Selenium SendKeys - All You Need to Know

Sienna Roberts 18 March 2023

Discover the power of web automation with Selenium’s SendKeys, the preferred technique for smooth text entry in form fields. Curious about SendKeys? Our blog guides you through employing Send Keys with Selenium in Python and Java, essential for examining intricate Web Applications. Read now to learn more about it!

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Selenium SendKeys - All You Need to Know

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Selenium SendKeys

Selenium is a powerful tool for performing automated tests on Web Applications. Features like Selenium SendKeys make Selenium extremely versatile, allowing input testing of a web page. The SendKeys method lets you simulate an environment and test how your webpage reacts to the user’s input. This reduces the amount of menial work needed, making it an extremely popular testing tool.

According to a report by enlyft, 68,253 companies use Selenium worldwide. Selenium holds a share of 27.35% in the software testing tools market. Do you wish to learn more about Sendkeys? Selenium Send Keys element method is used to enter text into fields that accept editable text on a website. Read further to learn more about Selenium Send Keys.

Table of Contents

1) What is Selenium Send Keys?

2) Uses of Sendkeys in Selenium

3) How to use Sendkeys in Selenium?

a) Using Sendkeys in Selenium with Java

b) Using Sendkeys in Selenium with Python

c) Using Sendkeys in Selenium to erase text

4) Troubleshoot issues with Sendkeys

5) Conclusion

What is Selenium Send Keys?

Selenium Sendkeys are methods used to help you automate the testing process for input compatibility of a web application. They are part of the Web Driver element used for web pages and web application testing. Selenium Web driver allows these methods to provide input in editable fields within the web application.

The Send keys method’s syntax is written as sendKeys() in Java and send_keys() in Python. The steps to using the Send Keys method are generally as follows.

1) Loading the webpage: The first step is to open the webpage you wish to test. The syntax to fetch this webpage in Selenium using Java is driver.get(); and the syntax in Python is driver.get(), respectively.

2) Element identification: The next step is to find the element you wish to select. To locate an element, you can use the element locators present in Selenium, such as XPath or element ID.

3) Keyboard input: Once you have located the elements, you can use a program script to send inputs to that element. Once you provide inputs to Selenium, you can continue with your remaining tasks.

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Uses of Sendkeys in Selenium

Selenium SendKeys are commonly used for various forms of input testing automation. Some common input test use cases utilise SendKeys methods. These use cases for SendKeys are as follows.

1) Validation of input: Forms are common in Web Applications. These forms constitute various input fields to collect a user’s data. An example of this would be the email address. Many Web Applications use a validation system to test if the email and password are correct. These validation systems test whether a user’s input follows the general format rule. An example of this would be yourname@domainname format as a general rule.

These validations are necessary to avoid potential future errors. As these validation systems rely on an input to work, SendKeys are the perfect method to test them. By providing multiple inputs that either obey or disobey the format, you can have versatile test cases for these systems.

2) Search results evaluation: Search bars are common in any good Web Application and web page. This feature finds relevant results across a page based on a keyword. This feature finds relevant results across a page based on a keyword, which is decided and inserted by the user surfing the page. Since these search results depend on user input, it's the perfect opportunity to use SendKeys.

Using SendKeys, in this instance, allows you to test the accuracy of your search results. Validating the quality of search results can further improve the search function and search algorithm.

3) Testing special functions: SendKeys usage in Selenium is not limited to simple text fields. Many web pages and Web Applications have special functions. Take Google Meet as an example. Google Meet has certain unique functions, like mute and unmute. This function is triggered by pressing CTRL+D in Google Meet.

Functions similar to these on any webpage that relies on user input are good places for input testing, making them an ideal use case for the SendKeys method.

Try our course in Selenium WebDriver With Python Training today and master Sendkeys!

How to use Sendkeys in Selenium?

Since you know Selenium Sendkeys and their use cases, let's review how to use them. This section of the blog will provide you with the program for Selenium test scripts. Selenium testing automation is extremely versatile; as a result, it is available in multiple programming languages. In this section, you will find programming scripts using the Sendkeys function in different programming languages.

Using Sendkeys in Selenium with Java

Here is a program code for using Sendkeys in Selenium with Java. This program creates a new instance for the driver; in this case, it is Google Chrome. The syntax for all browsers is unique and is not limited to Chrome, and the syntax for Google Chrome browser is ChromeDriver.

Next, you need to navigate to the webpage you wish to test. Once you have navigated the webpage, use element locators to find the element you wish to test. The program uses the findElement() method to find the input field by its ID. Then, you can move on to using SendKeys() and enter the necessary input before running the script.

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class ExampleSendKeys {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Set the path to the Chrome driver

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");

// Create a new instance of the Chrome driver

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Navigate to a website

driver.get("https://www.example.com");

// Find the search box element by its name attribute

WebElement searchBox = driver.findElement(By.name("q"));

// Enter text into the search box using SendKeys

searchBox.SendKeys("Java selenium Send-Keys Example");

// Submit the search by pressing Enter key

searchBox.submit();

// Close the browser in selenium

driver.quit();

}

Using Sendkeys in Selenium with Python

Here is a Python program for using Sendkeys in Selenium. It is similar to the Java program shown previously. This program navigates to a page you wish to test in Selenium. Next, it uses an element locator find_element_by_name() to find the field you wish to test on the page. Once the input field has been retrieved, the send_keys() function will allow you to give inputs to test the input fields. Finally, the program will close the window once it provides input.

from selenium import webdriver

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

# create a new Google Chrome browser instance

browser = webdriver.Chrome()

# navigate to a web page

browser.get("https://www.example.com")

# find the text field element by its name attribute

text_field = browser.find_element(By.NAME, "username")

# enter text into the text field

text_field.send_keys("myusername")

# close the browser in selenium

browser.quit()

Using Sendkeys in Selenium to erase text

Erasing texts right after you input them, might seem slightly redundant, but it has a valid reason behind it. You’ll often witness a situation where you get suggestions before even typing anything in a search engine, for example, Google.

This is often the result of the searches you’ve made. It's normal to open a URL many times and freshly type it, but is that convenient or efficient? Not only are the underhanded methods to get a fresh search time-consuming, it burdens the system. Here are some programs to help you erase text with Sendkeys in different languages.

Erasing texts with Sendkeys in Java:

import org.openqa.selenium.By;

import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;

import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class TextEraser {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Set the path to the Chrome driver executable

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");

// Create an instance of the Chrome driver

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Navigate to the web page containing the input field

driver.get("https://example.com");

// Locate the input field element

WebElement inputField = driver.findElement(By.id("input-field-id"));

// Clear the text using the backspace key

inputField.sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"), Keys.BACK_SPACE);

// Close the browser in selenium

driver.quit();

}

Erasing texts with Sendkeys in Python:

from selenium import webdriver

# Create a new instance of the Chrome driver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Navigate to a web page

driver.get("https://www.example.com")

# Find the element where the text is entered and clear the existing text

text_element = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@name='username']")

text_element.clear()

# Enter new text into the element

text_element.send_keys("new text")

# Close the browser in selenium

driver.quit()

Wish to use Sendkeys method in different languages? Try Selenium Immersion With C#!

Troubleshoot issues with Sendkeys

Troubleshooting issues with SendKeys in Selenium can involve a variety of strategies, as the method can sometimes behave unexpectedly. Here are a few pointers to help you troubleshoot SendKeys issues:

a) Element focus: Ensure that the element is in focus before sending keys. Sometimes, clicking on the element before sending the SendKeys command can help.

b) Element state: Check if the element is enabled, visible, and interactable. If an element is hidden or disabled, SendKeys will not work.

c) Correct locator: Verify that you’re using the correct locator and that it uniquely identifies the element. Incorrect or ambiguous locators can lead to targeting the wrong element.

d) Wait for element: Make sure the element is fully loaded before interacting with it. Use explicit waits to wait for the component to be present and ready.

e) Frame context: If the element is inside an iframe, switch to the correct frame before interacting with the element.

f) Clear before SendKeys: Sometimes, clearing the text field before sending new text can resolve issues, especially if there is already text in the field.

g) Use Actions class: If SendKeys is not working, try using the Actions class to send the keys, as it can sometimes provide more reliable interaction.

h) JavaScript execution: As a last resort, you can use JavaScript to set the input field's value directly. It bypasses the usual user interaction and might not trigger all events associated with the element.

i) Update WebDriver: Ensure that you’re using the latest version of WebDriver and browser drivers. Compatibility issues can cause unexpected behaviour.

j) Check for errors: Look for errors or exceptions thrown in the console or logs. They can provide clues about what’s going wrong.

Try Introduction To Test Automation With Selenium Web Driver to master SendKeys today!

Conclusion

Selenium Send Keys allows you to send keyboard inputs using Selenium automation tool. Sendkeys allow you to conveniently navigate, locate and test for input fields in Selenium web driver. With this blog, you’ll hopefully have a much better understanding of the Sendkeys method, and its syntax in different programming languages. You'll be able to use Sendkeys method and troubleshoot its problem more efficiently. Thank you for reading.

Interested in learning more? Try our course in Selenium Testing Framework Training!

Frequently Asked Questions

How to use XPath in Selenium?

XPath in Selenium is utilised for navigating through the HTML structure of a webpage to find elements. It’s a query language for selecting nodes from an XML document. Use “driver.findElement(By.xpath("your_xpath"))” to locate elements using either absolute or relative XPath expressions

What is the alternative to SendKeys in Selenium?

An alternative to SendKeys in Selenium is to use JavaScriptExecutor to set the value of an input field directly. This method is useful when sendKeys is too slow or fails to input text. Use “js.executeScript("arguments[0].value='text';", element)” to achieve this.

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