How to extract xpath of a Webelement

[lukeis]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 5520

How can i get the xpath of a WebElement

Webelement element= driver.findElement(By.name("q"));


something like

element.getAbsoluteXpath(); ->> this should be like this ".//div//input[@name='q']"

element.getRelativeXpath(); ->> this should be  like this "html/body/div/input..."

how to do the same

Reported by susanth.nair on 2013-04-18 06:46:01

[lukeis]

As of now, you can not.

Reported by nikhil.bafna.r on 2013-04-18 06:53:12

[lukeis]

i tried the below code but it is not working as expected

    public static String getXPath(WebElement element)
    {
        return (String) ((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(
        "getXPath=function(node)" +
        "{" +
            "if (node.id !== '')" +
            "{" +
                "return '//' + node.tagName.toLowerCase() + '[@id=\"' + node.id + '\"]'"
+
            "}" +

            "if (node === document.body)" +
            "{" +
                "return node.tagName.toLowerCase()" +
            "}" +

            "var nodeCount = 0;" +
            "var childNodes = node.parentNode.childNodes;" +

            "for (var i=0; i<childNodes.length; i++)" +
            "{" +
                "var currentNode = childNodes[i];" +

                "if (currentNode === node)" +
                "{return getXPath(node.parentNode) + '/' + node.tagName.toLowerCase()
+ '[' + (nodeCount+1) + ']'" +
                "}" +

                "if (currentNode.nodeType === 1 && " +
                    "currentNode.tagName.toLowerCase() === node.tagName.toLowerCase())"
+
                "{" +
                    "nodeCount++" +
                "}" +
            "}" +
        "};" +

        "return getXPath(arguments[0]);", element);
    }

Reported by susanth.nair on 2013-04-18 06:58:07

[lukeis]

any other idea?

Reported by susanth.nair on 2013-04-18 06:58:53

[lukeis]

pls help me on the same

Reported by susanth.nair on 2013-04-18 11:03:29

[lukeis]

hmmm.. finally i found a way to get Absolute Xpath of a WebElement

this wokrs fine


public static String getAbsoluteXPath(WebElement element)
    {
        return (String) ((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(
                "function absoluteXPath(element) {"+
                        "var comp, comps = [];"+
                        "var parent = null;"+
                        "var xpath = '';"+
                        "var getPos = function(element) {"+
                        "var position = 1, curNode;"+
                        "if (element.nodeType == Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE) {"+
                        "return null;"+
                        "}"+
                        "for (curNode = element.previousSibling; curNode; curNode = curNode.previousSibling)
{"+
                        "if (curNode.nodeName == element.nodeName) {"+
                        "++position;"+
                        "}"+
                        "}"+
                        "return position;"+
                        "};"+

    "if (element instanceof Document) {"+
    "return '/';"+
    "}"+

    "for (; element && !(element instanceof Document); element = element.nodeType ==
Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE ? element.ownerElement : element.parentNode) {"+
    "comp = comps[comps.length] = {};"+
    "switch (element.nodeType) {"+
    "case Node.TEXT_NODE:"+
    "comp.name = 'text()';"+
    "break;"+
    "case Node.ATTRIBUTE_NODE:"+
    "comp.name = '@' + element.nodeName;"+
    "break;"+
    "case Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE:"+
    "comp.name = 'processing-instruction()';"+
    "break;"+
    "case Node.COMMENT_NODE:"+
    "comp.name = 'comment()';"+
    "break;"+
    "case Node.ELEMENT_NODE:"+
    "comp.name = element.nodeName;"+
    "break;"+
    "}"+
    "comp.position = getPos(element);"+
    "}"+

    "for (var i = comps.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {"+
    "comp = comps[i];"+
    "xpath += '/' + comp.name.toLowerCase();"+
    "if (comp.position !== null) {"+
    "xpath += '[' + comp.position + ']';"+
    "}"+
    "}"+

    "return xpath;"+

"} return absoluteXPath(arguments[0]);", element);
    }




this is the Absolute Xpath of Google search inputbox with name "q"

use this like below

WebElement search =driver.findElement(By.name("q"));            driver.findElement(By.xpath(getAbsoluteXPath(element))).sendKeys("susanth");


Absolute xpath :---
/html[1]/body[1]/div[3]/div[1]/div[1]/div[3]/div[2]/div[1]/form[1]/fieldset[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/table[1]/tbody[1]/tr[1]/td[2]/div[1]/input[1]


now need to extract Relative Xpath

Reported by susanth.nair on 2013-04-18 16:39:39

[lukeis]

It may well work but what's the use of it? It isn't a very well structured XPath and
thus won't be all that reliable.

XPath should be created manually, using your own logical brain to decide how it should
be structured.

Reported by arran.huxtable on 2013-04-18 17:50:22

[lukeis]

Good to know you've found a solution for your problem. But this is the issue tracker,
not a discussion forum. Please send questions to the selenium user group [1]

[1] https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/selenium-users

Reported by barancev on 2013-04-20 18:24:09

• Status changed: Invalid
• Labels removed: Status-Untriaged

[lukeis]

How can I get the relative xpath of a web element. 

Reported by 094madhav on 2014-12-11 06:45:49

[lukeis]

Hi susanth,

i found youre code, but i think your example does not fit:
>use this like below
>
>WebElement search =driver.findElement(By.name("q"));           >driver.findElement(By.xpath(getAbsoluteXPath(element))).sendKeys("susanth");

first you find "search", but when you user your getAbsoluteXPath, you use "element".
This has to be replaced with search, right?

THX

Reported by roland.schmitz on 2015-07-29 09:13:29

[lukeis]

Reported by luke.semerau on 2015-09-17 18:17:08

• Labels added: Restrict-AddIssueComment-Commit