Use variable in XPath

Question

This is working, but I want to use the text Group 1 as a variable.

Code trials:

[FindsBy(How = How.XPath, Using = "(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)= 'Group 1'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...']/following::input[1]")]
public IWebElement BoardNameInputField { get; set; }

I tried this but with no success:

string boardName = "Group 1";

[FindsBy(How = How.XPath, Using = "(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='${boardName}'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...']")]
public IWebElement CreateNewBoard { get; set; }

Is it possible to do this?

Possible duplicate of [Using variables inside strings](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7227413/using-variables-inside-strings) — JeffC, Feb 07 '19 at 13:39

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 07 '19 at 13:18

5

In string interpolation the $ should be before the string, not the variable

[FindsBy(How = How.XPath, Using = $"(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='{boardName}'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...']")]

In addition, boardName need to be static to be used outside method scope

static string boardName = "Group 1";

answered Feb 07 '19 at 13:18

Guy

46,488
10
44
88

1

This is the answer to OP's question! (However: string interpolation is turned into `string.Format()` at compile-time hence my answer... :) ) – Moshe Slavin Feb 07 '19 at 13:32
1

@MosheSlavin True, but it looks like the OP tried to do it, he used `'${boardName}'`. – Guy Feb 07 '19 at 13:40

Moshe Slavin · Answer 2 · 2019-02-07T13:34:04.713

2

You can use String.Format with inserting-a-string:

string boardName = "Group 1";

[FindsBy(How = How.XPath, Using = String.Format("(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='{0}'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...'])", boardName)]
public IWebElement CreateNewBoard { get; set; }

Hope this helps you!

edited Feb 07 '19 at 13:34

answered Feb 07 '19 at 13:06

Moshe Slavin

5,127
5
23
38

undetected Selenium · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-07T13:29:35.157

0

As you are setting the variable boardName to Group 1 you need to change:

How.XPath, Using = "(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='${boardName}'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...']")]

as:

How.XPath, Using = "(.//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='" + boardName + "'])[1]/ancestor::app-organization//*[normalize-space(text()) and normalize-space(.)='Create a new board...']")]

Effectively we changed:

normalize-space(.)='${boardName}'

to:

normalize-space(.)='" + boardName + "'

edited Feb 07 '19 at 13:29

answered Feb 07 '19 at 13:08

undetected Selenium

183,867
41
278
352

what is better to use String.Format or string concatenation? :) – Moshe Slavin Feb 07 '19 at 13:16

Use variable in XPath

3 Answers3