how to delete default values in text field using selenium?

Question

I want to delete a default value of a textbox to enter the new value, but I am not getting how to do that.

I was thinking to use CTRL+a and then Delete but I'm not sure how to do this.

I even used WebDriver's command driver.findElement("locator").clear();.

Savior

What happened when you tried it? Did you get an Exception, or nothing happened, or...? – Cislunar

Also, can you write to the element? If you tried element.sendKeys("bla"), would the text append itself to the existing one? ... If nothing helps, please show us the HTML code of the element. Something there could be done in a unusual way that breaks things... – Cislunar

Answer 1

If you're looking for a solution from Selenium RC, you can use simply

// assuming 'selenium' is a healthy Selenium instance
selenium.type("someLocator", "");

Gur

What did it do? What happens when you try to type some text? Is there any exception? – Cislunar

it neither throws an exception nor do it removes the values, i even tried to overwrite the value with some other value.... – Savior

Show us the code of the HTML element. All these things you mention should work. – Cislunar

@user1374181 Now I'm seriously baffled. Why did I get the accept? Right, it is the correct answer, but it wasn't working in your case, was it? – Cislunar

ur command worked but was issue with the page, it was acting like a pop up when it wasn't,i changed selectWindow to selectPop and my problem was solved using ur suggestions. so thank u very much. – Savior

Answer 2

And was the code helpful? Because the code you are writing should do the thing:

driver.findElement("locator").clear();

If it does not help, then try this:

WebElement toClear = driver.findElement("locator");
toClear.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL + "a");
toClear.sendKeys(Keys.DELETE);

maybe you will have to do some convert of the Keys.CONTROL + "a" to CharSequence, but the first approach should do the magic

Amaral

@user1374181 I don't understand your question - what does it mean "simple JUnit"? These are Selenium WebDriver commands taking advantage of the Keys enum in Selenium. – Cislunar

@Slanec : I mean if not possible with selenium2 can it be used with junit using RC. – Savior

so is it possible with selenium1? – Savior

It is causing error " error: invalid element state: Element is not currently interactable and may not be manipulated " when I am using ` Global.driver.FindElement(rangeFrom).Clear(); `. Unfortunately this works when debug code it works. May be it needs additional wait times. @PavelJanicek – Misery

Answer 3

For page object model -

 @FindBy(xpath="//foo")
   public WebElement textBox;

now in your function

 public void clearExistingText(String newText){
    textBox.clear();
    textBox.sendKeys(newText);
  }

for general selenium architecture -

driver.findElement(By.xpath("//yourxpath")).clear();
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//yourxpath")).sendKeys("newText");

Epigone

This is not working, it delete the text at the beginning of the Edit text value – Armlet

Answer 4

You can use the code below. It selects the pre-existing value in the field and overwrites it with the new value.

driver.findElement(By.xpath("*enter your xpath here*")).sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"),*enter the new value here*);

Lindbom

Answer 5

driver.findElement(locator).clear() - This command will work in all cases

Braynard

Doesn't work for me in Java, v3.14. It does nothing. – Vagrom

Answer 6

clear() didn't work for me. But this did:

input.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL, Keys.chord("a")); //select all text in textbox
input.sendKeys(Keys.BACK_SPACE); //delete it
input.sendKeys("new text"); //enter new text

Truong

Answer 7

The following function will delete the input character one by one till the input field is empty using PromiseWhile

driver.clearKeys = function(element, value){
  return element.getAttribute('value').then(function(val) {
    if (val.length > 0) {
      return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
        var len;
        len = val.length;
        return promiseWhile(function() { 
          return 0 < len;
        }, function() {
          return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
            len--;
            return element.sendKeys(webdriver.Key.BACK_SPACE).then(function()              {
              return resolve(true);
            });
          });
        }).then(function() {
          return resolve(true);
        });
      });
    }

Micrococcus

Answer 8

This worked for me:

driver.findElement(yourElement).clear();
driver.findElement(yourelement).sendKeys("");

Meandrous

In Java, I'm seeing that clear() does nothing – Vagrom

Answer 9

.clear() can be used to clear the text

  (locator).clear();

using clear with the locator deletes all the value in that exact locator.

Serg

Answer 10

In software testing services this can be achieved by many ways some of the options are displayed above remaining are as follow.

• Using java script

driver.executeScript("document.getElementByXpath('element').setAttribute('value', 'abc')");

Using action class Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

actions.click(driver.findElement(element) .keyDown(Keys.CONTROL).sendKeys("a").keyUp(Keys.CONTROL).sendKeys(Keys.BACK_SPACE).build().perform());

Clarindaclarine

Answer 11

actions = ActionChains(driver)
ak = driver.find_element_by_id('blogname')
actions.move_to_element(ak)
actions.click()
actions.key_down(Keys.CONTROL).send_keys('a').key_down(Keys.DELETE)
actions.perform()

Lockman

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