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===== XPath object identification =====

[[doku>wiki:dokuwiki|{{wiki:TAST-128_small.png }}]] 

In the following lines, the user will find tips for being able to identify the web objects via XPath.

XPath is a way of objects identification based on the path where the element is nested in. As an example, the XPath "/html/body/div[2]/div/div/footer/section[3]/div/ul/li[3]/a" will search in the html body an element "div[2]"; inside this it will look for a "div"; inside this, another "div", and then a "footer" and so on and so on...

There are, basically, two different ways to use the XPath, using the complete path, or finding a partial path (for this, instead of opening the sentence with "/", they are open with "/ /").
As always, in testing, it is really important to make sure that the Xpath that we write is unique and represents one element with no possibility of error. //As a little reminder, notice that the ID attribute is unique//.

Nevertheless, since this way can be too long, there are some ways to shorten it. For this, is necessary to know some syntax related to it:

^  XPath Expression	^  Description	^  Expression example     ^  Example meaning  ^
|/|Selects from the root node	|(...)/b/a	|Element "//a//" child of  "//b//", child of "//(...)//"|
|/ /|Selects any nodes from the current node that match the selection no matter where they are	|b / / a(...)|All the "//a(...)//" elements child of "//b//".|
|*	|Matches any element node (wildcard)	|b / * / a	|Any "//a//" element whose grandparent is "//b//"|
|.	|Selects the current node 	 |./ /de	|Any "//de//" element that is one or more levels inside the current node| 
|..	|Selects the parent of the current node 	 |abc[../mg]	|Any "//abc//" element that has a "//mg//" sibling|
|@	|Selects attributes	|a[@bcd] 	|"//a//" element with a "//bcd//" attribute|
|@ =	|Selects attributes with a value	|a[@bcd="hola"] 	|"//a//" element with a "//bcd//" attribute equal to hola|
|@*	|Matches any attribute node	|a[@*="hola"] 	|"//a//" element with any attribute equal to //hola//|
|last()	|Matches the last element	|b / a[last()]	|The last  "//a//" element child of "//b//"|
|[]	|Element that contains something	|c[hello] / b[@a] |"//b//" element that contains an "//a//" attribute, child of a "//c//" that contains a hello element|
|[][]	|Element that contains two things (or more, if more brackets are added)	|a[@b][@c]	|"//a//" element with **both** a "//b//" attribute and a  "//c//" attribute|
|[n]	|The n-th element 	|b/a[3] 	|The 3rd "//a//" element child of "//b//"|
|!=	|Not equal	 |a[@bcd!="hola"] 	|"//a//" element with a "//bcd//" attribute NOT equal to //hola//|
|last()	|Last element 	|b/a[last()] 	|the last "//a//" that is child of a "//b//"| 
|()	|Groups operations for establishing the priorities	|(de/mg)[3] 	|the third entire set "//de/mg//"|
|and	|Logical AND as usual	|a[b and c] 	|"//a//" element containing **both** "//b//" and "//c//"|
|or	|Logical OR as usual 	|de[@mg or @dus] |"//de//" element containing a "//mg//" attribute or a "//dus//" attribute|
|contains()	|Matches all the elements that (partially) contains what is inside the brackets |de[contains(.,'click here')]	|"//de//" elements with a text containing "//click here//"|
|starts-with()	|Matches all the elements that start with what is inside the brackets 	|de[starts-with(@id,'id-name')]	|"//de//"elements whose id starts with "//id-name(...)//"|
|[ .=''] |Matches the elements with a string	|de[.='string 1 of 6']	|"//de//" elements with the string "//string 1 of 6//"|
|normalize-space()	|Matches the elements with a string, ignoring leading or trailing blank spaces 	|de[normalize-space()='mg'] |"//de//" elements with the string "//mg//" or "// mg//" or "//mg //" or "// mg //"|
|text()	|Selects the elements with a specific text within |de[text()="mg"] 	|"//de//" elements with the string "//mg//" in the text field|
|[ / @ ]	|Selects the elements that have specific children| / / de[mg/@attr1='nrw']|"//de//" elements which have a "//mg//" child with an attribute "//attr1//" equal to "//nrw//"|
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