SELENIUM Absolute Relative XPath in selenium with Example

Absolute Relative XPath in Selenium:

What is XPath:

XPath is nothing but the XML path of WebElement.

It helps to detect any element on any web page that uses the conventional XML path expression.

XPath uses HTML DOM structure that looks like XML path expression.

Syntax for XPath:

Xpath=//Tag_name[@attribute_name=’Attribute_value’]

1	Xpath=//Tag_name[@attribute_name=’Attribute_value’]

// : Used to select the current node.

Tag_name: Name of the tag of a particular node.

@: Used to select to select attribute.

Attribute_name: Name of the attribute of the node.

Value: Value of the attribute.

1. Absolute XPath:

Absolute XPath starts with the root node.

It is also called complete or full XPath.

Absolute XPath starts from <html> tag.

it starts from single slash(/).

Example:

html/head/body/form/table/tbody/tr/th

1	html/head/body/form/table/tbody/tr/th

Choosing Absolute xpath using FirePath:

2. Relative Xpath:

A relative xpath is one where the path starts from the node of your choice.

it doesn’t need to start from the root node.

It starts with Double forward slash(//).

Example:

//*[@id=’login’]/ul/li[3]/a

1	//*[@id=’login’]/ul/li[3]/a

Choosing Relative xpath using FirePath:

3. Difference between single ‘/’ or double ‘//’:

“/”:

It starts selection from the document node.
It Allows you to create ‘absolute’ path expressions.

Example: “/html/body/a” matches all the a tag elements.

“ //”:

It starts selection matching anywhere in the document.
It Allows you to create ‘relative’ path expressions.

Example: “//a” matches all the a tag elements.

4. Handle Complex & Dynamic elements using XPath in Selenium:

a. Basic XPath

XPath can be select nodes or list of nodes on the basis of attributes like ID , Name, Classname, LinkText etc.

Xpath=//input[@name='ele_id']

1	Xpath=//input[@name='ele_id']

b. Contains()

Contains() is used when the value of any WebElement changes dynamically, for example, login Page ID’s.

Xpath=.//*[contains(@name,'ele_id')]

1	Xpath=.//*[contains(@name,'ele_id')]

c. Using OR & AND

OR in the expression, two situations are used, whether the first condition OR the second position is correct.

It also applies if one condition is true or may be both. This means that to find the element one condition must be correct.

Under XPath expression, it identifies elements whose one or both conditions are true

Xpath=//*[@type='submit' OR @name='Submit_Btn']

1	Xpath=//*[@type='submit' OR @name='Submit_Btn']

d. Text()

Find the element with exact text match.
Xpath=//td[text()='ID_Name']
1
Xpath=//td[text()='ID_Name']

Example of Absolute Relative xpath in Selenium:

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Select;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class Xpath_Selection {

   public static void main(String[] args) {                       

      System.setProperty("webdriver.firefox.marionette", "C:\\geckodriver.exe");                       

      WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();                       

      driver.get("https://www.stqatools.com");

      // Absolute xpath
      driver.findElement(By.xpath("html/body/table/tbody/tr[1]/td"));                       

      // Relative xpath
     driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='menuicon']"));  
     }
}

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Select;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class Xpath_Selection {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.setProperty("webdriver.firefox.marionette", "C:\\geckodriver.exe");

WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

driver.get("https://www.stqatools.com");

// Absolute xpath

driver.findElement(By.xpath("html/body/table/tbody/tr[1]/td"));

// Relative xpath

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='menuicon']"));

}

What is the difference between absolute and relative xpaths and Different ways of choosing xpath in Selenium WebDriver