[FIXED] Selenium "Element not found" due to incorrect XPath expression

Issue

I am completely new to Selenium and XPath. Today is the first time I am trying to execute a simple script using Selenium RC. Please find the code below.

package com.rcdemo;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.DefaultSelenium;
import com.thoughtworks.selenium.Selenium;

public class MathTest {

    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {

        // Instatiate the RC Server
        Selenium selenium = new DefaultSelenium("localhost", 4444 , "*firefox C:/Program Files (x86)/Mozilla Firefox/firefox.exe", "http://www.calculator.net");
        selenium.start();   // Start
        selenium.open("/");  // Open the URL
        selenium.windowMaximize();

        // Click on Link Math Calculator
        selenium.click("xpath=.//*[@id='menu']/div[3]/a");
        Thread.sleep(4500); // Wait for page load

        // Click on Link Percent Calculator
        selenium.click("xpath=//*[@id='content']/ul/li[3]/a");
        Thread.sleep(4000); // Wait for page load


        // Focus on text Box
        selenium.focus("name=cpar1");
        // Enter a value in Text box 1
        selenium.type("css=input[name=\"cpar1\"]", "10");

        // Enter a value in Text box 2
        selenium.focus("name=cpar2");
        selenium.type("css=input[name=\"cpar2\"]", "50");

        // Click the Calculate button
        selenium.click("xpath=.//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/input");

        // Verify if the result is 5
        String result = selenium.getText("//*[@id='content']/p[2]/span/font/b");
        System.out.println(result);

        if (result == "5") {
            System.out.println("Pass");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Fail");
        }
    }
}

The issue is when executing the above code, an exception is happening at the getText() line. I copied that XPath from the developer tools of Google Chrome. Even when I checked manually once, the same XPath expression is showing. I have tried to find the solution for this from today morning. How can I get Selenium to find the element?

PS: In the result variable I have to capture the result after a calculation. For example, 10 % 50 = 5. This 5 I need to capture.

Solution

You need to wait for "Result" to get populated.

Here is the updated code snippet. It should work for you:

    // Add this line
    if (!selenium.isElementPresent("//*[@id='content']/p[2]/span/font/b"))
    {
        Thread.sleep(2000);
    }
    // Verify if the result is 5
    String result = selenium.getText("//*[@id='content']/p[2]/span/font/b");
    System.out.println(result);

    // Update this line
    if (result.trim().equals("5"))
    {
        System.out.println("Pass");
    }
    else
    {
        System.out.println("Fail");
    }

And you need to use the .equals method to compare the two string values.

Note - A better approach is to replace Thread.sleep with dynamic wait methods, like waitForPageToLoad, waitForElementPresent (custom methods), etc.

Answered By - Surya
Answer Checked By - Candace Johnson (JavaFixing Volunteer)