Selenium Python I am getting an empty string from a text element but there is a value on the GUI - python-2.7

Question

I have some text displayed on the GUI. I have identified the element using it's XPATH from Xpath Checker from Firebug. The element highlights correctly.
In my code i use the text attribute to to print out it's value.
I would like to print the value to the console.
When i walk through the code using PyCharm debugger I can see the variable text attribute is empty.
Why has the variable not got the text value?
My code snippet is:
def is_engine_number_displayed(self):
engine_no_element = self.get_element(By.XPATH, '//a[contains(., "Engine: 5.1.1")]')
print "engine_no_element.text***"
print engine_no_element.text
#return engine_no_element.text in "Engine: 5.1.1"
The HTML is:
<div class="GJPPK2LBKQ">
<a class="gwt-Anchor GJPPK2LBMQ" title="Click for about">Client: 5.1.1.6044</a>
<a class="gwt-Anchor GJPPK2LBMQ" title="Click for about">Engine: 5.1.1.5218</a>
My XPATH to locate the text Engine: 5.1.1
//a[contains(., "Engine: 5.1.1")]
Using the XPATH the text Engine: 5.1.1 is highlighted on the GUI
get_element is in my Base class. It's implementation is:
# returns the element if found
def get_element(self, how, what):
# params how: By locator type
# params what: locator value
try:
element = self.driver.find_element(by=how, value=what)
except NoSuchElementException, e:
print what
print "Element not found "
print e
screenshot_name = how + what + get_datetime_now() # create screenshot name of the name of the element + locator + todays date time. This way the screenshot name will be unique and be able to save
self.save_screenshot(screenshot_name)
raise
return element
Why is my element text value empty?
Thanks,
Riaz

Answer 1

I have encountered this problem when I tried to verify the population of text fields after a selection is made from a dropdown. As you mentioned, the texts are indeed there, but selenium thinks they are empty. If memory serves, it was because the form had not been submitted yet, and I believe the value attribute (not the text attribute) is where the getText() function actually pulls its data. The value attribute does not get set until later. Take a look at the elements' value attribute after you submit the page, and I believe those values will be set, and the getText() will return the correct text values. I was not able to find a work-around, since upon the user clicking the submit button, it was proceeding to the next web page.