通过 xpath 传递的字符串变量未定位元素并引发异常

Question

public static void selectNavigationLink(String mainMenu, String subMenu) {

    WebElement mm = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//span[normalize-space()='+mainMenu+']")));
    mm.click();

    WebElement sm = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//span[contains(text(),'+subMenu+')]")));
    sm.click();
}

I was told to write the script where I have to pass the variable into the xpath to make it more robust but the attribute value that is passed as variable to the xpath is not locating an element but when I pass it directly as an attribute value inside the xpath, it locates an element. And, this is the error message I am getting--

no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":"//span[normalize-space()='+mainMenu+']"

Answer 1

The use of the variable inside xpath is wrong. Please try following:

public static void selectNavigationLink(String mainMenu, String subMenu) {

WebElement mm = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//span[normalize-space()='" + mainMenu + "']")));
mm.click();

WebElement sm = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//span[contains(text(),'" + subMenu + "')]")));
sm.click();

}