Accessing Links & Tables Using Selenium Webdriver: Search

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In this tutorial, we are

going to learn about
accessing links & Tables
using Webdriver
Accessing Links
Links Matching a
Criterion
Links can be accessed
using an exact or partial
match of their link text. The examples below provide scenarios where
multiple matches would exist, and would explain how WebDriver
would deal with them.
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would deal with them.
Exact Match
Accessing links using their exact link text is done through the
By.linkText() method. However, if there are two links that have the
very same link text, this method will only access the first one. Consider
the HTML code below
Selenium
Tutorials
1) Introduction
2) Install IDE &
FireBug
3) Introduction IDE
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3) Introduction IDE
When you try to run the WebDriver code below, you will be accessing
the first "click here" link
4) First Script
5) Locators
6) Enhancements
7) Intro WebDriver
8) Install
Webdriver
9) First WebDriver
Script
10) Forms &
As a result, you will automatically be taken to Google.
Webdriver
11) Links & Tables
12) Keyboard
Mouse Events
13) Selenium &
TestNG
14) Selenium Grid
Partial Match
15)
Parameterization
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Accessing links using a portion of their link text is done using the
By.partialLinkText() method. If you specify a partial link text that has
multiple matches, only the first match will be accessed. Consider the
HTML code below.
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When you execute the WebDriver code below, you will still be taken to
Google.
Extensions
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Case-sensitivity
The parameters for By.linkText() and By.partialLinkText() are both
case-sensitive, meaning that capitalization matters. For example, in
Mercury Tours' homepage, there are two links that contain the text
"egis" - one is the "REGISTER" link found at the top menu, and the
other is the "Register here" link found at the lower right portion of the
page.
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HTMLUnit Driver &
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Selenium: Step by
Step Guide
Though both links contain the character sequence "egis", the

"By.partialLinkText()" method will access these two links separately
depending on capitilization of the characters. See the sample code
below.
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All Links
One of the common procedures in web testing is to test if all the links
present within the page are working. This can be conveniently done
using a combination of the Java for-each loop and the
By.tagName("a") method. The WebDriver code below checks each
link from the Mercury Tours homepage to determine those that are
working and those that are still under construction.
package practice_webdriver;
import java.util.List;
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import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;
public class AllLinks {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String baseUrl = "http://newtours.demoaut.com/";
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
String underConsTitle = "Under Construction: Mercury To
urs";
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(5, TimeUnit.S
ECONDS);
driver.get(baseUrl);
List<WebElement> linkElements = driver.findElements(By.
tagName("a"));
String[] linkTexts = new String[linkElements.size()];
int i = 0;
//extract the link texts of each link element
for (WebElement e : linkElements) {
linkTexts[i] = e.getText();
i++;
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}
//test each link
for (String t : linkTexts) {
driver.findElement(By.linkText(t)).click();
if (driver.getTitle().equals(underConsTitle)) {
System.out.println("\"" + t + "\""
+ " is under construction.");
} else {
System.out.println("\"" + t + "\""
+ " is working.");
}
driver.navigate().back();
}
driver.quit();
}
}
The output should be similar to the one indicated below.
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Links Outside and Inside a Block

The latest HTML5 standard allows the <a> tags to be placed inside and
outside of block-level tags like <div>, <p>, or <h1>. The "By.linkText()"
and "By.partialLinkText()" methods can access a link located outside
and inside these block-level elements. Consider the HTML code below.
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The WebDriver code below accesses both of these links using

By.partialLinkText() method.
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The output above confirms that both links were accessed successfully
because their respective page titles were retrieved correctly.
Accessing Image Links

Image links are images that act as references to other sites or sections
within the same page. Since they are images, we cannot use the
By.linkText() and By.partialLinkText() methods because image links
basically have no link texts at all. In this case, we should resort to using
either By.cssSelector or By.xpath. The first method is more preferred
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because of its simplicity.

In the example below, we will access the "Facebook" logo on the
upper left portion of Facebook's Password Recovery page.
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We will use By.cssSelector and the element's "title" attribute to access

the image link. And then we will verify if we are taken to Facebook's
homepage.
package practice_webdriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
public class ImageLink {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String baseUrl = "https://www.facebook.com/login/identi
fy?ctx=recover";
WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
driver.get(baseUrl);
//click on the "Facebook" logo on the upper left portio
n
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("a[title=\"Go to Face
book Home\"]")).click();
//verify that we are now back on Facebook's homepage
if (driver.getTitle().equals("Welcome to Facebook - Log
In, Sign Up or Learn More")) {
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System.out.println("We are back at Facebook's homep

age");
} else {
System.out.println("We are NOT in Facebook's homepa
ge");
}
driver.quit();
}
}
Result
Reading a Table
There are times when we need to access elements (usually texts) that
are within HTML tables. However, it is very seldom for a web designer
to provide an id or name attribute to a certain cell in the table.
Therefore, we cannot use the usual methods such as "By.id()",
"By.name()", or "By.cssSelector()". In this case, the most reliable
option is to access them using the "By.xpath()" method.
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XPath Syntax
Consider the HTML code below.
We will use XPath to get the inner text of the cell containing the text
"fourth cell".
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Step 1 - Set the Parent Element (table)

XPath locators in WebDriver always start with a double forward
slash "//" and then followed by the parent element. Since we are
dealing with tables, the parent element should always be the <table>
tag. The first portion of our XPath locator should therefore start with
"//table".
Step 2 - Add the child elements

The element immediately under <table> is <tbody> so we can say that
<tbody> is the "child" of <table>. And also, <table> is the "parent" of
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<tbody>. All child elements in XPath are placed to the right of their
parent element, separated with one forward slash "/" like the code
shown below.
Step 3 - Add Predicates

The <tbody> element contains two <tr> tags. We can now say that
these two <tr> tags are "children" of <tbody>. Consequently, we can
say that <tbody> is the parent of both the <tr> elements.
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Another thing we can conclude is that the two <tr> elements are
siblings. Siblings refer to child elements having the same parent.
To get to the <td> we wish to access (the one with the text "fourth
cell"), we must first access the second <tr> and not the first. If we
simply write "//table/tbody/tr", then we will be accessing the first <tr>
tag.
So, how do we access the second <tr> then? The answer to this is to
use Predicates.
Predicates are numbers or HTML attributes enclosed in a pair of
square brackets "[ ]" that distinguish a child element from its
siblings. Since the <tr> we need to access is the second one, we shall
use "[2]" as the predicate.
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If we won't use any predicate, XPath will access the first sibling.
Therefore, we can access the first <tr> using either of these XPath
codes.
Step 4 - Add the Succeeding Child Elements Using the Appropriate

Predicates
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The next element we need to access is the second <td>. Applying the
principles we have learned from steps 2 and 3, we will finalize our
XPath code to be like the one shown below.
Now that we have the correct XPath locator, we can already access the
cell that we wanted to and obtain its inner text using the code below. It
assumes that you have saved the HTML code above as
"newhtml.html" within your C Drive.
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Accessing Nested Tables

The same principles discussed above applies to nested tables. Nested
tables are tables located within another table. An example is
shown below.
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To access the cell with the text "4-5-6" using the "//parent/child" and
predicate concepts from the previous section, we should be able to
come up with the XPath code below.
The WebDriver code below should be able to retrieve the inner text of
the cell which we are accessing.
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The output below confirms that the inner table was successfully
accessed.
Using Attributes as Predicates

If the element is written deep within the HTML code such that the
number to use for the predicate is very difficult to determine, we can
use that element's unique attribute instead.
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In the example below, the "New York to Chicago" cell is located deep
into Mercury Tours homepage's HTML code.
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In this case, we can use the table's unique attribute (width="270") as

the predicate. Attributes are used as predicates by prefixing them
with the @ symbol. In the example above, the "New York to Chicago"
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cell is located in the first <td> of the fourth <tr>, and so our XPath
should be as shown below.
Remember that when we put the XPath code in Java, we should use
the escape character backward slash "\" for the double quotation
marks on both sides of "270" so that the string argument of By.xpath()
will not be terminated prematurely.
We are now ready to access that cell using the code below.
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Shortcut: Use Firebug

If the number or attribute of an element is extremely difficult or
impossible to obtain, the quickest way to generate the XPath code is
thru Firebug.
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Consider the example below from Mercury Tours homepage.
Step 1
Use Firebug to obtain the XPath code.
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Step 2
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Look for the first "table" parent element and delete everything to the
left of it.
Step 3
Prefix the remaining portion of the code with double forward slash "//"
and copy it over to your WebDriver code.
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The WebDriver code below will be able to successfully retrieve the

inner text of the element we are accessing.
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Summary
Accessing links using their exact match is done using By.linkText()
method.
Accessing links using their partial match is done using
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By.partialLinkText() method.
If there are multiple matches, By.linkText() and By.partialLinkText()
will only select the first match.
Pattern matching using By.linkText() and By.partialLinkText() is casesensitive.
The By.tagName("a") method is used to fetch all links within a page.
Links can be accessed by the By.linkText() and By.partialLinkText()
whether they are inside or outside block-level elements.
Accessing image links are done using By.cssSelector() and By.xpath()
methods.
By.xpath() is commonly used to access table elements.
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Join the discussion
Guest
8 months ago
One Question:
Suppose there are two links with same linked text. I want to access the second link. How do I do that?
14
Reply Share
Rajendra Narayan Mahapatra > Guest
17 days ago
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[contains(text(),'click here')][2]").click();
Reply Share
mira > Guest
a month ago
suppose 2nd link href="https://www.facebook.com"> then use

findElement(By.cssSelector("a[href*=facebook]")).click();
Reply Share
Max joseph > Guest
2 months ago
Ex::
If link Google is present in the Web Page..
Use the xpath like this:-->//*[contains(text(),'Google')][2]
Number 2 indicates that we are selecting 2nd GOOGLE link..
Check with the attached screenshot

Reply Share
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Max joseph > Max joseph
2 months ago
PFA

Ankit
Reply Share
a year ago
This tutorial is THE best on web

10
Reply Share
Max joseph
9 months ago
Super GURU!!!!!! Great job, Excellent site for the beginners and for Non Technical guys who wants to start care
AUTOMATION!!!!
Keep Going...!!!!
6
Reply Share
naveen prabhu
2 months ago
Thank Guru.. This tutorial is very help full.. Clearly explained, best i have seen,.
Reply Share
sai krishna
4 months ago
Hi guru,
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you are doing a great job.....

One Question.
My Application contain 4 links which i want to verify whether working or not.
One i can see directly on the page but the other 3 i am able to see when i mouseover on first link.
when i try to extract all links on page then i am getting only first link.
How to verify other 3 links which i get on mouse over.
Any help is appreciated...
Thanks....
Reply Share
anto
4 months ago
how to compare a table after updation using selenium c#
Reply Share
Sharmin Shultana
5 months ago
When webdriver get logout button it never check the other link........ it just logged out...
Reply Share
Hassan
5 months ago
Question: suppose i am reading through a table and i want to see if there is some text present in any of the rows
the table. if the text is found, test is successful otherwise test is failed.i have done eveything, i am stuck at how to
that test is successul or fail using if statement.
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Reply Share
Vishnu Priya Amal Raj > Hassan
a month ago
Hi
I want to link on the 3 item in the table or array. How can i click 3 item in that.
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Accessing Links & Tables using Selenium

In this tutorial, we are

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

would deal with them.

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

As a result, you will automatically be taken to Google.

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

16) Cross Browser

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Parallel run and

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Though both links contain the character sequence "egis", the

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

The output should be similar to the one indicated below.

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Links Outside and Inside a Block

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

The WebDriver code below accesses both of these links using

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Accessing Image Links

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

because of its simplicity.

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

We will use By.cssSelector and the element's "title" attribute to access

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

System.out.println("We are back at Facebook's homep

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Step 1 - Set the Parent Element (table)

Step 2 - Add the child elements

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Step 3 - Add Predicates

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Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Step 4 - Add the Succeeding Child Elements Using the Appropriate

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open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Accessing Nested Tables

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Using Attributes as Predicates

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In this case, we can use the table's unique attribute (width="270") as

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