findElement and findElements in Selenium_ Use Cases with Examples.pdf

findElement and
findElements in Selenium
U S E C A S E S W I T H E X A M P L E S

findElement and findElements in
Selenium: Use Cases with Examples
When we want to interact with any web page, we use locators to
identify the web elements and interact with them using locators.
We use HTML elements on the web page while automating any
web based application using Selenium WebDriver.
Selenium WebDriver has two methods for identifying the web
elements, they are findElement and findElements.
1. findElement: This is used to uniquely identify any web
element within the web page.
2. findElements: This is used to uniquely identify the list of
web elements within the web page.

These methods are very important for locating web elements on a
web page, but they serve different purposes and have distinct use
cases.
Let us see what exactly the both methods are:
1. Find Element():
● findElement() is a method in the WebDriver Interface in
Selenium.
● It is used to locate the first element that matches the
specified locator strategy and conditions.
● If no matching element is found, it throws a NoSuch Element
Exception.
● The result of findElement() is always a single WebElement
object.
The findElement() method returns an object of the type
WebElement. It uses various locators such as ID, Xpath, CSS,
Name and ClassName.
Below is the syntax of findElement command:
WebElement elementName =
driver.findElement(By.LocatorStrategy("LocatorValue"));
Locator Strategy comprises any one of the locators. Locator value
is the unique value that identifies the web element.
2. FindElements():

● findElements() is a method provided by the WebDriver
interface in Selenium.
● It is used to locate all the web elements that match the
specified locator strategy and conditions.
● If there are no matching elements, it returns an empty list.
● The return type of findElements() is a list of WebElement
objects.
The findElements() return an empty list if no matching elements
are found on the web page.
Syntax in Java:
Below is the syntax of findElements command
List<WebElement> elementName =
driver.findElements(By.LocatorStrategy("LocatorValue"));
Locator Strategy comprises any one of the locators. Locator value
is the unique value that identifies the web element.
Now let us see the differences between both methods:
Difference between find Element and find
Elements in Selenium
Find Element Find Elements
Exceptio
n
Handlin
g
Throws a
NoSuchElementException
when no matching element
is found.
Returns an empty list
(not null) when no
matching elements are
found.
Purpose Find the first matching
element based on the
locator you specify.
Finds all matching
elements based on the
locator.

Return
Type
A single WebElement
object.
A List of WebElements.
If no elements match, it
returns an empty list.
Use
Case
When interacting with a
single element
When working with
multiple elements or
checking if elements
exist
Now let us see use cases for each of the following methods:
How to use Selenium findElement
Let us see firstly how to use Selenium findElement method:
In the above screenshot, we are finding the unique locator for the
Google Search text box.

As you can see , it has the unique ID , using the ID , we have
created Xpath as below:
//textarea[@id=’APjFqb’]
Below is the code snippet in java:
driver.get("https://www.google.com/")
WebElement element =
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//textarea[@id='APjFqb']"));
#NoSuchElementException if no matching Element is found on
the page.
Now let us see the use case of the
findElements method in Selenium Java:

In the above screenshot, for the registration form of IRCTC
application, we have a locator class with value “col-xs-12
inputBoxPad” which matches with 8 web elements on the web
page.
Below is the code in Java Selenium:
driver.get("https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/profile/user-signup");
List<WebElement> elements =
driver.findElements(By.className("col-xs-12 inputBoxPad"));
System.out.println("Number of elements:" +elements.size());
for(int i=0; i<elements.size(); i++){
System.out.println("Input field:" +
elements.get(i).getAttribute("value"));
Multiple Locator Methods Using findElement
Method:
Selenium WebDriver provides the findElement(By) method to
locate and interact with web elements in a script. The find
Element method uses the locator object “By”. There are many
ways of using “By” with locators based on the requirement.
1. By ID:
driver.findElement(By.id(<element ID>))

2. By Xpath:
driver.findElement(By.xpath(<xpath>))
3. By Name:
driver.findElement(By.name(<element-name>))
4. By Class Name:
driver.findElement(By.className(“<element-class>”))
5. By CSS Selector:
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(<css-selector>))
6. By LinkText:
driver.findElement(By.linkText(<link text>))
Conclusion
understanding the differences between findElement() and
findElements() in SeleniumWebdriver Java is essential. These
two methods have different purposes and have unique use cases
while automating web based applications.
In brief, findElement() is used to locate and interact with a single
element, throwing an exception info Element is matching.

findElements() is used to locate multiple elements, returning an
empty list if none are matching.
Based on our needs, we can use either of them and create
efficient automation scripts.
Hope you liked it, Happy Testing!!
Source: This article was originally published at testgrid.io.

findElement and findElements in Selenium_ Use Cases with Examples.pdf

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