Interacting With Elements

On this page, you'll learn all about interacting with elements once you've located them

Introduction

Once you've located elements, you'll most likely want to interact with them. On this page we'll cover all the ways you can interact with elements while using Simple Selenium.

Unwrapping WebElement

You can get the unwrapped Selenium WebElement with:

myElem=driver.by_tag('someTagName') #Gets some element on the page
baseSeleniumWebElement=myElem.webElement #Returns unwrapped Selenium web element

Locating Child Elements

Let's say you've located an element on the page and want to find one of the element's child elements:

#Page HTML looks like this:
#<div id="testElement"><p>text we want to grab</p></div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Finds some element on the page

Simple Selenium web elements inherit all of the functions from locating elements for finding child elements.

Grabbing the child element's text is simple:

testElement.by_tag("p").text() #Returns "text we want to grab"

Getting Element Attributes

Below are all of the methods for grabbing attributes of elements.

Get Any Attribute

Gets any attribute of element:

#Page HTML looks like this:
#<div id="testElement" value="test">test</div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.attr("value") #Returns "test"

Get All Attributes

Gets all attributes of element:

#Page HTML looks like this:
#<div id="testElement" value="test">test</div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.all_attributes() #Returns {"id":"testElement","value":"test"} 

Accessible Name

Gets aria level of element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.accessible_name() #Returns aria level of element

Accessible Role

Gets aria role of element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.aria_role() #Returns aria role of element

ID

Gets "id" attribute of element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.id() #Returns id of element

Parent

Gets parent of element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.parent() #Returns unwrapped Selenium webdriver

Tag Name

Gets tag name of element:

#Page HTML looks like this:
#<div id="testElement">test</div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.tag_name() #Returns "div"

Location

Get the location in pixels of an element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.location() #Returns location in pixels of element on webpage

Location Once Scrolled Into View

Get the location in pixels of an element once it's scrolled into view:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.location_once_scrolled_into_view() #Returns location in pixels of element on webpage once it's scrolled into view

Rect

Gets the size & position of element in pixels:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.rect() #Returns size & location of element in pixels

Size

Gets the size of an element in pixels:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.size() #Returns size of element in pixels 

Text

Gets the current inner text of an element:

#Given this HTML:
#<p id="testElement">test</p>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.text() #Returns "test" 

Inner HTML

Gets the current inner HTML of an element:

#Given this HTML:
#<div id="testElement"><p>test</p></div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.innerHTMl() #Returns "<p>test</p>" 

Is Displayed

Checks if element is displayed or not:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.displayed() #Returns True if element is displayed

Is Enabled

Checks if element is enabled or not:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.enabled() #Returns True if element is enabled

Is Selected

Checks if element is enabled or not:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.selected() #Returns True if element is selected

List Of Methods

Below, are is a list of all methods available for interacting with web elements.

Clear

Clears the value of any input/textarea:

#Given this HTML:
#<div id="testElement" value="test"><p>test</p></div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.clear() #Clears value
testElement.attr("value") #Returns ""

Click

Clicks an element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.click() #Clicks element

#Default options:
use_javascript=False #Whether Simple Selenium should use JS version of .click instead of built-in Selenium .click
#Notice: if .click with Selenium fails, Simple Selenium will attempt to use JS .click automatically

testElement.click(True) #Uses JS version of .click

Parent Element

Gets the current parent element of an element:

#Given this HTML:
#<div id="testElementParent"><p id="testElement">test</p></div>

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.parent_element().id() #Returns "testElementParent" 

Screenshot

Grabs a screenshot of the target element:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.screenshot("imgs/test.png") #Screenshots the element & saves it in path with file name 

Screenshot As Base64 String

Grabs a screenshot of the target element as a base64 string:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.screenshot_as_base64() #Returns a base64 encoded string with screenshot file data

Screenshot As PNG String

Grabs a screenshot of the target element as a .png encoded string:

testElement=driver.by_id("testElement") #Grab some element on the page
testElement.screenshot_as_png() #Returns a png bytes encoded string with screenshot file data

Submit Form

Submits a form:

testElement=driver.by_id("passwordElement") #Grab some input element on the page
testElement.submit() #Submits the form that input is attached to

Get DOM Attribute

Gets a DOM attribute of an element:

testElement=driver.by_id("passwordElement") #Grab some input element on the page
testElement.dom_attr("attributeName") #Returns value of dom attribute

Get Property

Gets a property of an element:

testElement=driver.by_id("passwordElement") #Grab some input element on the page
testElement.property("propertyName") #Returns value of property

Get CSS Property

Gets a CSS property of an element:

testElement=driver.by_id("passwordElement") #Grab some input element on the page
testElement.css_property("CSSPropertyName") #Returns value of CSS property

Write

Send text input to any element like a human would:

testElement=driver.by_id("passwordElement") #Grab some input element on the page
testElement.write("text to write") #Writes to element

#Default options:
use_random_delay=True #Whether or not to use a randomized delay between each keystroke
min_delay=0.1 #Minimum delay for randomized delay (if use_randomized_delay=True)
max_delay=0.3 #Maximum delay for randomized delay (if use_randomized_delay=True)

testElement.write("text to write",use_random_delay=False) #Writes to element instantly instead of with randomized delay