Skip to main content

Action Constructor and XPath Search

Please read the Material Usage Rules on this site.

🔗 Original page — Source of this material

Description​

The Action Constructor is a tool for working with web page elements. You can use it to choose the properties ZennoPoster uses to find an element, then perform an action on it: for example, click a button, fill in a field, or retrieve text.

Basic knowledge of HTML is recommended for this feature

It will help you understand the page structure, element names, and their attributes.

How to open it?​

There are two ways to open the constructor:

Method 1. From the page context menu​

Right-click the desired element on the page and select Send to Action Constructor:

image-20200809-145400

Method 2. From the Element Tree​

Open the Element Tree window, then right-click the desired element and select Send to Action Constructor:

image-20200809-164607

Note

When you add an element to the Action Constructor, its available properties and values automatically appear in the Element Properties window.

Search parameters​

There are two ways to search for elements: classic search and XPath search.

This method finds an element by its HTML tag, attributes, and their values.

image-20200809-152818

Document number​

Enter -1 to search for the element in all documents on the page. This makes the search more versatile.

Form number​

Enter -1 to search for the element in all forms on the page. If you specify a particular form number, the template may stop working when the site structure changes.

Example

The page contains three forms: search, registration, and product order. The order form is number 2 because numbering starts at zero.

If the developers add a login form before it, the order form will have a different number. As a result, ZennoPoster may fail to find the required button or perform the action on a different element.

Search in all forms/documents on the page

If you enable these options in Recording Settings, the form and document numbers will always default to -1.

Tag​

The HTML tag of the element to find.

For example:

<div class="visible" id="username"></div>

In this example, div is the tag name.

Attribute name​

The HTML tag attribute ZennoPoster uses to find the element.

In our example:

<div class="visible" id="username"></div>

class and id are attribute names.

Value​

The value of the selected attribute.

In the example above:

  • visible is the value of the class attribute;
  • username is the value of the id attribute.

Search type​

Three search types are available:

  • text — the attribute value must fully or partially match the specified text;
  • notext — the attribute value must not contain the specified text;
  • regexp — search using a regular expression.

The search is case-insensitive by default. For example, Username and username are treated as identical.

To make a regular expression case-sensitive, add (?-i) at the beginning.

In the screenshot above, clicking Search found three elements.

Where possible, choose parameters that leave only the desired element in the results. Otherwise, ZennoPoster may perform the action on the wrong element.

XPath finds elements by their position and properties within the HTML document structure. It lets you create a more flexible search that is more resilient to changes in the site's layout.

image-20200809-153104

Document number and Form number work the same way as in classic search. To search all documents and forms, set both to -1.

XPath​

The field for entering the XPath expression ZennoPoster uses to find the element.

Variants​

You can select one of the XPath expressions generated automatically by the Action Constructor.

If the suggested options do not suit your needs

You can write your own XPath expression and enter it in the XPath field.

Choosing an action​

After configuring the search, choose the action ZennoPoster should perform on the element it finds. Three options are available: Set, Get, and Rise.

Set (set a value)​

The Set value action changes the value of the selected attribute.

image-20200809-170409

  • Attribute — the element attribute to assign a new value to.
  • Value — the data to write to the attribute. You can use plain text or project variables, such as {-Variable.someVar-} or {-Profile.Name-}.

Get (get a value)​

An action for getting the value of the selected attribute.

image-20200809-155322

  • Attribute — the attribute whose value you want to get.
  • Value — the value of the attribute found.

Rise (perform an event)​

Performs an action on the element found. For example, you can click it or trigger another available action from the list.

image-20200809-155243

For drag and drop actions, two additional fields appear for specifying coordinates.

image-20200809-170449

Final steps​

After configuring the search and choosing an action, we recommend checking the result and adding a clear comment before saving the action to the project.

image-20200809-155614

Testing​

Once you have configured the search parameters and the action, click the test button. This lets you check in advance that ZennoPoster finds the right element and performs the selected action correctly.

If the wrong element is found or the action is performed incorrectly

Return to the settings and change the search parameters.

Comment​

Add a short, clear comment to the action.

Default automatic comments do not always make it easy to understand what an action does.

Default commentsCustom comments
image-20200809-161201image-20200809-161401

Adding to project​

Make sure that:

  • the search parameters are configured;
  • ZennoPoster finds the right element;
  • the correct action is selected;
  • the test has passed.

Then click Add to project. The new action will appear in the project, ready to use.