I am having problems with locating elements using xpath while trying to write automated webUI tests with Arquillian Drone + Graphene. To figure things out I tried to locate the search-button on the google homepage. Even that I am not getting done. Neither with an absolute or a relative xpath.
However, I am able to locate elements using IDs or when the xpath string has an ID in it. But only when the ID is a real ID and is not generated. For example on google homepage: The google-logo has a real ID "hplogo". I can locate this element by using directly the ID or the ID within the xpath-expression.
Why is locating the google logo using the ID "hplogo" possible but it fails while using the absolute xpath "/html/body/div[1]/div[5]/span/center/div[1]/div/div"?
I am really confused. What am I doing wrong? Any help is appreciated!
EDIT:
WebElement e = browser.findElement(By.xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[5]/span/center/div[1]/div/div"));
is causing a NoSuchElementException.
Your expression works on
Firefox, but on webkit-based browser (e.g., chrome) the rendered DOM is a bit different. Maybe it depends on localization (google.co.uk for me). If I force on google.com the image logo for me is:
/html/body/div/div[5]/span/center/div[1]/img on firefox 37 and /html/body/div/div[6]/span/center/div[1]/img on Chome 42.
EDIT: After discussing in chat, we figure out that HTMLUNIT is indeed creating a DOM that is different from the one real browsers render. Suggested to migrate to FirefoxDriver