element() ignores use_xpath

[chrisvanrun]

Describe the bug

Using the new global element() will default to css_selector as locate strategy, even if use_xpath is set to true in configuration.

With for example:

module.exports = {
  sampleTest: function(browser) {
    const el = element('//body');
    console.log('use_xpath =', browser.options.use_xpath);
    console.log('locateStrategy =', el.locateStrategy);
  }
}

It outputs:

use_xpath = true
locateStrategy = css selector

Configuration

nightwatch.conf.js

module.exports = {

  src_folders: ['nightwatch/tests'],
  page_objects_path: 'nightwatch/pages',

  output_timestamp: true,
  live_output: true,
  webdriver: {
    start_process: true,
  },

  use_xpath: true,

  test_settings: {
    default: {
      launch_url: 'http://localhost:8888/cirrus',

      desiredCapabilities: {
        browserName: 'chrome',
        'goog:chromeOptions': {
          w3c: true,
        },

        globals: {
          waitForConditionTimeout: 10000,
        },
      },
      screenshots: {
        enabled: false,
        path: './screenshots',
        on_error: true,
        on_failure: true,
      },
    },
  },

  // Parallel settings
  parallel_process_delay: 200,
  test_workers: {
    enabled: false,
    workers: 4,
  },
};

Your Environment

Executable	Version
nightwatch --version	2.0.2

[beatfactor]

how about if you do:

element({
  selector: '//body',
  locateStrategy: 'xpath'
});

you can also use the by() class from selenium, which is available as a global in Nightwatch as well.

element(by.xpath('//body'))

[chrisvanrun]

Thanks @beatfactor! Both work fine, and have actually been employed to circumvent this bug. However, for a clean suite it's nice to be able to have options where one can provide only one selector string to adhere to the global default.

[beatfactor]

I agree, I was just making sure that there are workarounds until we fix the issue.

[aakash3771]

Same issue is with elements() too