setAttribute() method for WebElement

Question

In this question both answers used setAttribute() as WebElement functionality. However, I couldn't find this method in the Java, C# nor Python documentation, only getAttribute(). Trying to call this method from WebElement object in C# (Visual Studio) and Java (Eclipse) with the latest Selenium version produced the same results.

So my question is, does this method really exist?

Solution 1

After inspecting the selenium Python API docs and the source code, I can conclude - there is no such a method. And, there is nothing about it inside the WebDriver specification itself.

To set an attribute, usually a script is executed:

elm = driver.find_element_by_id("myid")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].setAttribute(arguments[1], arguments[2]);", 
                      elm,  
                      "attr_name",
                      "attr_value")

Solution 2

They are using the JavascriptExecutor class.

I.e.

WebDriver driver; // Assigned elsewhere
JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
js.executeScript("document.getElementById('//id of element').setAttribute('attr', '10')");

Or an Extension Method

public static void setAttribute(this IWebElement element, string value, bool clearFirst)
{
    if (clearFirst) element.Clear();
    element.SendKeys(value);
}

Comments

[Guy]

No they are not, they are using this driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id="invoice_supplier_i‌​d"])).setAttribute("‌​value", "your value")

[Guy]

I agree, I couldn't find it either. But two different people gave this answer so I started wondering...

[alecxe]

@guy yeah, I suspect these people are simply wrong. But, good finding.

[Guy]

Nothing I could find.

[AlexCharizamhard]

I mean you could easily create an extension method that executes the javascript via the xpath or Id or sendkeys to the element. Look at what I editted with.

[Guy]

Yes, you could easily create this method. However, they didn't show JavaScript implementation, they used it as WebElement method. They chained this method to driver.findElement(), which return WebElement.

[AlexCharizamhard]

Which is why I am led to believe that it is similar to the extension method I posted.

[AlexCharizamhard]

If you really want to be able to set the properties of your htmlcontrols .NET's CodedUI Framework allows you to access them and change them.

[Guy]

I will look into it. But they didn't mention any changes in the html controls, they simply called the method as it was part of WebElement API.

[Hiep Tran]

Thank you, it take me a lot of try, about 5 hour, and this line help me out