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Selector Type List

important notes
  • Selector values should be obtained via Appium Inspector.
  • Selector values must be unique to prevent errors during test execution.

General Selectors​

id​

Locates elements using their id attribute.

Most efficient selector when unique id's are available.

Selector Value: login_button

Primary selector for Android (resource-id) and iOS (name / accessibility id).

Android id formatting

Set selector value login_button (from full id com.company.appName:id/login_button)

className​

Finds elements by their class name.

Returns first match if multiple elements share the class.

E.g ⤵️
Android: android.widget.Button
iOS: XCUIElementTypeButton
Selector Value: android.widget.Button

cssSelector​

Advanced element targeting using CSS syntax.

Supports combinations of tag, class, ID, and attributes.

Only Webview elements for mobile apps.
Same as web CSS selectors for hybrid apps.

Selector Value: input.login-field

linkText​

Locates anchor tags by exact visible text.

Case-sensitive matching of link content.

Selector Value: Sign Up

partialLinkText​

Finds links containing partial text matches.

Useful for dynamic link text.

Selector Value: Up

name​

Targets elements by name attribute.

Commonly used for form inputs.

Selector Value: email

tagName​

Selects elements by HTML tag type.

Returns first matching element.

Selector Value: h1

xpath​

Advanced element location using XML path syntax.

Supports complex hierarchy navigation.

Selector Value: ⤵️

  • //button[@id='submit-button']
  • //XCUIElementTypeButton[@name="menu"]/*[1]
  • //*[contains(@resource-id,"checkbox")]

text​

Finds elements by exact visible text.

Case-sensitive matching.

Selector Value: Welcome to Testmore!

Custom Selectors​

customByIdAndIndex​

Handles duplicate id's by index position.

Selector Value: user-list/2
(Finds 3rd element with id "user-list")

customByClassNameAndIndex​

Finds nth element with specified class.

Zero-based index position.

Selector Value: android.widget.TextView/1
(Finds 2nd element with class "android.widget.ImageView")

customByClassNameAndText​

Precise combination of class and exact text.

Case-sensitive text matching.

Selector Value: alert/Error occurred

customByClassNameAndContainsText​

Class with partial text content match.

Flexible for dynamic content.

Selector Value: XCUIElementTypeStaticText/Success

customByIdAndColor​

Verifies elements by ID and CSS color.

Hex color format required.

Selector Value: android.widget.ImageView/#00ff00