Is it better to use Actions.sendKeys() or WebElement.sendKeys() to simulate a user typing with Selenium WebDriver?

selenium selenium-webdriver browser-automation
Dave picture Dave · Sep 22, 2015 · Viewed 7.6k times · Source

As far as I'm aware there are two ways of typing with Selenium:

new Actions(webDriver).sendKeys("text to send").perform();
webElement.sendKeys("text to send");

The Actions method seems like the most natural way of replicating a user typing as the keys are sent wherever the browser wants (I believe a method called sendKeysToActiveElement is being used under the covers). However, many tutorials instruct testers to use the WebElement method (this is in fact the only option when using SafariDriver), I assume as it is simpler.

Is the Actions method actually a better simulation of user interaction, or should I use the WebElement method for convenience?

Answer

cruisepandey picture cruisepandey · Apr 3, 2018

public Actions sendKeys(java.lang.CharSequence... keys)

Sends keys to the active element. This differs from calling WebElement.sendKeys(CharSequence...) on the active element in two ways:

  1. The modifier keys included in this call are not released.
  2. There is no attempt to re-focus the element - so sendKeys(Keys.TAB) for switching elements should work.

for more you can refer this link : https://seleniumhq.github.io/selenium/docs/api/java/org/openqa/selenium/interactions/Actions.html#sendKeys-java.lang.CharSequence...-

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