Initialize WebElement for dynamic XPath

Question

XPATH's are defined by the end user. I just enabling the automation to them. Even I don't know which XPATH type will come (like name,id,xpath, css). 

Is this right way to initialize web element for dynamic XPATH like below?

public WebElement initWebElement(String xpath) {

WebElement webElement = null;

try {

if (xpath.startsWith("//") || xpath.startsWith("(//")) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.xpath(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.id(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.name(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.cssSelector(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.linkText(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.partialLinkText(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.className(xpath));
}

if (webElement == null) {

webElement = webDriver.findElement(By.tagName(xpath));
}

} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

return webElement;
}

Comments

Have you tried running this script and is it throwing any error?