Selenium sendKeys(string) method only sending part of string

Question

I use the sendKeys method to send a string to a search box. The problem is that only the first couple (it differs) of keys are being sent. With the result that the search box is not able to filter content correctly. Below is a snippet of my code:

String currLab = labsInCloud.get(j); //get a lab name from a list
evtFilter_fld.clear(); //clear the filter box
evtFilter_fld.sendKeys(currLab); //send keys to filter box
WebElement selectLab = getDriver().findElement(mainPage_selectLab_i(1)); //select first item from        
                                                                         //filter

so for example if currLab = "test lab" only the "te" of currLab is sent to the filter box.

EDIT: Just to add that selectLab is selecting the incorrect item due to the full text not being sent.

Does it have a maxlength like this <input type="text" id="x" maxlength="2"> ? — ROMANIA_engineer
– ROMANIA_engineer, Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:26
You can try to use "test lab" instead of currLab ... to see what is happening. — ROMANIA_engineer
– ROMANIA_engineer, Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:36
ya, ive been debuggin it for a bit now and have no joy! i'll step away from it, tomorrow is a new day! — Cathal
– Cathal, Commented Oct 22, 2014 at 16:59

Aaron Silverman · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-22 18:18:22Z

2

I encountered this issue and it was a problem with my keyboard mapping.

My particular case was when running tests in a desktop environment over VNC. I was using tightvncserver and it was loading keyboard incorrectly. Switching to vnc4server resolved the problem.

answered Jun 22, 2015 at 18:18

Aaron Silverman

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1 Comment

wr200m Over a year ago

Same issue here. But I could not do apt install for vnc4server on Ubuntu 20.04 so I decided to go with tiger vnc server. All keyboard problems solved now.

tormodatt · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-11 11:54:48Z

1

I had the same problem. Sometimes only a char in a 3-char string would be put in before it clicked the button.

I added the following workaround:

'blah'.split('').forEach((c) => element.sendKeys(c))

It is a bit slower than inputing all at once, but faster than a constant timeout, and it works.

Found the tip at https://github.com/angular/protractor/issues/1511 (it is closed since it is not a protractor issue)

You can also try the javascript approach

String theText = "asdf"    
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].value='" + theText + "';", fieldElement);

edited Aug 11, 2017 at 11:54

answered Aug 11, 2017 at 11:40

tormodatt

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1 Comment

Grijan Over a year ago

this works 100%, idk why some fields do not allow us to enter all the characters

Cathal · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-23 11:31:50Z

0

It looks like i wasnt giving the driver enough time to send the keys. I added a sleep(1000) before attempting to select and item. Working fine now.

answered Oct 23, 2014 at 11:31

Cathal

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2 Comments

user2717954 Over a year ago

wierd, I never had an issue with it even tho sending some very long strings

Cathal Over a year ago

I'm not exactly sure that it was an issue with time, but it seems like the only reasonable assumption to make, given that sleep() resolved the problem.

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