Python to C# Selenium CSS selector not working

Question

I wrote in Python a script which uses Selenium to auto-complete a form. It works with no issues.

I am very new to C# but I thought I would try and port it over so I can build a Windows executable to share it with a couple of non tech-savvy family members.

However, when I try what appears to be the same code, I get a timeout in C#.

As an example, I am trying to click a radio button:

HTML of radio button:

<input data-v-7af3e24c="" type="radio" id="condition-2" name="condition" class="govuk-radios__input" value="false">

Python (this works):

WebDriverWait(driver, max_wait).until(EC.presence_of_element_located(
    (By.CSS_SELECTOR, '[id$=condition-2]'))).click()

However, when I try what I think is the same request in C#:

int elementLoadTime = 5; // Max 5 seconds for element to load 
var wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, new TimeSpan(0, 0, elementLoadTime)); 
wait.Until(SeleniumExtras.WaitHelpers.ExpectedConditions.ElementToBeClickable(By.CssSelector("[id$=condition-2]"))).Click();

This produces:

Exception thrown: 'OpenQA.Selenium.WebDriverTimeoutException' in WebDriver.dll

The strange thing is, I am able to select the element in C# using the full XPath, so the element is clearly loading, and it strongly suggests the problem is with my CSS selector query.

// This works
wait.Until(SeleniumExtras.WaitHelpers.ExpectedConditions.ElementToBeClickable(By.XPath("/html/body/div[1]/div[2]/main/div/div/form/fieldset/div[2]/div/div/div[2]/label"))).Click();

However, obviously that is a very brittle way of writing the code which will break the moment the site changes slightly.

I have also tried "[id$='condition-2']" and "[id$=\"condition-2\"]", to no avail.

Can anyone shed any light on what I am doing wrong?

Thanks for response - I tried but I still get the same WebDriverTimeoutException error. — SamR
– SamR, Commented Jan 9, 2022 at 11:15
So in case anyone finds this question in 5 years when googling - I could not fix the issue. Ultimately, I circumvented it by creating an object which finds all input elements (var allInput = driver.FindElements(By.XPath("//input"));) putting some logic in the C# code rather than the Xpath: foreach (var input in allInput) { if (input.GetDomProperty("value") == ("false")) { input.Click(); } } — SamR
– SamR, Commented Jan 10, 2022 at 11:02

MattGrabowski · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-15 15:00:51Z

1

Instead of using:

By.CssSelector("[id$=condition-2]")

Just use:

By.Id("condition-2")

If you want to use Xpath instead, do two things. First, forget that there's an option in your browser to 'Copy Xpath' - just purge it from your mind. Second, use this Xpath instead:

By.Xpath("//input[@id=\"condition-2\"]")

answered Feb 15, 2022 at 15:00

MattGrabowski

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1 Comment

SamR Over a year ago

Thanks for the response - think that's a good tip about ignoring Copy XPath, which is what I ultimately ended up doing. I did try By.Id() but that couldn't find the element in C# either, even though it did in Python. It was all a bit confusing. I got it working in the end by just finding all the input elements and then searching their text - I don't know it didn't work the other way though.

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