Selenium - difference between #FindBy and WebElement.findElement() - xpath

Question

I am using Selenium to Test my User Interface.
I am trying to use the #FindBy-Annotation. The following piece of code works fine:
#FindBy(how=How.XPATH, xpath ="//input[contains(#id,'idOfInputField')]")
private WebElement someWebElement;
private void someMethod(){
WebElement a = someWebElement.findElement(By.xpath("//a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1]"));
WebElement span1 = a.findElement(By.xpath("//a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1]"));
WebElement span2 = span1.findElement(By.xpath("//span[contains(#class, 'ui-button-text')][1]"));
WebElement b = span2.findElement(By.xpath("//span[contains(#class,'ui-icon ui-icon-triangle-1-n')]"));
b.click();
}
I would like to use the following code, because it is Annotation-based, but it doesnt work, although I think it is exactly the same:
#FindBy(how=How.XPATH, xpath ="//input[contains(#id,'idOfInputField')]"
+ "//a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1]"
+ "//a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1]"
+ "//span[contains(#class, 'ui-button-text')][1]"
+ "//span[contains(#class,'ui-icon ui-icon-triangle-1-n')]")
private WebElement someWebElement;
pivate void someMethod(){
someWebElement.click();
}
What I get is the following exception:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Cannot invoke click on element null. Cannot find it.
Cause: org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException: Unable to locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":"//input[contains(#id,'idOfInputField')]//a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1]//span[contains(#class, 'ui-button-text')][1]//span[contains(#class,'ui-icon ui-icon-triangle-1-n')]"}
Command duration or timeout: 14 milliseconds
For documentation on this error, please visit: http://seleniumhq.org/exceptions/no_such_element.html
Build info: version: '2.32.0', revision: '6c40c187d01409a5dc3b7f8251859150c8af0bcb', time: '2013-04-09 10:39:28'
System info: os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '3.5.0-28-generic', java.version: '1.7.0_21'
Session ID: 92f605a1-0a63-4ba0-b290-ca724b3c6386
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver
Capabilities [{platform=LINUX, databaseEnabled=true, cssSelectorsEnabled=true, javascriptEnabled=true, acceptSslCerts=true, handlesAlerts=true, browserName=firefox, browserConnectionEnabled=true, nativeEvents=false, webStorageEnabled=true, rotatable=false, locationContextEnabled=true, applicationCacheEnabled=true, takesScreenshot=true, version=20.0}]
at path.to.package.utils.StaleReferenceAwareFieldDecorator$StaleReferenceAwareElementLocator.in
voke(StaleReferenceAwareFieldDecorator.java:86)
at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy9.click(Unknown Source)
at
....
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:44)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:15)
at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:41)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:20)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:263)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:69)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:48)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:231)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:60)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:229)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:50)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:222)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:28)
at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunAfters.evaluate(RunAfters.java:31)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:292)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:50)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:467)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:683)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:390)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:197)
Can some body explain whats the reason for this behavious or if there is actually a difference between those two pieces of code?

Answer 1

First of all, you cannot use such a convoluted xpath, that kills the readability of your page objects. Your selectors should be as much concise as possible. Secondly, you should not use XPATH and use CSS selector. Now coming back to your question,
#FindBy(css="span[class*='ui-icon-triangle-1-n']")
WebElement b;
or try
#FindBy(css="span[class*='ui-button-text']>span[class*='ui-icon-triangle-1-n']")
WebElement b;

Answer 2

EDIT: You have two XPath selectors of //a[contains(#class, 'ui-spinner-up')][1] in your first example, but only one in your second...that may be causing your problem.

Answer 3

The #FindBy annotation is used by the PageFactory class via the .initObjects method to load annotations. I use this method a lot if my page object implements the LoadableComponent interface by extending LoadableComponent . (NOTE: Of course, by extending LoadableComponent you cannot extend another class by your page object, but if you use static methods in a implemented interface, a JDK8 feature, then you can get functionality similar to extending multiple classes, or like traits/mixins .)

Answer 4

Page objects require the objects to be decorated. I think you are getting this error because you are not decorating the required class. Use the method initElements(yourdriverobject, classToBeDecorated). This should solve the problem. Let me know if you require any help.