Python Selenium how to locate element

Question

How can I click via selenium and python on such element:

      <a href="#create" class="btn toolbarBtn">
          <i class="fa fa-plus-circle"></i> Create
        </a>

When I Copy Xpath this element from Chrome i got this:

//*[@id="page"]/div/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/a/i

But when I use it in my code:

driver.find_element_by_xpath('//*[@id="page"]/div/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/a/i').click()

I got error that:

Message: no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":"//*[@id="page"]/div/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/a/i').click()"}

When I tried to use find_element_by_link_text and partial_link_text I got same error that selenium was unable to find such element.

Are you sure about the xpath?is it really valid? could you please paste the link of the page here? — Manoj Kengudelu, Mar 30 '17 at 11:14
I can't paste link here because its under corporate network. But I think I found solution. Selenium is too fast, and I need to put implicitly_wait(10) somewhere in my code :) — heniekk, Mar 30 '17 at 14:45

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 30 '17 at 11:35

Try to wait until element becomes clickable:

from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait as wait
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

wait(driver, 10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "a[href='#create']"))).click()

If this also doesn't work check whether your link located inside <iframe>. If so, you need to switch to that frame before clicking link:

driver.switch_to.frame("Put frameID here")

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '17 at 14:51

0

In this particular case I found that selenium is going too fast, so some elements doesn't have time to load. When I put sleep(5) in the code the errors gone.

To avoid putting too many sleep() in my code I use driver.implicitly_wait(10) which resolved my problem definitely. I also dense my code a lot throwing up nearly all sleep() functions.

Thanks all for help!

answered Mar 30 '17 at 14:51

heniekk

374
2
10

Please use the *Post answer* button only for actual answers. You should modify your original question to add additional information. – JeffC Mar 30 '17 at 16:38
This is a less than ideal solution compared to using Selenium's built-in wait() function. – Al Sweigart Mar 31 '17 at 03:34
And why driver.implicitly_wait(10) is worse than explicitly waiting? – heniekk Mar 31 '17 at 10:25
@heniekk, `ExplicitWait` provides with more options and flexibility. Check this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10404160/when-to-use-explicit-wait-vs-implicit-wait-in-selenium-webdriver/28067495#28067495 – Andersson Mar 31 '17 at 11:59
@Andersson thank you for this. This information is very valuable for me. I marked your answer as approved. Update: but still I found Chloe comment here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10404160/when-to-use-explicit-wait-vs-implicit-wait-in-selenium-webdriver/28067495#comment46445762_28067495 valid in my situation. Implicite wait is much easier to use for me. – heniekk Mar 31 '17 at 13:43

Alex Bruce · Answer 3 · 2017-03-31T00:53:30.083

-1

please try below code

driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text("Create").click()

edited Mar 31 '17 at 00:53

answered Mar 30 '17 at 11:30

Alex Bruce

533
2
10
23

There is no method `find_element_by_partial_link()` in `selenium`. Also there is no need to use search by partial link text as search by link text `"Create"` is more precise and it should also find the link – Andersson Mar 30 '17 at 11:49
It should be `find_element_by_partial_link_text` – Chanda Korat Mar 30 '17 at 12:25
Sorry I didn't mention this (I edited my question to address this), but I tried this one to. – heniekk Mar 30 '17 at 14:56

Python Selenium how to locate element

3 Answers3