Selenium WebDriver - Key Up/Down

Selenium Webdriver can be used to perform Key Up and Key Down operations with help of the Actions Class. The methods keyUp() and keyDown() are used to perform Key Up and Key Down operations.

The copy and paste operations can be performed by using the Keys class in Selenium. The keys used to copy and paste can be done using the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V respectively. These keys to be pressed are sent as parameters to the sendKeys() method.

Identification of Elements on a Web Page

Right click on the web page, and click on the Inspect button in the Chrome browser. For investigating an element on that web page, click on the left upward arrow, at the top of the visible HTML code as highlighted below.

Copy and Paste Text

In the below page, enter the text - Copy beside the Full Name in the first edit box, then copy and paste the same text in another input box beside the Email.

Syntax

Syntax on a MAC machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Copy");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// Actions class methods to select text
Actions a = new Actions(driver);
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("a");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to copy text
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("c");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

// Action class methods to tab and reach to  the next input box
a.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to paste text
a.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
a.sendKeys("v");
a.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
a.build().perform();

Syntax on Windows machine −

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

// Identify the first input box with xpath locator
WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// enter some text
e.sendKeys("Copy");

// Identify the second input box with xpath locator
WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("<value of xpath>"));

// Actions class methods to select text
Actions a = new Actions(driver);
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("a");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to copy text
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("c");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

// Action class methods to tab and reach to next input box
a.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
a.build().perform();

// Actions class methods to paste text
a.keyDown(Keys.CONTROL);
a.sendKeys("v");
a.keyUp(Keys.CONTROL);
a.build().perform();

Example

package org.example;

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;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

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

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

      // adding implicit wait of 10 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/text-box.php");

      // Identify the first input box
      WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='fullname']"));

      // enter text
      e.sendKeys("Copy");

      // select text
      Actions act = new Actions(driver);
      act.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.sendKeys("a");
      act.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.build().perform();

      // copy text
      act.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.sendKeys("c");
      act.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.build().perform();

      // tab to reach to next input box
      act.sendKeys(Keys.TAB);
      act.build().perform();
      
      // paste text
      act.keyDown(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.sendKeys("v");
      act.keyUp(Keys.COMMAND);
      act.build().perform();

      // Identify the second input box
      WebElement s = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='email']"));

      // Getting text in the second input box
      String text = s.getAttribute("value");
      System.out.println("Value copied and pasted: " + text);

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

Output

Value copied and pasted: Copy

Process finished with exit code 0

In the above example, we had first input the text Copy in the first edit box and then copied and pasted the same text in the second edit box. At last, we had retrieved the entered text in the second input box as a message in the console - Value copied and pasted: Copy.

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

Text in Upper Case

Let us take another example, where we would enter text TUTORIALSPOINT in an input box in capital letters using the Key Up, Key Down features of Actions class. While sending the value to the sendKeys() method, we would pass tutorialspoint along with pressing SHIFT keys to get the output entered in the input box as TUTORIALSPOINT.

Example

package org.example;

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;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

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

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

      // adding implicit wait of 17 secs
      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(17, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      // Opening the webpage where we will identify an element
      driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/selenium/practice/text-box.php");

      // Identify the first input box
      WebElement e = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@id='fullname']"));

      // Actions class
      Actions act = new Actions(driver);

      // moving to element and clicking on it
      act.moveToElement(e).click();

      // key UP and DOWN action for SHIFT
      act.keyDown(Keys.SHIFT);
      act.sendKeys("Selenium").keyUp(Keys.SHIFT).build().perform();

      // get value entered
      System.out.println("Text entered: " + e.getAttribute("value"));

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

Output

Text entered: TUTORIALSPOINT

We had obtained the entered text in upper case with the message in the console - Text entered: TUTORIALSPOINT.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Selenium Webdriver Key Up/Down. We’ve started with describing identification of elements on a web page, and walked through examples on how to handle key up and key down methods with Selenium Webdriver. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of the Selenium Webdriver Key Up/Down. 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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