click javascript button using selenium Python

Question

I am new to Selenium Python and JavaScript. I am trying to automate the webpage navigations using Selenium python. I want to click one Java script button. Below is the html tag.

<button type="button" class="hpButton" onclick="loadAddPage()" id="btnNew" tabindex="100" style="width: 83px;">New...</button>

How to click the 'New..' button from Selenium Python. I already tried below things, but getting error.

driver.find_element_by_id('btnNew')

and

NEXT_BUTTON_XPATH = '//input[@type="button" and @id="btnNew"]'
button = driver.find_element_by_xpath(NEXT_BUTTON_XPATH)
button.click()

snippet of HTML as requested

<script type='text/javascript' language='JavaScript'>
var FORM_URL_ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST = '/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp';</script>
<script type='text/javascript' language='JavaScript'>
window.SELECTABLE_ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST = true;window.PRESELECTED_ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST = true;window.PRESELECTION_DEFAULT_ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST = true;</script>
<div id='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_headerDiv' class='headerDivOuter'><div class='headerDivInner'><div onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=91787367&sortUp=true")' class='visualColumnHeader sortable'><div class='pad0x5'></div></div><div onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=0&sortUp=false")' class='visualColumnHeader sortedAscending'><div class='pad0x5'>Name</div></div><div onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=1&sortUp=true")' class='visualColumnHeader sortable'><div class='pad0x5'>Last Run</div></div><div onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=2&sortUp=true")' class='visualColumnHeader sortable'><div class='pad0x5'>Schedule</div></div><div onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=3&sortUp=true")' class='visualColumnHeader sortable'><div class='pad0x5'>Comments</div></div></div></div><div id='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_scrollingTableDiv' style='clear:both;overflow:visible'><table id='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST' cellspacing='0' class='scrollingTable' cellpadding='0'><thead><tr class='readerCaptionRow'><th onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=91787367&sortUp=true")' class='checkboxCell sortable'></th><th onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=0&sortUp=false")' class='sortedAscending' scope='col'>Name</th><th onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=1&sortUp=true")' class='sortable' scope='col'>Last Run</th><th onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=2&sortUp=true")' class='sortable' scope='col'>Schedule</th><th onClick='MxFragmentLoad("/mxportal/settings/AutoDiscoveryList.jsp?MxTableSort=true&table=ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST&sortCol=3&sortUp=true")' class='sortable' scope='col'>Comments</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr id='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_dummyRow' class='dummyRow'><td><div></div></td><td class='sorted'><div></div></td><td><div></div></td><td><div></div></td><td><div></div></td></tr><tr class='altRowColor rowHighlight'><td scope='row' class='checkboxCell'><input rowselector='yes' checked name='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_selector' type='RADIO'></td><td class='sorted'>ESX VC</td><td>1/13/17 11:00 AM</td><td>Periodic - Next Run: 1/14/17 11:00 AM</td><td></td></tr><tr><td scope='row' class='checkboxCell'><input name='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_selector' type='RADIO' rowselector='yes'></td><td class='sorted'>Hyper-vHost</td><td>1/13/17 11:00 AM</td><td>Periodic - Next Run: 1/14/17 11:00 AM</td><td></td></tr><tr class='altRowColor'><td scope='row' class='checkboxCell'><input name='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_selector' type='RADIO' rowselector='yes'></td><td class='sorted'>OA</td><td>1/13/17 11:00 AM</td><td>Periodic - Next Run: 1/14/17 11:00 AM</td><td></td></tr><tr><td scope='row' class='checkboxCell'><input name='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_selector' type='RADIO' rowselector='yes'></td><td class='sorted'>OA 42.35</td><td>1/13/17 11:00 AM</td><td>Periodic - Next Run: 1/14/17 11:00 AM</td><td></td></tr><tr class='altRowColor'><td scope='row' class='checkboxCell'><input name='ID_MY_DISCOVERY_LIST_selector' type='RADIO' rowselector='yes'></td><td class='sorted'>System Automatic Discovery</td><td>Never</td><td><b>Task is Disabled</b> - Periodic</td><td></td></tr><tr style='display:none' class='noDataRow'><td colspan='5'>No discovery tasks defined.</td></tr></tbody></table></div>
        <div style="margin-top:15px">
            <div class='buttonSet'>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='runNowStop()' id='btnRunNowStop' tabindex='105'>Run Now</button></div></div></div>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='viewTaskResults()' id='btnViewTaskResults' tabindex='104'>View Task Results...</button></div></div></div>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='confirmDeleteDiscoveryTask()' id='btnDelete' tabindex='103'>Delete...</button></div></div></div>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='enableDisableDiscoveryTask()' id='btnEnableDisable' tabindex='102'>Disable</button></div></div></div>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='loadEditPage()' id='btnEdit' tabindex='101'>Edit...</button></div></div></div>
<div class='bWrapperUp'><div><div><button type='button' class='hpButton'  onclick='loadAddPage()' id='btnNew' tabindex='100'>New...</button></div></div></div>
</div>
<div class='clearFloats'></div>

Answer 1

I am guessing this is a frames problem.

Even if you have a perfectly-correct XPATH, Selenium won't see the element unless you're already in the frame that contains the element .

To quickly see how many frames are on the page you're on:

a = driver.find_elements_by_css_selector("frame")
print(len(a))

If you then find out there are, say, three frames, you could do:

driver.switch_to_frame(a[0])
button.click()

or

driver.switch_to_frame(a[1])
button.click()

or

driver.switch_to_frame(a[2])
button.click()

Answer 2

You can use the following ways to locate your element

find_element_by_id
find_element_by_name
find_element_by_xpath
find_element_by_link_text
find_element_by_partial_link_text
find_element_by_tag_name
find_element_by_class_name
find_element_by_css_selector

Please refer to the documentation at http://selenium-python.readthedocs.io/locating-elements.html

Some examples of the same are as under

1. By CSS Selector

driver.find_element_by_css_selector('.button.c_button.s_button').click()

2. By Name

driver.find_element_by_name('s_image').click()

3. By ClassName

driver.find_element_by_class_name('s_image').click()

Answer 3

You should try to add some waiting time before clicking button as follow:

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

button = WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.ID, "btnNew")));
button.click();

With above code you'll be able to wait up to 20 seconds for target button to become clickable. Otherwise, you'll get TimeOutException

If this solution won't work, check whether your button located inside <iframe> element. If so, switch to that frame before clicking button:

driver.switch_to_frame('iframe_id')