selenium not finding correct link using xpath

Question

I'm trying to delete click on link generated by a previous test (a delete link) but I'm having great difficulty with xpath

Here is the error I am receiving

Invalid response while accessing the Selenium Server at 'http://localhost:4444/s
elenium-server/driver/': ERROR: Element xpath=(//td[normalize-space() ='Test tit
le 2']/following-sibling::td[3]/descendant::a[.='delete']) not found

here is my test

public function testdeleteStationTestCase()
    {
        $this->open("/upd8r_new/");
        $this->click("css=a > img");
        $this->waitForPageToLoad("30000");
        $this->type("name=username", "glass2");
        $this->type("name=password", "glass2");
        $this->click("name=submit");
        sleep(1);
        $this->click("xpath=(//td[normalize-space() ='Test title 2']/following-sibling::td[3]/a[.='delete'])");
        //$this->click("xpath=(//td[normalize-space() ='Test title 2']/following-sibling::td[3]/descendant::a[.='delete'][1])");

        sleep(1);


        $this->assertTrue($this->isTextPresent("Station deleted!"),"Station Deleted");
    }

as you can see my commented out line i have been trying all sorts of combinations to get the test to run-

here is the html page I am testing against- i have added a line of text where I am trying to click

<body>
<!-- social media header -->
<div class="main">
    <div class="header">
        Central Control Panel

    </div>

    <div class="logo">
                    <img src="http://localhost/upd8r_new/imgs/loyalty_connect2.png"/>
            </div>

    <div style="clear:both"></div>



    <ul class="Menu" id="maintab">
        <li class="selected" rel="home"><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia">HOME</a>       </li>

        <li  rel="retail">
            <a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/social_retail">RETAIL</a>       </li>




        <li   rel="stats"> <a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/stats">STATS</a></li>
        <li 






            rel="social_media_settings"> <a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/settings">SETTINGS</a></li>
        <li rel="logout"><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/login/logout">LOGOUT</a> </li>
    </ul>   


    <div style="clear:both"></div>
    <div style="text-align:left;width:980px;height:40px;background-color:#0E477A;margin:auto;padding-top:0px;">

        <div style="width:700px;text-align:left;padding-left:10px;float:left">

            <div id="logout" class="submenustyle">

            </div>
                        <div id="retail" class="submenustyle">
                <ul class="sub_menu">
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/social_retail">USERS</a></li>
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/social_retail/view_competitions">COMPETITIONS</a></li>

                </ul>               
            </div>
                        <div id="home" class="submenustyle">
                <ul class="sub_menu">
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/add">ADD LIKESTATION</a></li>
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/add_picstation">ADD PICSTATION</a></li>
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/add_vidstation">ADD VIDSTATION</a></li>
                </ul>

            </div>
            <div id="socialmedia_users" class="submenustyle">

            </div>
            <div id="stats" class="submenustyle">
                <ul class="sub_menu">
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/stats">STATS HOME</a></li>
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/stats/facebook/stats">FACEBOOK STATS</a></li>


                </ul>
            </div>


            <div id="social_media_settings" class="submenustyle">
                <ul class="sub_menu">
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/settings">SETTINGS HOME</a></li>
                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/registration_settings">NETWORKS TO USE</a></li>

                    <li><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/pre_settings">PRE REGISTRATION</a></li>
                                            <li>
                        <a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/app_settings">APP SETTINGS</a>                  
                        </li>
                                    </ul>
            </div>


        </div>
        <div style="float:right;font-weight:bold;color:#fff;margin-top:12px;margin-right: 20px;">
                        Logged In As: glass2        </div>

    </div>
    <div style="clear:both"></div>


    <div style="padding-top:30px;padding-left:10px">Station deleted! </div>
    <div style="padding-left:10px">



                        <table width="700px" align="left" style="text-align:left;">
            <tr>
                <td style="font-weight:bold">Pre-Registration</td>
                <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/retail/register/80">http://localhost/upd8r_new/retail/register/80</a></td>
            </tr>

        </table>
                <div style="clear:both"></div>

        <table width="800px" align="left" style="text-align:left;">
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td colspan="6" STYLE="text-align:center;font-weight:bold">LIKESTATIONS</td>
            </tr>
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td width="10%">STATION ID</td>
                <td width="32%">STATION NAME</td>
                <td width="25%">LINK TITLE</td>
                <td width="10%">STATION STATS</td>
                <td width="15%">LAST POST</td>
                <td width="8%"></td>

            </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla20311344">gla20311344</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla20311344">http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla20311344</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla20311344">Webcast</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla20311344">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla20311344">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla2084629867">gla2084629867</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla2084629867">http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla2084629867</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit/gla2084629867">tes this link title3</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2084629867">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>4 weeks ago</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2084629867">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                    </table>

        <div style="clear:both"></div>

        <table width="620px" align="left" style="text-align:left;">
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td colspan="5" STYLE="text-align:center;font-weight:bold">FACEBOOK PIC STATIONS</td>
            </tr>
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td width="15%">STATION ID</td>
                <td width="50%">STATION TITLE</td>
                <td width="10%">STATION STATS</td>
                <td width="15%">LAST POST</td>
                <td width="10%"></td>

            </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1079978359">gla1079978359</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1079978359">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1079978359">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td>**link I'm trying to click**<a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1079978359">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1229158969">gla1229158969</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1229158969">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1229158969">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1229158969">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1256364596">gla1256364596</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1256364596">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1256364596">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1256364596">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1529784490">gla1529784490</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1529784490">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1529784490">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1529784490">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla159062284">gla159062284</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla159062284">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla159062284">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla159062284">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla175038477">gla175038477</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla175038477">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla175038477">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla175038477">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1777127061">gla1777127061</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1777127061">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1777127061">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1777127061">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla180142977">gla180142977</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla180142977">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla180142977">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla180142977">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1950664292">gla1950664292</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1950664292">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1950664292">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1950664292">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1971709701">gla1971709701</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla1971709701">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla1971709701">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla1971709701">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2028774169">gla2028774169</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2028774169">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2028774169">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2028774169">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2035285297">gla2035285297</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2035285297">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2035285297">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2035285297">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2072665757">gla2072665757</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2072665757">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2072665757">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2072665757">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2115042517">gla2115042517</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2115042517">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2115042517">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2115042517">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2141659529">gla2141659529</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla2141659529">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla2141659529">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla2141659529">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla4705592">gla4705592</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla4705592">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla4705592">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla4705592">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla565900575">gla565900575</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla565900575">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla565900575">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla565900575">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla608150382">gla608150382</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla608150382">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla608150382">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla608150382">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                            <tr>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla979271929">gla979271929</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/edit_picstation/gla979271929">Test title 2</a> </td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/stats/home/station_stats/gla979271929">STATS</a> </td>
                    <td>0</td>
                    <td><a href="http://localhost/upd8r_new/socialmedia/delete/gla979271929">delete</a></td>
                </tr>
                    </table>

        <div style="clear:both"></div>

        <table width="520px" align="left" style="text-align:left;">
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td colspan="4" STYLE="text-align:center;font-weight:bold">FACEBOOK VIDEO STATIONS</td>
            </tr>
            <tr style="font-weight:bold;background-color:#f1f1f1">
                <td width="20%">STATION ID</td>
                <td width="60%">STATION TITLE</td>
                <td width="60%">STATION STATS</td>
                <td width="20%"></td>
            </tr>
                    </table>


        <div style="clear:both"></div>


</div>
</div>
<div class="footer">
    <div style="float:left;padding-top:20px;padding-left:20px;font-size:10px;font-family:arial"></div>
    <div style="padding-top:20px;float:right;padding-right:30px;"><img src="http://localhost/upd8r_new/imgs/excelerated.jpg"/></div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

commented line is not equal to what I suggested in my previous answer :) And all these brackets are useless as selenium select only first occurrence by default — Aleh Douhi
– Aleh Douhi, Commented May 2, 2012 at 10:56

Aleh Douhi · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-02 13:45:57Z

1

Your problem is in sleep(1); In this place instead of sleep(1); you should use this:

$this->waitForCondition("selenium.isElementPresent(\'css=table:contains(\'FACEBOOK PIC STATIONS\') a:contains(\'delete\')\')", "20000");

And by the way, while you use selenium RC you can reach your delete link with this css (with webdriver it will not work as :contains is not a part of css spec):

$this->click("css=table:contains('FACEBOOK PIC STATIONS') a:contains('delete')");

Also replace all sleep(1); with appropriate waitForCondition commands

edited May 2, 2012 at 13:45

answered May 2, 2012 at 10:53

Aleh Douhi

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4 Comments

Chris Mccabe Over a year ago

thanks for this but seleium is now returning Invalid response while accessing the Selenium Server at 'localhost:4444/s elenium-server/driver/': missing ) after argument list

Aleh Douhi Over a year ago

@ChrisMccabe probably you missed ) somewhere. Doesn't stack trace point you to problematic line?

Chris Mccabe Over a year ago

its something to do with the waitforcondition line... i copied it over exactly. I got the test to pass by giving the facebook pic stations table an id and and used $this->waitForCondition("selenium.isElementPresent('id=facebook_vid_stations')", "20000");

Aleh Douhi Over a year ago

@ChrisMccabe It seems like ' should be escaped inside waitforcondiditon. You can try my edited answer

Prashant Vadher · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-02 09:20:29Z

0

Install "XPath Checker 4.4" add-ons in Firefox. So for that object you will get proper xpath using this add-ons..

So,

click xpath=xpath for that object

answered May 2, 2012 at 9:20

Prashant Vadher

1,08511 silver badges9 bronze badges

1 Comment

Chris Mccabe Over a year ago

i have done this and the object is found using the xpath checker

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