org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.UnexpectedTagNameException: Element should have been "select" but was "span" while selecting a dropdown value

Question

Here I am trying to select a value from dropdown using selenium script but I got this error in the console like

"Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.UnexpectedTagNameException: Element should have been "select" but was "span"..

public class HomeUserManagement {

public static void main(String args[]) {
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", 
"C:\\Users\\UMASHANKAR\\Documents\\selenuim\\chromedriver.exe");
    WebDriver driver=new ChromeDriver();
    driver.manage().window().maximize();

//for login
    driver.get("https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/dashboard");

driver.findElement(By.name("email")).sendKeys("[email protected]");

driver.findElement(By.name("password")).sendKeys("abc123xyz");
    driver.findElement(By.name("signIn")).click();  


//actual code for selecting a value from dropdown

 driver.get("https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/user");
    Select drpdwn=new Select(driver.findElement(By.id("select2-signup-username-container")));
    drpdwn.selectByVisibleText("User Name");
    drpdwn.selectByIndex(0);

there are multiple values in a dropdown I need to select one value in that..

@MosheSlavin There IS a need for the HTML in the question. The site design may change tomorrow and this question will be useless to future readers. The relevant HTML should always be included in the question. Having said that, additionally adding a link to the page is many times helpful in case the OP's definition of "relevant" HTML isn't all that's actually needed. — JeffC
– JeffC, Commented Jun 7, 2019 at 15:43
Possible duplicate of org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.UnexpectedTagNameException: Element should have been "select" but was "td" — JeffC
– JeffC, Commented Jun 7, 2019 at 15:44

Moshe Slavin · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-06 07:03:06Z

3

As the error shows you are using <span> tag not Select.

The Select element you are looking for is //*[@id="signup-username"].

Also, you should use WebDriverWait to wait for your locators:

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(webDriver, timeoutInSeconds);
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id<locator>));

You should look at ExpectedConditions to wait for...

Hope this helps you!

answered Jun 6, 2019 at 7:03

Moshe Slavin

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2 Comments

divya u Over a year ago

if i use this code..i will get exception like this "Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.ElementNotInteractableException: element not interactable"

divya u Over a year ago

this html code they were using for dropdown <span class="select2-selection__rendered" id="select2-signup-username-container" title="Select">Select</span>

undetected Selenium · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-10 21:03:33Z

0

This error message...

"Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.UnexpectedTagNameException: Element should have been "select" but was "span"

...implies that you have used Select class to interact with the desired element where as the element was a <span>.

To select a value e.g. User Name from the dropdown using Selenium you can use the following solution:

Code Block:

  driver.get("https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/dashboard");
  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.name("email"))).sendKeys("[email protected]");
  driver.findElement(By.name("password")).sendKeys("NsSaNj@0205");
  driver.findElement(By.name("signIn")).click();
  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("//h1[contains(., 'Dashboard')]")));
  driver.get("https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/user");
  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.invisibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("//div[@id='load']")));
  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("span.select2-selection.select2-selection--single>span.select2-selection__rendered"))).click();
  new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.xpath("//span[@class='select2-results']//li[contains(., 'User Name')]"))).click();

Browser Snapshot:

Note:

Always induce WebDriverWait for the elementToBeClickable() before attempting click() method when the page changes i.e. DOM changes.
In this particular usecase, when you browse to the desired page there is an overlay for which you need to induce WebDriverWait for the invisibilityOfElementLocated() and then invoke the required click().

edited Jul 10, 2020 at 21:03

answered Jun 6, 2019 at 15:15

undetected Selenium

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7 Comments

divya u Over a year ago

yes its working,but i am not getting how it will works,how your taking xpath and all,can you please explain me

undetected Selenium Over a year ago

@divyau Check out the updated answer which now includes an explanation. Let me know if any queries.

undetected Selenium Over a year ago

can you repeat your Xpath related question please?

divya u Over a year ago

new WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("//h1[contains(., 'Dashboard')]"))); this one i didnt get how you taken,for which element it is

undetected Selenium Over a year ago

As per your usecase perhaps you don't need to access the url https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/dashboard in the first place. Still, preserving your code trials I did invoke the url https://ecabportal.azurewebsites.net/dashboard and before performing any task on that page you need a WebDriverWait. So without any visibility to your usecase I induced a waiter for the header element with text as Dashboard

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