WebDriver Common Properties

Property	Description
driver.name	Browser name
driver.current_url	Current page URL
driver.title	Current page title
driver.page_source	Current page HTML source
driver.current_window_handle	Current window handle
driver.window_handles	All window handles

Browser Basic Operations

Browser Initialization

Method	Purpose
Chrome()	Initialize Chrome browser
get()	Navigate to specified URL
quit()	Close browser session

# Different browser initialization examples
# driver = webdriver.Firefox()
# driver = webdriver.Chrome()
# driver = webdriver.Ie()
# driver = webdriver.Edge()
# driver = webdriver.Opera()

from selenium import webdriver

# Initialize Chrome with specific driver path
chromedriver_path = "D:\\drivers\\chromedriver.exe"
browser = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=chromedriver_path)

# Navigate to Baidu
browser.get("http://www.baidu.com/")

# Close browser
browser.quit()

Window Management

Method	Purpose
maximize_window()	Maximize browser window
minimize_window()	Minimize browser window
fullscreen_window()	Enter fullscreen mode
set_window_size(width, height)	Set window dimensions
set_window_position(x, y)	Set window position

from time import sleep

# Window manipulation examples
browser.maximize_window()
sleep(2)

browser.minimize_window()
sleep(2)

browser.fullscreen_window()
sleep(2)

browser.set_window_size(400, 300)
sleep(2)

browser.set_window_position(200, 100)
sleep(2)

Page Navigation

Method	Purpose
forward()	Navigate forward
back()	Navigate back
refresh()	Refresh current page
close()	Close current window

from selenium import webdriver
from time import sleep

# Configure Chrome options
chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
driver_path = "D:\\drivers\\chromedriver.exe"
web_browser = webdriver.Chrome(driver_path, options=chrome_options)

# Navigate between pages
web_browser.get("http://www.baidu.com")
sleep(2)

web_browser.get("https://www.eastmoney.com/")
sleep(2)

# Navigate back to Baidu
web_browser.back()
sleep(2)

# Refresh page
web_browser.refresh()
sleep(1)

# Navigate forward
web_browser.forward()

# Close current window
web_browser.close()

Element Locating Strategies

Web automation requires precise element identification. Selenium provides eight primary element location methods.

Element Location Methods

Method	Description
find_element_by_id()	Locate by ID attribute
find_element_by_name()	Locate by name attribute
find_element_by_link_text()	Locate by exact link text
find_element_by_partial_link_text()	Locate by partial link text
find_element_by_tag_name()	Locate by HTML tag name
find_element_by_class_name()	Locate by class name
find_element_by_xpath()	Locate using XPath expression
find_element_by_css_selector()	Locate using CSS selector

Note on element finding methods:

• find_element_by_xx() returns the first matching element or raises an expection
• find_elements_by_xx() returns a list of matching elements (empty list if none found)

ID-Based Location

ID attributes are unique in HTML documents, making them ideal for element location.

from selenium import webdriver

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Locate search box by ID and input text
search_input = browser.find_element_by_id("kw")
search_input.send_keys("automation testing")

Name-Based Location

from selenium import webdriver

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Locate element by name attribute
search_field = browser.find_element_by_name("wd")
search_field.send_keys("web automation")

Class Name Location

from selenium import webdriver

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Locate by single class name
search_box = browser.find_element_by_class_name('s_ipt')
search_box.send_keys('selenium')

# For compound classes, use only one class name
wrapper = browser.find_element_by_class_name('s_ipt_wr')

Tag Name Location

HTML tags define element functionality. Multiple elements often share the same tag name.

from selenium import webdriver

browser = webdriver.Chrome("D:\\chromedriver.exe")
browser.get("http://www.baidu.com")

# Find all elements with specific tag
area_elements = browser.find_elements_by_tag_name("area")
if area_elements:
    area_elements[0].click()

Link Text Location

from selenium import webdriver
import time

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Click link with exact text match
news_link = browser.find_element_by_link_text('新闻')
news_link.click()
time.sleep(3)
browser.quit()

Partial Link Text Location

from selenium import webdriver
from time import sleep

chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
driver_path = "D:\\drivers\\chromedriver.exe"
browser = webdriver.Chrome(driver_path, options=chrome_options)

browser.get("http://www.baidu.com")
search_input = browser.find_element_by_id("kw")
search_input.send_keys("selenium")
sleep(1)

search_button = browser.find_element_by_id("su")
search_button.click()
sleep(2)

# Click link containing partial text
selenium_link = browser.find_element_by_partial_link_text("selenium中文网")
selenium_link.click()

sleep(3)
browser.quit()

XPath Location

XPath provides flexible element location when standard attributes are unavailable or unreliable.

XPath Expression Types

Absolute Path: Full path from root element

xpath_expression = "/html/body/div[1]/div[1]/div/form/span[1]/input"
element = browser.find_element_by_xpath(xpath_expression)

Relative Path: Flexible path from current context

xpath_expression = "//input[@id='kw']"
element = browser.find_element_by_xpath(xpath_expression)

Common XPath Patterns

# By tag type
xpath_expression = "//input"

# By position
xpath_expression = "//input[2]"
xpath_expression = "//div[last()-1]"

# By attribute
xpath_expression = "//input[@value]"
xpath_expression = "//input[@value='kw']"

# Using operators
xpath_expression = "//input[@value='kw' and @id='ad']"
xpath_expression = "//input[@maxlength<256]"

# Hierarchy and attributes
xpath_expression = "//form/input"
xpath_expression = "//div[@class]/a[3]"

# Wildcards
xpath_expression = "//tools/*"
xpath_expression = "//*[@*='s_tab']"

# Partial matching
xpath_expression = "//a[contains(@href,'logout')]"
xpath_expression = "//a[contains(text(),'退出')]"

from selenium import webdriver
import time

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Locate using XPath
search_element = browser.find_element_by_xpath('//*[@id="kw"]')
search_element.send_keys('xpath example')

time.sleep(3)
browser.quit()

CSS Selector Location

CSS selectors offer concise syntax and faster performance compared to XPath.

Selector	Example	Description
#id	#firstname	Select element with id="firstname"
.class	.intro	Select elements with class="intro"
element>element	div > p	Select elements with parent
[attribute=value]	[target=_blank]	Select elements with target="_blank"

from selenium import webdriver
import time

browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get('https://www.baidu.com')

# Verify page title
assert '百度' in browser.title

# Clear and input using CSS selector
search_input = browser.find_element_by_css_selector('#kw')
search_input.clear()
search_input.send_keys('css selector')

time.sleep(3)
browser.quit()

Modern Location Approach

Current Selenium versions recommend using the unified By class for element location.

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

browser = webdriver.Chrome("D:\\chromedriver.exe")
browser.get("http://www.baidu.com")

# Modern element location syntax
search_input = browser.find_element(By.ID, "kw")
search_input.send_keys("selenium")

# Alternative approach for multiple elements
search_fields = browser.find_elements(By.NAME, "wd")
if search_fields:
    search_fields[0].send_keys("selenium")