Selenium Java Webdriver: Adding a string to an Xpath

Question

I have the folllowing piece of Java in which I want to add a String inside a statement:

     @and ("^I want to change fieldnumber \"([^\"]*)\" , remove whats inside and add the following text: \"([^\"]*)\"$")

    public void testscenario12345(String number,  String text) throws Throwable {
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[contains(@name,'template:view:<INSERT NUMBER STRING HERE>:item:view:1:item:')]")).clear();
    driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[contains(@name,'template:view:<INSERT NUMBER STRING HERE>:item:view:1:item:')]")).sendKeys(text);

How can I add the number string in the above piece of code? To clarify, If I insert "4" in cucumber, I want the driver to find the element by Xpath, where the @name contains template:view:4:item:view:1:item:

Is it not simply something like driver.findElement(By.xpath(String.format("//*[contains(@name,'template:view:%s:item:view:1:item:')]", "1"))).clear(); ...as in your question actually has nothing to do with Selenium or XPath but merely "how do I format a string in Java so I can place a variable inside it?" — Arran
– Arran, Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 9:27
I didn't know that... I am just a functional tester who has been ordered to use selenium, so I figured that xpath and selenium were both bits of neccesary information in order to get everything working. But it works great now, thanks :) — user3356141
– user3356141, Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 11:25

Erki M. · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-06 09:31:51Z

1

What about

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[contains(@name,\"template:view:" + number+ ":item:view:1:item:\")]")).clear();

And you probably need the number to be const, that means:

public void testscenario12345(final String number,  String text) throws Throwable {

answered Mar 6, 2014 at 9:31

Erki M.

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3 Comments

user3356141 Over a year ago

unfortunatly, doesn't work... "Illegal escape character in string literal", message under ":item:view:1:item:\"

Erki M. Over a year ago

did you try what @Arran suggested in his/her comment? The String.format solution, this should work. For your error, google for escape string

user3356141 Over a year ago

Yes, and now it works. Apparently, I misplaced a ". Thanks for the help!

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