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Selenium how to know the locator type dynamically

In selenium is it possible to know the type of the locator whether it is given in css or xpath or id or name or linktext etc..

the requirement is i get the locator in the form of a string and i have to know whether it is CSS or xpath

By selector = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(locator));

if(selector == null){

  selector = driver.findElement(By.xpath(locator)); }

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as the very first statement throws an exception if it is a different locator, is there an easy way that we can identify the type and handle and type of locator

mccarl

Can't you just catch the exception then?

By selector = null;

try {
    selector = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(locator));
} catch (Exception ex) {}

if (selector == null) {
    selector = driver.findElement(By.xpath(locator));
}

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Also, shouldn't the code be more like this?

WebElement element = null;

try {
    element = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(locator));
} catch (Exception ex) {}

if (element == null) {
    element = driver.findElement(By.xpath(locator));
}

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Sri

ASKER

Thanks for responding mccarl, so now if i want to check with Id or tagName again i have to write few more try blocks? isn't there generic method that takes any locator and finds the element that we wanted

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

mccarl

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Sri

ASKER

Thanks mccarl

mccarl

You're welcome