selenium xpath and id

Question

Whats the difference between id and xpath, like while using xpath we write it as like: //input[@id='abc']

In this we are using id in xpath and this can also be done by simply using id like: By.id("abc"), so in xpath also we are using id and normally also id can be used to locate any element so whats the use of xpath?

Answer 1

Hii @there,

First of all, id stands for identifier and are unique in a DOM. So, if you select a Web Element by id, you would definitely be able to target the element successfully.

Now xpath is a bit complicated. The general way of finding the xpath ( by using browser inpect element), shows the hierarchy of the element, so in case the DOM element changes in the future, your xpath expression would fail.

NOTE : There are a number of ways to create xpath expressions, which are pretty stale and less dependenct on the hierarchy of the web elements.

      Xpath=//tagname[@attribute='value'] 

      Relative xpath: //*[@class='featured-box']//*[text()='Testing'] 

Such xpaths are pretty stable.As a rule, I will use xpath if a unique ID is not available, and I attempt to write it such that it is generic enough to resist "breakage."

Thanks,

Answer 2

id mean direct interacting with element like student id

xpath mean : parent to child travel like son of abc is xyz