Invalid selector exception for clicking an element using Selenium with Cucumber for W3Schools site

Question

I am trying with the following Selenium Code using Cucumber for W3Schools site. When I click on "Try it yourself" button then it navigates to another page opening different window and the window control also goes to the new window opened. So,In the new window opened, if i click the run button, it throws an exception:

invalid Selector

code:

//This clicks on the Try it yourself button
@FindBy(how=How.XPATH,using="//*[@id=\"main\"]/div[4]/p/a")
    private WebElement TryItYourself;
public void TryItYourSelfClick()
        {
            TryItYourself.click();  
        }
//Now,a new window opens up where I want to click on Run Button
    @FindBy(how=How.LINK_TEXT,using="Run >>")
    private WebElement RunButton;
public void RunClick()
        {
            RunButton.click();
        }

Calling Run Method
@Then("^a new window should appear$")
    public void a_new_window_should_appear() {
        System.out.println("Run button before Clicking");
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        obj1.RunClick();
        System.out.println("Run after clicking");
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
         Set <String> handle=driver.getWindowHandles();
         String firstWinHandle=driver.getWindowHandle();
         String WinHandle=handle.iterator().next();
         if(WinHandle!=firstWinHandle)
         {
             driver.switchTo().window(WinHandle);
             System.out.println("Working for new window opened");
         }

}

why this invalid selector exception is coming?

HTML code:

<div class="w3-bar w3-light-grey" style="border-top:1px solid #f1f1f1;overflow:auto">
  <a id="tryhome" href="https://www.w3schools.com" target="_blank" title="w3schools.com Home" class="w3-button w3-bar-item topnav-icons fa fa-home" style="font-size:28px;color:#999999;margin-top:-2px"></a>
  <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="openMenu()" id="menuButton" title="Open Menu" class="w3-dropdown-click w3-button w3-bar-item topnav-icons fa fa-menu" style="font-size:28px;color:#999999;margin-top:-2px"></a>
  <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="click_savebtn()" title="Save" class="w3-button w3-bar-item topnav-icons fa fa-save" style="font-size:28px;color:#999999;margin-top:-2px"></a>
  <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="restack(currentStack)" title="Change Orientation" class="w3-button w3-bar-item topnav-icons fa fa-rotate" style="font-size:28px;color:#999999;margin-top:-2px"></a>
  <button class="w3-button w3-bar-item w3-green w3-hover-white w3-hover-text-green" onclick="submitTryit(1)">Run »</button>
  <span class="w3-right w3-hide-medium w3-hide-small" style="padding:8px 8px 8px 8px;display:block"></span>
  <span class="w3-right w3-hide-small" style="padding:8px 0;display:block;float:right;"><span id="framesize">Result Size: <span>433 x 439</span></span></span>
</div>

Which line throws `invalid Selector Exception`? – undetected Selenium Jun 05 '18 at 11:34 — undetected Selenium, Jun 05 '18 at 11:34

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 05 '18 at 12:00

0

I'm not familiar with cucumber, but does it have an option to use cssSelector?

I looked at the button and found

body .trytopnav button

as a valid selector.

answered Jun 05 '18 at 12:00

lewilddude

41
8

undetected Selenium · Answer 2 · 2018-06-05T12:20:26.097

0

This error message...

invalid Selector Exception

...implies that the how=How.LINK_TEXT,using="Run >>" was not a valid selector.

The main issue is the element is not a LINK_TEXT but a <button> tag with text as Run ».

Solution

Change the Locator Strategy as follows:

@FindBy(how=How.XPATH,using="//button[contains(.,'Run »')]")
//or
@FindBy(how=How.XPATH,using="//button[contains(.,'Run')]")
private WebElement RunButton;

edited Jun 05 '18 at 12:20

answered Jun 05 '18 at 12:12

undetected Selenium

183,867
41
278
352

Update with another option. Let me know the status – undetected Selenium Jun 05 '18 at 12:22

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 05 '18 at 15:46

0

look here https://www.seleniumhq.org/exceptions/invalid_selector_exception.jsp we need to avoid using >> as possible, so try to use another locator by avoiding these

answered Jun 05 '18 at 15:46

murali selenium

3,847
2
11
20

I had tried with other locator class which doesnot have this >> invalid characters as a locator.But still,its not working – mehak Jun 05 '18 at 16:10
Run » – mehak Jun 05 '18 at 16:11
use this xpath //a[@id='menuButton']/parent::div/button – murali selenium Jun 06 '18 at 06:00
Its still not working with the above mentioned xpath – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 09:53
exception?? please provide complete exception, if possible url where your are working – murali selenium Jun 06 '18 at 10:07
On entering this URL,https://www.w3schools.com/ Click on Try It yourself button where a new window will appear.And on that window there is Run>> button which we are trying to click on – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 10:20
i didnt get any exception on running it driver.get("https://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_default"); driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@id='menuButton']/parent::div/button")).click(); – murali selenium Jun 06 '18 at 10:36
Are you able to click on the Run Button?It will only throw exception if u run on debug mode. – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 11:20
i ran normally, no exception. executed perfectly. – murali selenium Jun 06 '18 at 11:31
Are you clicking on Try it yourself button or Run button of the new window? – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 11:43
The code which you had pasted above is only clicking on Try it yourself button – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 11:43
sorry yea its clicking on run button only in your code.....Thanks...I will try nd figure out why its not working for me – mehak Jun 06 '18 at 11:50

Invalid selector exception for clicking an element using Selenium with Cucumber for W3Schools site

3 Answers3

Solution