[java] How to click a href link using Selenium

I have a html href link

<a href="/docs/configuration">App Configuration</a>

using Selenium I need to click the link. Currently, I am using below code -

Driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[text()='App Configuration']")).click(); 

But it's not redirecting to the page. I also tried below code -

Driver.findElement(By.xpath(//a[@href ='/docs/configuration']")).click();

But this is throwing below exception -

org.openqa.selenium.ElementNotVisibleException: Element is not currently visible and so may not be interacted with
Command duration or timeout: 13 milliseconds

The link is visible and page is completely loaded. I don't know what's wrong with my code.

Use an explicit wait for the element like this:

WebDriverWait wait1 = new WebDriverWait(driver, 500);
wait1.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("path of element"))).click();

To click() on the element with text as App Configuration you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• linkText:

  driver.findElement(By.linkText("App Configuration")).click();
  

• cssSelector:

  driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("a[href='/docs/configuration']")).click();
  

• xpath:

  driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@href='/docs/configuration' and text()='App Configuration']")).click();
  

Ideally, to click() on the element you need to induce WebDriverWait for the elementToBeClickable() and you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• linkText:

  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.linkText("App Configuration"))).click();
  

• cssSelector:

  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("a[href='/docs/configuration']"))).click();
  

• xpath:

  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//a[@href='/docs/configuration' and text()='App Configuration']"))).click();
  

References

You can find a couple of relevant detailed discussions in:

• org.openqa.selenium.ElementNotVisibleException: Element is not currently visible while clicking a checkbox through SeleniumWebDriver and Java
• How to resolve org.openqa.selenium.ElementNotVisibleException using Selenium with Java in Amazon Sign In

How to click on link without using click method in selenum?

This is a tricky question. Follow the below steps:

driver.get("https://www.google.com");
String gmaillink= driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@href='https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm&ogbl']")).getAttribute("href");
System.out.println(gmaillink);
driver.get(gmaillink);

Try to use Action class to reach the element

Actions action = new Actions(driver);
action.MoveToElement(driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[text()='AppConfiguration']")));
action.Perform();

You can use xpath as follows, try this one :

driver.findElement(By.xpath("(.//[@href='/docs/configuration'])")).click();

You can use this method:

For the links if you use linkText(); it is more effective than the any other locator.

driver.findElement(By.linkText("App Configuration")).click();

Thi is your code :

Driver.findElement(By.xpath(//a[@href ='/docs/configuration']")).click();

You missed the Quotation mark

it should be as below

Driver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@href='/docs/configuration']")).click();

Hope this helps!

 webDriver.findElement(By.xpath("//a[@href='/docs/configuration']")).click();

The above line works fine. Please remove the space after href.

Is that element is visible in the page, if the element is not visible please scroll down the page then perform click action.

Use

driver.findElement(By.linkText("App Configuration")).click()

Other Approaches will be

JavascriptLibrary jsLib = new JavascriptLibrary(); 
jsLib.callEmbeddedSelenium(selenium, "triggerMouseEventAt", elementToClick,"click", "0,0");

or

((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].click();", elementToClick);

For detailed answer, View this post

Seems like the a tag is hidden. Remember Selenium is not able to interact with hidden element. Javascript is the only option in that case.

By css = By.cssSelector("a[href='/docs/configuration']");
WebElement element = driver.findElement(css);
((JavascriptExecutor)driver).executeScript("arguments[0].click();" , element);