How to identify the text within the <a> using Selenium and Java

Question

This is the code of the demo store I want to test:

 <li class="level0 nav-2 parent">
      <a href="http://demo-store.seleniumacademy.com/men.html" 
               class="level0 has-children">Men</a> 
        <ul class="level0">
            <li class="level1 view-all">
               <a class="level1" href="http://demo- 
                         store.seleniumacademy.com/men.html">View All 
                         Men</a>
            </li>
               <li class="level1 nav-2-1 first"><a></a></li>
               <li class="level1 nav-2-2"><a href="http://demo- 
                          store.seleniumacademy.com/men/shirts.html" 
                          class="level1">text to get</a> 
               </li>
               <li class="level1 nav-2-3"><a></a></li>
         </ul>
    </li>

I want to get text of those subcategories so I can later click on specific category by using text inside of a link element. My code is:

public Subcategory openSubcategory (String subcategoryName){

    List<WebElement> subcategories = driver.findElements(By.cssSelector("a.level1"));

    for (WebElement element: subcategories) {
        if (element.getText().equals(subcategoryName)){
            element.click();
            break;
        }
    }
    return new Subcategory(driver);
}

But it won't go inside loop, probably because element.getText() is empty.

Answer 1

element.getText() can be empty.

Try:

element.getAttribute("value");
// or
element.getAttribute("innerHTML");

Change your CSS to be:

"a[class*='level']";
// or
"a[]";

Debug the code and check if the element is not null