Problem to select a button using selenium webdriver

Question

I am trying of different ways to select a specific button using seleninum webdriver with java but unfortunately, nothing is working.

When I tested using the Selenium IDE is working. I copied the same xpath, for example, but when I try to test in my java application nothing is working. I tried using different ways, By.cssSelector and By.path.

This is my html:

<section class="fd-section"><fd-action-bar><div class="fd-action-bar"><fd-action-bar-header class="fd-action-bar__header"><fd-action-bar-title><h1 class="fd-action-bar__title"> Applications </h1></fd-action-bar-title></fd-action-bar-header><fd-action-bar-actions class="fd-action-bar__actions"><y-list-search _nghost-c4="" hidden=""><!----><!----><div _ngcontent-c4="" clickoutsideevents="click,mousedown" excludebeforeclick="true" class="ng-star-inserted"><!----><button _ngcontent-c4="" fd-button="" class="fd-button xyz-icon--search fd-button--light ng-star-inserted"></button><!----></div></y-list-search><y-list-filter _nghost-c5="" hidden=""><!----></y-list-filter><!----><button class="open-create-namespace-modal fd-button xyz-icon--add ng-star-inserted" fd-button=""> Create Application </button></fd-action-bar-actions></div></fd-action-bar></section>

I need to select the button with the text " Create Application ".

When I created a test using Selenium IDE the xpath for this button is:

//button[contains(.,' Create Application')]

Basically, my java code is:

public WebElement wElement;

wElement = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[contains(.,' Create Application')]"));

wElement.click();

This is the exception message:

org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException: no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":"//button[contains(.,' Create Application')]"}
  (Session info: chrome=76.0.3809.100)
  (Driver info: chromedriver=72.0.3626.69 (3c16f8a135abc0d4da2dff33804db79b849a7c38),platform=Mac OS X 10.14.6 x86_64) (WARNING: The server did not provide any stacktrace information)
Command duration or timeout: 0 milliseconds
For documentation on this error, please visit: http://seleniumhq.org/exceptions/no_such_element.html
Build info: version: '3.14.0', revision: 'aacccce0', time: '2018-08-02T20:19:58.91Z'
System info: host: 'C02WW0BZHTD8', ip: 'fe80:0:0:0:8f6:17e1:1a28:1e23%en0', os.name: 'Mac OS X', os.arch: 'x86_64', os.version: '10.14.6', java.version: '1.8.0_171'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver
Capabilities {acceptInsecureCerts: false, acceptSslCerts: false, applicationCacheEnabled: false, browserConnectionEnabled: false, browserName: chrome, chrome: {chromedriverVersion: 72.0.3626.69 (3c16f8a135abc..., userDataDir: /var/folders/2r/99nyn7t16cz...}, cssSelectorsEnabled: true, databaseEnabled: false, goog:chromeOptions: {debuggerAddress: localhost:60374}, handlesAlerts: true, hasTouchScreen: false, javascriptEnabled: true, locationContextEnabled: true, mobileEmulationEnabled: false, nativeEvents: true, networkConnectionEnabled: false, pageLoadStrategy: normal, platform: MAC, platformName: MAC, proxy: Proxy(), rotatable: false, setWindowRect: true, takesHeapSnapshot: true, takesScreenshot: true, timeouts: {implicit: 0, pageLoad: 300000, script: 30000}, unexpectedAlertBehaviour: ignore, unhandledPromptBehavior: ignore, version: 76.0.3809.100, webStorageEnabled: true}
Session ID: b2341899cd9b62b0169b02371aaa3018
*** Element info: {Using=xpath, value=//button[contains(.,' Create Application')]}

Answer 1

When this piece of code is being executed, is the button loaded into the page already?

{implicit: 0, pageLoad: 300000, script: 30000}, suggests that the driver will not implicitly wait for finding any elements. i.e. if the element is not available, it will throw the exception immediately.

Try driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10,TimeUnit.SECONDS); before you attempt to find the button.

Also try using below locators -

1. //button[contains(.,'Create Application')]
2. //button[contains(text(),'Create Application')]

If none of the above works, please can you provide a URL (if it is public)

Also check whether the button is inside a frame.

Answer 2

You can use JavascriptExecutor interface in this case and try to click the button.

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[contains(text(),'Create Application')]"));
JavascriptExecutor executor = (JavascriptExecutor)driver; 
executor.executeScript("arguments[0].click();", element);

Also give a try with WebDriverWait

new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//button[contains(text(),'Create Application')]"))).click();

Answer 3

The desired element is an Angular element so to locate the element you have to induce WebDriverWait for the elementToBeClickable() and you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• cssSelector:

  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("fd-action-bar-actions.fd-action-bar__actions button.open-create-namespace-modal.fd-button.xyz-icon--add.ng-star-inserted"))).click();
  

• xpath:

  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//button[@class='open-create-namespace-modal fd-button xyz-icon--add ng-star-inserted' and contains(., 'Create Application')]"))).click();
  

Additional Considerations

Ensure that:

• JDK is upgraded to current levels JDK 8u212.
• Selenium is upgraded to current levels Version 3.141.59.
• ChromeDriver is updated to current ChromeDriver v76.0 level.
• Chrome is updated to current Chrome Version 76.0 level. (as per ChromeDriver v76.0 release notes)

Here you can find a detailed discussion on NoSuchElementException, Selenium unable to locate element