CSS Selectors in Selenium

• Selenium Features
• Selenium Installation
• Selenium Locators
• XPath Fundamentals
• CSS Selectors Methods
• Different Browsers Execution
• find_element & find_elements
• Check Enabled Status
• Check Displayed Status
• Check Selected Status
• Selenium Waits
• Send_keys Method
• Click Method
• Get Text
• Get Attribute Value
• Get Current URL
• Forward, Back, Refresh
• Take Screenshot
• Handle Browser Tabs
• Handle iframe
• Mouse Hover
• Context-Click
• Drag & Drop
• Handle Alerts
• Handle Dropdown
• Execute Javascript
• Scroll To element
• Headless Mode Execution
• Chrome Options
• Keyboard Action

CSS Selector in Selenium and Its Methods

Selenium is a powerful tool widely used to automate web applications for testing purposes. However, within Selenium, one of the key elements that make your automation effective is the ability to locate web elements accurately. Enter CSS Selectors – an efficient, flexible, and reliable way to identify elements in Selenium WebDriver. In this article, we’ll dive deep into CSS Selectors and their methods in Selenium.

Introduction to CSS Selectors

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Selectors are patterns used to select the content you want to style. In Selenium, CSS Selectors find HTML elements based on their CSS properties.

Why Use CSS Selectors in Selenium?

CSS Selectors offer several advantages: speed, simplicity, and compatibility. They allow you to quickly and effectively identify web elements, even those deeply nested within HTML code. This makes them ideal for locating complex elements that other strategies, like XPath, may struggle with.

CSS Selector vs. XPath: Which is Better?

Both CSS Selectors and XPath are popular choices in Selenium, but which is better? XPath is often considered more powerful due to its ability to navigate through both forward and backward elements. However, CSS Selectors are faster, and for front-end web developers, they are more familiar. CSS Selectors also work more seamlessly across different browsers.

Types of CSS Selectors in Selenium

CSS Selectors come in various forms, each suited for different use cases.

Basic CSS Selectors

• ID Selector
  The ID selector selects an element based on its unique ID attribute. For example: #username.
• Class Selector
  The class selector targets elements with a specific class attribute, written as: .login-button.
• Tag Selector
  The tag selector selects all elements of a particular type (e.g., div, h1). For example: div.

Advanced CSS Selectors

• Attribute Selector
  This selector selects elements based on an attribute and its value, like [type='text'].
  
  Examples:
  input[id=’password’]
  input[name=’username’]
  span[data-testid=’facebook’]
  
  
• Substring Matches
  With substring selectors, you can target elements based on part of their attribute value. For example, a[href^='https'] matches all links that start with “https”.
  
  Examples:
  input[data-ui-name^=”input_text”]
  label[for^=”search_type_option”]
  button[data-ui-name^=”input_location_to”]
  

Methods to Use CSS Selectors in Selenium

Selenium provides methods to use CSS Selectors to interact with elements.

Finding Elements with findElement and findElements

• findElement:
  This method returns a single WebElement that matches the CSS Selector.
  
• findElements:
  Unlike findElement, this returns a list of all matching WebElements.

Differences Between findElement and findElements

findElement will throw an exception if no elements are found, whereas findElements returns an empty list in such cases, making it a safer option for handling multiple matches.

Writing Efficient CSS Selectors

Creating efficient CSS Selectors is essential to improving test speed and reliability.

Best Practices for Writing CSS Selectors

1. Keep it Simple: Avoid overcomplicating your selectors with too many attributes.
   
2. Use IDs and Classes: These are faster and more reliable.
   
3. Avoid Directly Using Styles: Use functional attributes rather than style-related ones for better maintainability.

CSS Selector Examples in Selenium

Using ID and Class Selectors

Example for ID Selector:

driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#username").send_keys("user123");

Example for Class Selector:

driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".login-button").click();

Example for Attribute Selector:

driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR,"input[type='password']").send_keys("mypassword");

Example for Substring Selector:

driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR,"a[href^='https']").click();