver.findElement(By.id("//button[@type='submit']")).submit();
	}
}

Ways to select a dropdown option in selenium

Recommended Readings

About Author :

I am Pavankumar, Having 8.5 years of experience currently working in Video/Live Analytics project.

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  • Deepak 
    is it useful to lean selenium with java or with python?
 
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  • santhi 
    can we use  submit incited of click method in selenium
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