How to submit a form in java Selenium webdriver if submit button can't be identified?

Last Updated : 10 Sep, 2024

Submitting a form in Selenium WebDriver can sometimes be challenging, especially when the submit button cannot be easily identified. In such cases, Java Selenium WebDriver offers alternative methods to interact with web elements and successfully submit the form.

Whether the submit button lacks a unique identifier or is hidden within complex HTML structures, Selenium provides robust techniques to handle these situations effectively.

We can submit a form in Selenium webdriver even if the submit button cannot be identified.
This can be achieved by locating an element within the form tag and the applying submit method on it.
A form in the html code is identified by the <form> tag.

Let us investigate the HTML code of the element within a form tag -

In the above example, we shall try to submit the form with the help of the Username or Password field and not by clicking on the Login button.

Syntax

driver.findElement(By.className("username")).sendKeys("Admin");
driver.findElement(By.className("password")).sendKeys("admin123");
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@type='submit']")).submit();

Example code:

Java

package seleniumpractice;  import org.openqa.selenium.By; import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver; import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement; import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;  import io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager;  import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;  public class SubmitForm {  	 	   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { 	  //    System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver", 	    //     "C:\Users\ghs6kor\Desktop\Java\geckodriver.exe"); 	      WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup(); 	      WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(); 	      //implicit wait 	      driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS); 	      //URL launch 	      driver.get("https://opensource-demo.orangehrmlive.com/web/index.php/auth/login"); 	      // identify element within form 	      WebElement m=driver.findElement(By.name("username")); 	      m.sendKeys("Admin"); 	      WebElement n=driver.findElement(By.name("password")); 	      n.sendKeys("admin123"); 	      //submit form 	      WebElement o=driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@type='submit']")); 	      o.submit(); 	      Thread.sleep(1000); 	      System.out.println("Page title: " + driver.getTitle()); 	      driver.close(); 	   } 	}

Explanation of above code:

org.openqa.selenium.*: These imports are for the selenium WebDriver classes that allow you to interact with web elements.
io.github.bonigarcia.wdm.WebDriverManager: This is used to automatically manage the browser driver binaries.
java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit: This provides time related constants, used here for setting timeouts.
SubmitForm: This declares a public class named.
Main Method: This is the entry point of the java application. throws Exception allows the code to throw exception that might occur during execution, such as Interrupted Exception.
WebDriverManager.chromedriver().setup: This method sets up the ChromeDriver binary automatically.
new ChromeDriver(): This creates an instance of the ChromeDriver, which is used to control the Chrome browser.
This sets an implicit wait of 5 seconds for locating elements. If the element is not immediately found, WebDriver will wait up to 5 seconds before throwing a NoSuchElementException.
This navigates the browser to the specified URL, which is the login page of OrangeHRM.
driver.findElement(By.name("username")); : Finds the username input field by its name attribute.
m.sendKeys("Admin");:Types Admin into the username field.
driver.findElement(By.name("password")); :Finds the password input field by its name attribute.
n.sendKeys("admin123"); : Types admin123 into the password field.
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[@type='submit']")); : Finds the submit button using Xpath.
o.submit(); : Submits the form. Note: The submit() method should be used on form elements. For non-form elements like buttons, click() is generally preferred.
Thread.sleep(1000): Pauses execution for 1 second to allow the page to load.
driver.getTitle( ): Retrieves the title of the current page and prints it to the console.
driver.close(); Closes the current browser window.

Output

Conclusion

When the submit button cannot be identified in a Java Selenium WebDriver test, using alternative methods like submitting the form through input fields or triggering the form submission via JavaScript can be effective strategies. These approaches ensure that your automated tests remain reliable and efficient, even when dealing with complex or dynamically generated web pages.

By mastering these techniques, you can enhance your ability to handle a wide range of web automation challenges in Selenium.