Trouble selecting dropdown menu with selenium and python

Question

I am trying access a page which requires me to select an option from a drop down menu.

When i run my code atm, I get an error where it says it was unable to locate the drop down element by id. I do not know how to remedy this situation, as I am copying and pasting the elements id.

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.support.select import Select
import time

driver = webdriver.Firefox()
driver.get('http://webapp.northampton.edu/coursesearch/default.aspx')
time.sleep(1)
dropdown = driver.find_element_by_id('pg0_V_ddlTerm')
select_box = Select(dropdown)
time.sleep(1)
select_box.select_by_value('2015;S2')

I also tried selecting by name, but that also proved fruitless. Once I select the dropdown I am attempting to select the option S2 2015.

Thank you for your help!

Edit: I put in the time.sleep because I thought perhaps the website wasn't fully loaded by the time is was trying to select the drop down.

.select_by_value() returns an element right? You're not capturing that value — Dan O'Boyle
– Dan O'Boyle, Commented Jun 26, 2015 at 0:34

alecxe · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-25 22:46:11Z

1

The select element is inside an iframe, switch to it:

driver.switch_to.frame("cSearch")

dropdown = driver.find_element_by_id('pg0_V_ddlTerm')
select_box = Select(dropdown)
select_box.select_by_value('2015;S2')

edited Jun 25, 2015 at 22:46

answered Jun 25, 2015 at 22:28

alecxe

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3 Comments

nilesh Over a year ago

whats the time.sleep for?

alecxe Over a year ago

@nilesh what time.sleep? ;)

Hassan Syed Over a year ago

This worked thanks! If you don't mind, could you elaborate on exactly what frame is and why I have to switch to it?

Dan O'Boyle · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-26 00:33:00Z

0

You may be interested in using an action chain. From the docs:

ActionChains are a way to automate low level interactions such as mouse movements, mouse button actions, key press, and context menu interactions.

Example:

dropdown = driver.find_element_by_id('pg0_V_ddlTerm')
actions = ActionChains(driver)
actions.move_to_element(dropdown)
actions.click(dropdown)
select_box = Select(dropdown)
action.move_to_element(select_box.select_by_value('2015;S2'))
action.click(select_box)
actions.perform()

edited Jun 26, 2015 at 0:33

answered Jun 25, 2015 at 22:32

Dan O'Boyle

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