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Selenium Webdriver - Dropdown Box

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Selenium Webdriver can be used to work on dropdown boxes on a web page with the help of the Select class. There can be two varieties of dropdown on a web page - single select (selection of one option) and multiple select (selection more than one option). In HTML terminology, every dropdown is identified by the tagname called select. Also, each of its options are identified with the tagname called the option. Moreover, for a multiselect drop down, there is an attribute known as multiple, along with the select tagname.

Identify Dropdown in HTML

Right click on the web page in a browser, say Chrome, and click on the Inspect button. Then, all HTML code for the page would be visible. For investigating a single select dropdown on a web page, click on the left upward arrow at top of the HTML code as highlighted in the image below.

Selenium Dropdown Box 1

Once, we had clicked and pointed the arrow to the dropdown beside the text Select One, its HTML code was visible, reflecting the select tagname(enclosed in <>), and its options within the option tagname.

Selenium Dropdown Box 2

Here, the option Pick one title has the attribute selected, reflecting the fact that it is selected by default.

Basic Select Class Methods in Selenium Webdriver

There are multiple Select class methods in Selenium Webdriver. They are listed below −

getOptions()

Returns the list of all options in the dropdown.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath"))
Select s = new Select(e);
List<WebElement> l = s.getOptions();

getFirstSelectedOption()

Returns the selected option in the dropdown. If there are multi options selected, only the first item shall be returned.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
l = s. getFirstSelectedOption();

isMultiple()

Returns a boolean value, yields a true value if the dropdown allows selection of multiple items.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
boolean l = s.isMultiple();

selectByIndex()

The index of the option to be selected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter. The index starts from 0.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.selectByIndex(0);

selectByValue()

The value attribute of the option to be selected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter. The options in the dropdown should have the value attribute so that this method can be used.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.selectByValue("option 1");

selectByVisibleText()

The visible text of the option to be selected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.selectByVisibleText("Selenium");

deselectByVisibleText()

The visible text of the option to be deselected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter. It is only applicable to multi-select dropdowns.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.deselectByVisibleText("Selenium");

deselectByValue()

The value attribute of the option to be deselected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter. The options in the dropdown should have the value attribute so that this method can be used. It is only applicable to multi-select dropdowns.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.deselectByValue("option 1");

deselectByIndex()

The index of the option to be deselected by the dropdown is passed as a parameter. The index starts from 0. It is only applicable to multi-select dropdowns.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.deselectByIndex(0);

deselectAll()

Unselects all selected options from the dropdown.

Syntax

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("value of xpath")
Select s = new Select(e);
s.deselectAll();

getAllSelectedOptions()

Returns all the selected options in the dropdown. If there are multi options selected, 0 or list of multiple selected options shall be returned. For a single select dropdown, the list of the 1 selected option shall be returned. If a dropdown list has an attribute disabled for an option, that option would not be selected.

Example 1

Let us take an example of the below page, where we would access the dropdown below the text Select One, select the value Dr.

Selenium Dropdown Box 3

Code Implementation

package org.example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Select;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class DropdownSingle {
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {

      // Initiate the Webdriver
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

      // adding implicit wait of 15 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage where we will get dropdown
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/select-menu.php");

      // identify dropdown then select its options by value
      WebElement dropdown = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='inputGroupSelect03']"));
      Select select = new Select(dropdown);

      // get option selected by default
      WebElement o = select.getFirstSelectedOption();
      System.out.println("Option selected by default: " + o.getText());

      // select an option by value
      select.selectByValue("1");
      
      // get selected option
      List<WebElement> selectedOptions = select.getAllSelectedOptions();
      for (WebElement opt : selectedOptions){
         System.out.println("Selected Option is: " + opt.getText());
      }

      // get all options of dropdown
      List<WebElement> options =select.getOptions();
      for (WebElement opt : options){
         System.out.println("Options are: " + opt.getText());
      }

      // check if multiselect dropdown
      Boolean b = select.isMultiple();
      System.out.println("Boolean value for checking is: "+ b);

      // quitting browser
      driver.quit();
   }
}

Output

Option selected by default: Pick one title
Selected Option is: Dr.
Options are: Pick one title
Options are: Dr.
Options are: Mr.
Options are: Mrs.
Options are: Ms.
Options are: Proof.
Options are: Other
Boolean value for checking is: false

Process finished with exit code 0

In the above example, we had obtained the selected option in the dropdown with the message in the console - Selected Option is: Dr. Then obtain all the options of the dropdown with the message in the console - Options are: Pick one title, Options are: Dr., Options are: Africa, Options are: Mr., Options are: Mrs., Options are: Ms, Options are: Proof., and Options are: Other.

We had also validated that the dropdown did not have multiple selection options with the message in the console - Boolean value for checking is: false. We had also retrieved the option selected by default in the dropdown with the message in the console - Option selected by default: Pick one title.

Finally, the message Process finished with exit code 0 was received, signifying successful execution of the code.

Example 2

Let us take another example of the below page, where we would access the multi-select dropdown beside the text Multi Select drop down, select the values Books and Toys, Kids & Baby.

Selenium Dropdown Box 4

Code Implementation

package org.example;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Select;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class DropdownMultiple {
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {

      // Initiate the Webdriver
      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

      // adding implicit wait of 15 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage where we will get dropdown
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/select-menu.php");

      // identify multiple dropdown
      WebElement dropdown = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='demo-multiple-select']"));

      // object of Select class
      Select select = new Select(dropdown);

      // gets options of dropdown in list
      List<WebElement> options = select.getOptions();
      for (WebElement opt : options){
         System.out.println("Options are: " + opt.getText());
      }

      // return true if multi-select dropdown
      Boolean b = select.isMultiple();
      System.out.println("Boolean value for multiple dropdown: "+ b);

      // select item by index
      select.selectByIndex(5);

      // select item by visible text
      select.selectByVisibleText("Books");

      // get all selected options of dropdown in list
      List<WebElement> selectedOptions = select.getAllSelectedOptions();
      for (WebElement opt : selectedOptions){
         System.out.println("Selected Options are: " + opt.getText());
      }

      // get first selected option in dropdown
      WebElement f = select.getFirstSelectedOption();
      System.out.println("First selected option is: "+ f.getText());

      // deselect option by index
      select.deselectByIndex(5);

      // get first selected option in dropdown after deselecting
      WebElement e = select.getFirstSelectedOption();
      System.out.println("Second selected option is: "+ e.getText());

      // deselect all selected items
      select.deselectAll();

      // get all selected options of dropdown after deselected
      List<WebElement> delectedOptions = select.getAllSelectedOptions();
      System.out.println("No. options selected: " + delectedOptions.size());

      // Closing browser
      driver.quit();
   }
}

Output

Options are: Books
Options are: Movies, Music & Games
Options are: Electronics & Computers
Options are: Home, Garden & Tools
Options are: Health & Beauty
Options are: Toys, Kids & Baby
Options are: Clothing & Jewelry
Options are: Sports & Outdoors
Boolean value for multiple dropdown: true
Selected Options are: Books
Selected Options are: Toys, Kids & Baby
First selected option is: Books
Second selected option is: Books
No. options selected: 0

Process finished with exit code 0

In the above example, we had obtained all the options of the dropdown with the message in the console - Options are: Books, Options are: Movies, Music & Games, Options are: Home, Garden & Tools, Options are: Health & Beauty, Options are: Toys, Kids &amp; Baby, Options are: Clothing & Jewelry, Options are: Sports & Outdoors. We had also validated that the dropdown had multiple selection options with the message in the console - Boolean value for checking is: true.

We had retrieved the selected options in the dropdown with the message in the console - Selected Options are: Books, Selected Options are: Toys, Kids & Baby. We had also obtained the first selected option with the message in the console - First selected option is: Books.

After deselecting the first selected option Books, then we had received the second selected option with the message in the console - Second selected option is: Books. Finally, we deselected all the selected options in the dropdown, and hence obtained the message in the console - No. options selected: 0.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Selenium Webdriver Dropdown Box. We’ve started with describing identify Dropdown in HTML, basic Select class methods in Selenium Webdriver, and examples to illustrate how to use them in Selenium Webdriver. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of the Selenium Webdriver Dropdown Box. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Selenium to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.

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