Webdriver - Can't Click On element

Webdriver - Can't Click On element

Can't Click On element?
Webdriver identified the element correctly, but the element is hidden or disabled so it can't click on it. This is built in validation in webdriver aka Selenium2, this kind of validation was not there in Selenium1.

This kind of validation is good, but some time I am not sure why it throws the error "Can't Click On element".

I came across a scenario where elements are visible on the screen and I am able to select it, but for Webdriver element is not displayed. Run the following statements to check how Webdriver is considering the element attributes.

System.out.println(driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[1]/img[@alt='Copy Criterion']")).isDisplayed());

System.out.println(driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[1]/img[@alt='Copy Criterion']")).isEnabled());

These kind of issues occur when there are dynamic changes on the screen using JavaScript, due to some reason Webdriver is not able to update the with the new attributes.

If the element was having an id, I would have run the following statement to click using JavaScript.


script = "document.getElementById('ctl00_cpheRFx_btnCriteriaAdd').click();";
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(script);

I will explain my issue using below screenshot. When user select from the drop down, boxes appear on the screen, need to select the icons(Pointed in the screen shot). When I click using following state it says "Can't Click On element".

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//div[1]/img[@alt='Copy Criterion']")).click();

When verified the properties
.isDisplayed() = false
isEnabled() = true

Then I came to the conclusion that I can't use webdriver to click it as the built in validation block the code.
So started working on the click action using JavaScript. Below code resolved my problem. Carefully change the class names and regular expression as per your html.


String Script = "";
Script += "var elements = document.getElementsByTagName('img');";
Script += "var regex = new RegExp('^Copy Criterion');";
Script += "for(i=0;i<elements.length;i++){";
Script += "  if(elements[i].title.match(regex)){";
Script += "     elements[i].click();";
Script += "   }";
Script += "}";
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(Script);


Now you got power to click any element on the screen.

Also read

Webdriver -  Issues with Sendkeys & Click

Webdriver - Select list box items
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