Locating Strategies- (By CSS-Tag, Class and Attribute)

In this section, you will learn how to locate a particular web element using CSS - Tag, Class and Attribute Selector.

Under this scenario, we will inspect the search text box of one of the most popular search engine i.e. Google.

As we know that locating a particular web element involves inspection of its HTML codes. Therefore, follow the steps given below to locate the textbox provided on the initial web page of Google Search Engine.

• Open URL: https://www.google.co.in/
• Right click on the Textbox on the sample web page and select Inspect Element

• It will launch a window containing all the specific codes involved in the development of the textbox.

• Take a note of its Tag, Class and Attribute.

The Java Syntax for locating a web element through CSS - Tag, Class and Attribute Selector is written as:

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("tag.class[attribute=value]"))

Therefore, for locating the Textbox on the Google Search Engine page we will use the input tag, Class and Name attribute:

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input.gsfi[name=q]"))

Similarly, for locating the Google Search button on the Google Search Engine page we will use its respective input tag, Class and Name attribute:

driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input.jsp[name=btnK]"))

We have created a sample script for you to get a better understanding of how to use CSS - Tag, Class and Attribute Selector. We have embedded comments in each section of code which will guide you through whole automation process.

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;

public class SampleFour {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
	 // System Property for Gecko Driver 
System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver","D:\\GeckoDriver\\geckodriver.exe" );
		
       // Initialize Gecko Driver using Desired Capabilities Class
		DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.firefox();
		capabilities.setCapability("marionette",true);
		WebDriver driver= new FirefoxDriver(capabilities);
		
	
      // Launch Website
driver.navigate().to("www.google.co.in");
	
      // Click on the textbox and send value
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input.gsfi[name=q]")).sendKeys("javaTpoint Tutorials");
	 
	// Click on the Google Search button using click() command
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input.jsp[name=btnK]")).click();
 
		
	 // Close the Browser
	  driver.close();
	
	}

}