How to search / find all results using Selenium Java Webdriver

Question

Dear Selenium Webdriver Specialists,

I am new to this framework and needed a bit of advice on how to locate / find all the search results from a sales property listing website. Below is a working code which has successfully found all the properties using Selenium Webdriver but I don't know how to use findElements(by...) to pick up every results returned by this website:

    WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();

    driver.get("http://www.domain.com.au/?mode=buy");

    // Enter the query string "3000"        
    WebElement query = driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//*[@id='ctl00_SearchMoreCriteria_Radar_searchToBuy']"));        
    query.sendKeys("3000");        

    WebElement searchButton = driver.findElement(By.xpath(".//*[@id='ctl00_SearchMoreCriteria_Radar_Search']")); 
    searchButton.click();  

    // Sleep until the div we want is visible or 5 seconds is over        
    long end = System.currentTimeMillis() + 5000;        

Could anyone offer some advice on this query? I also like to include a pausing mechanism before locating / finding all the returned results?

Many thanks,

Jack

---

Thank you Santoshsarma very much for your response but I am struggling to apply your suggestion onto the following returned web query page output snippet:

     <h3>
        <a id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_hypAddress" href="/Property/For-Sale/Penthouse/VIC/Melbourne/?adid=2009775619">602/73 Flinders Lane, Melbourne</a></h3>
     <dl class="cN-featDetails">
        <dt class="proptype">Property type</dt>
        <dd id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_ddPropertyType" class="propertytype type-house" title="Property type: House">House</dd>
        <dt class="bedrooms">Bedrooms</dt>
        <dd id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_ddBedrooms" class="bedrooms" title="Bedrooms">3</dd>
        <dt class="bathrooms">Bathrooms</dt>
        <dd id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_ddBathrooms" class="bathrooms" title="Bathrooms">4</dd>
        <dt class="carspaces">Car spaces</dt>
        <dd id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_ddCarSpaces" class="carspaces" title="Car spaces">2</dd>
    </dl>
</div>
<div class="main-wrap">
    <ul class="photo cfix">
        <li>
            <a id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_hypMainThumb" tabindex="-1" class="contain" href="/Property/For-Sale/Penthouse/VIC/Melbourne/?adid=2009775619"><img id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_imgMainThumb" title="602/73 Flinders Lane, Melbourne" src="http://images.domain.com.au/img/2012625/18127/2009775619_1_PM.JPG?mod=120925-150000" alt="Main photo of 602/73 Flinders Lane, Melbourne - More Details" style="border-width:0px;" /></a>
        </li>

        <li class="last">
            <a id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_hypSecondThumb" tabindex="-1" class="contain" href="/Property/For-Sale/Penthouse/VIC/Melbourne/?adid=2009775619"><img id="ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_imgSecondThumb" title="602/73 Flinders Lane, Melbourne" src="http://images.domain.com.au/img/2012625/18127/2009775619_2_PM.JPG?mod=120913-125823" alt="Photo of 602/73 Flinders Lane, Melbourne - More Details" style="border-width:0px;" /></a>
        </li>
    </ul>

List AllSearchResults=driver.findElements(By.id("ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_hypAddress"));

There is an index in ctl01 that needs to cycle through to get all search results which would be slow according other similar threats. Is there a better approach to use findElement() on a WebElement to search just its children but I am at a lost on where to locate the root. Are you able to confirm whether this approach would work & perhaps pin point where the root of the list of results from the following URL query result page: http://www.domain.com.au/Search/buy/Property/Types/Apartment-Unit-Flat/Duplex/House/New-Apartments-Off-the-Plan/New-Home-Designs/New-House-Land/Penthouse/Semi-Detached/Studio/Terrace/Townhouse/Villa/State/VIC/Area/Inner-City/Region/Melbourne-Region/Suburb/Melbourne/?bedrooms=1&bathrooms=1&carspaces=1&from=450000&searchterm=3000&pois=PriSchl|1|2|2000

Your patience for my lack of experience in this area would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

findElements method will return List of WebElements which has same locator.

> List<WebElement> AllSearchResults=driver.findElements(By.id("value"));

Run the above list in loop to get each individual search result.

  for(WebElement eachResult:AllSearchResults)
   {
           eachResult.click(); 
   }

Answer 2

If this is still unresolved, try the following for locating the h3 link

(new WebDriverWait(driver, 10)).until(ExpectedConditions
   .visibilityOfElementLocated(
   By.id("ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_hypAddress")));

This code waits for the given element for 10 seconds and then throws a TimeOutException.

Regards, Christian

Answer 3

May be we can solve it with the help of a custom xpath using ID property.

Code goes like this:

List AllSearchResults=driver.findElements(By.xpath("//*[contains(@id='SrchResLst_rptResult')]"));

or like this:

List AllSearchResults=driver.findElements(By.xpath("//*[contains(@id='ctl00_ctl00_Content_Content_SrchResLst_rptResult_ctl01_EliteListingTemplate_')]"));

Here we used * because some search results are having a combination of tags <a> and <dd>

The xpath searches for all the elements which is containing "SrchResLst_rptResult" string as a value of ID property.