Selenium Actions – All Tactics with Examples!

Selenium Actions is the key part of test automation to do manipulation on the browsers such as Selenium Click operation, Selenium Send Keys, or Select a Dropdown Box, etc. In this post, all Selenium Actions will be explained in detail.  To do these events first we have to find elements in selenium, then do an action on it. Let’s get started!

Selenium Actions

Selenium Webdriver API has got a bunch of methods you can find all the list below link. https://www.mindmeister.com/280141421/selenium-2-webdriver-commands However, the most common selenium webdriver manipulation methods are:

• .click() [Click a button or link]
• .clear() [Clear text]
• .sendKeys(String) [Write text or perform keyup, keydown, etc.]
• .submit [Submit a form]

I want to continue this post with examples. The best way to understand the Selenium Webdriver Actions is to show them in the code as we know “Talk is cheap, show me the code!” ;)

Selenium Mouse Actions

The most common mouse interactions are:

• .click
• .doubleClick (Deprecated)
• .release (Deprecated)
• .clickAndHold (Deprecated)
• .contextClick (means Right Click) (Deprecated)

First, we have to find the web element which is a button, link, etc. then we will apply mouse action for our test scenario. 

WebElement loginButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".fa.fa-2x.fa-sign-in"));
loginButton.click();

Selenium Keyboard Actions

The most common keyboard interactions are:

• .sendKeys
• .keyUp (Deprecated)
• .keyDown (Deprecated) 

WebElement username = driver.findElement(By.id("username"));
username.sendKeys("Hello SW Test Academy!");

Selenium Radio Button  and CheckBox Actions

For both, we are using the .click method to select or unselect the elements. In the below code, we are navigating to http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/checkboxes and click both checkboxes and do the assertions.

driver.navigate().to(baseURL + "/checkboxes");
WebElement firstCheckBox = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input:nth-of-type(1)"));
WebElement secondCheckBox = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input:nth-of-type(2)"));

firstCheckBox.click();
Assertions.assertTrue(firstCheckBox.isEnabled());
Assertions.assertTrue(firstCheckBox.isSelected());

secondCheckBox.click();
Assertions.assertTrue(secondCheckBox.isEnabled());
Assertions.assertFalse(secondCheckBox.isSelected());

Selenium Drop Down Actions

Our test site is http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/dropdown and our scenario is described as follows.

• Go to the page
• Select the second option with ByIndex
• Select the first option with ByValue
• Select the second option with ByVisibleText

driver.navigate().to(baseURL + "/dropdown");
Select dropDown = new Select(driver.findElement(By.id("dropdown")));
//Select By Index
dropDown.selectByIndex(2);
//Select By Value
dropDown.selectByValue("1");
//Select By Visible Text
dropDown.selectByVisibleText("Option 2");

Selenium Multi-Select Actions

Our test site is http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_select_multiple and our scenario is described as follows.

1. Go to http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_select_multiple
2. Select Volvo and Open
3. Click Submit Query
4. Check Volvo and Opel selected

Note: All elements are located in an iframeResult iframe so we have to switch to this iframe to locate elements. First, we need to find the multiple select and then get all the options into a list. After that, we can do all kinds of manipulations with these options.

//Navigate to w3schools.com
driver.navigate().to("http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_select_multiple");
driver.manage().window().maximize();

//Switch to iframeResult iframe because all elements located in this iframe
driver.switchTo().frame("iframeResult");

//Find multiple select and its options
WebElement multiSelect = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("select[name='cars']"));
List<WebElement> multiSelectOptions = multiSelect.findElements(By.tagName("option"));

//Find submit button
WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type='submit']"));

//Select Volvo (0) and Opel (2)
multiSelectOptions.get(0).click();
multiSelectOptions.get(2).click();

//Click Submit Button
submitButton.click();

//Check the result
WebElement resultSecondLine = wait.until(
    ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.cssSelector("div[class='w3-container w3-large w3-border']")));
System.out.println("ResultText: " + resultSecondLine.getText());
Assertions.assertTrue(resultSecondLine.getText().contains("volvo"), "volvo is not selected!");
Assertions.assertTrue(resultSecondLine.getText().contains("opel"), "opel is not selected!");

Multi-select with Select Class Also, Select webdriver comprises of deselect methods as follows: Deselect methods only work with Multi Selects!

• deselectByIndex
• deselectByValue
• deselectByVisibleText
• deselectAll

@Test
@SneakyThrows
public void T05_deSelect() {
    driver.navigate().to("http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=t
    driver.switchTo().frame("iframeResult");
    
    //Find submit button
    WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input[type=
    //Select Element
    WebElement multiSelectLocation = driver.findElement(By.name("cars"));
    //Declare Select
    Select selectCars = new Select(multiSelectLocation);
    //Select Volvo (0) and Opel (2)
    selectCars.selectByVisibleText("Opel");
    selectCars.selectByVisibleText("Audi");
    Thread.sleep(500);
    selectCars.deselectAll();
    Thread.sleep(500);
    
    selectCars.selectByVisibleText("Volvo");
    selectCars.selectByVisibleText("Audi");
    
    Thread.sleep(500);
    //Click Submit Button
    submitButton.click();
    //Check the result
    Thread.sleep(500);
}

Submitting a File in Selenium

Our test site for this example is http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_input_type_file

1. Go to http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_input_type_file
2. Click the “Browse” button
3. Select sample_text.txt
4. Click the “Submit Query” button
5. Check the result

driver.navigate().to("http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_input_type_file");
driver.manage().window().maximize();

//Switch to iframeResult iframe because all elements located in this iframe
driver.switchTo().frame("iframeResult");

//Find the elements
WebElement browseButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("body > form:nth-child(3) > input:nth-child(2)"));
WebElement submitButton = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("body > form:nth-child(3) > input:nth-child(5)"));

//Test file decleration
File testFile = new File(this.getClass().getResource("/test.properties").toURI());

//Select test file
browseButton.sendKeys(testFile.getAbsolutePath());

//Click submit button
submitButton.click();

//Check the result
WebElement resultText = wait.until(
    ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.cssSelector("body > div.w3-container.w3-large.w3-border")));
System.out.println("resulttext: " + resultText.getText());
Assertions.assertTrue(resultText.getText().contains("test.properties"), "test.properties is not submitted!");

Selenium Action Class and Action Sequences

Webdriver provides us to perform interactions in order. We can do that like the sample below code:

Actions builder = new Actions(driver);

Action dragAndDrop = builder.clickAndHold(someElement)
     .moveToElement(otherElement)
     .release(otherElement)
     .build();

dragAndDrop.perform();

You can find all other interactions in the manipulation section of the below link. https://www.mindmeister.com/280141421/selenium-2-webdriver-commands

Move an element to another element (Move to)

We should use functions in order.

• clickAndHold()
• moveToElement()
• release()
• perform()

WebElement element1 = driver.findElement(By.id("element1"));
WebElement element2 = driver.findElement(By.id("element2"));

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

actions.clickAndHold(element1).moveToElement(element2).release().perform();

Drag one element and drop it to another element (Drag and Drop)

We should use the below functions in order.

• dragAndDrop()
• release()
• perform()

WebElement element1 = driver.findElement(By.id("element1"));
WebElement element2 = driver.findElement(By.id("element2"));

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

actions.dragAndDrop(element1,element2).release().perform();

Key Sequence

For example, if you want to perform ctrl+enter, you can use actions to do this. First we should use keyDown(), then sendKeys(), and finally keyUp().

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
 
actions.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL).
        sendKeys(Keys.ENTER).
        keyUp(Keys.CONTROL).
        perform();

Github Project

https://github.com/swtestacademy/selenium-examples/tree/main/src/test/java/actions

Thanks,
Onur Baskirt

Onur Baskirt

Onur Baskirt is a Software Engineering Leader with international experience in world-class companies. Now, he is a Software Engineering Lead at Emirates Airlines in Dubai.