I have a table of rows with checkboxes in columns. How do i select a particular checkbox - python-2.7

Question

I have the following HTML structure. A table with rows, the 2nd column has the text displayed e.g. Title (in row 1), FName (in row 2), SNAME (in row3), GENDER etc.
The 3rd column has a checkbox for each row.
I am trying to select a particular checkbox. E.g. my method will accept a parameter (the name of the text value in the row e.g. TITLE).
The method will select the checkbox for TITLE.
When i call the method again with parameter FNAME, the checkbox for FNAME will be clicked.
I am using Selenium Webdriver with Python
I have tried the following XPATH to identify the checkbox:
//span[#title="TITLE" and contains(text(), "TITLE")]/following-sibling::*
//span [text()="TITLE"]/../../preceding-sibling::td/div/input[#type="checkbox"]
These do not find the checkbox for the row called TITLE
I can get to the TITLE with the following XPATH.
//span [text()="TITLE"]
My code snippet is:
def add_mapping2(self, name):
try:
checkbox = self.driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//span [text()="+name+"]/../../preceding-sibling::td/div/input[#type="checkbox"]')
checkbox.click()
except NoSuchElementException, e:
return False
return True
From my unittest.Testcase class I call the method as follows:
class MappingsPage_TestCase(BaseTestCase):
def test_add_mappings(self):
mappingsPage = projectNavigator.select_projectNavigator_item("Mappings")
mappingsPage.add_mapping2("TITLE")
mappingsPage.add_mapping2("SNAME")
The HTML is:
<table id="data_configuration_edit_mapping_tab_mappings_ct_mapping_body" cellspacing="0" style="table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;">
<colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr class="GOFU2OVFG" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="0">
<tr class="GOFU2OVEH GOFU2OVGH GOFU2OVPG GOFU2OVMG" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="1">
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVFH GOFU2OVHG GOFU2OVHH GOFU2OVAH GOFU2OVNG">
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVFH GOFU2OVHH GOFU2OVAH GOFU2OVNG">
<div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-792" style="outline-style:none;">
<span title="TITLE" style="white-space:nowrap;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;empty-cells:show;display:block;padding-right: 1px;">TITLE</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVFH GOFU2OVHH GOFU2OVBH GOFU2OVOG GOFU2OVAH GOFU2OVNG">
<div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-793" style="outline-style:none;" tabindex="0">
<input type="checkbox" checked="" tabindex="-1"/>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="GOFU2OVFG" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="2">
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVGG GOFU2OVHG">
<div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-791" style="outline-style:none;">
<input type="radio" name="rbCrossRow124"/>
</div>
</td>
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVGG">
<div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-792" style="outline-style:none;">
<span class="" title="FNAME" style="white-space:nowrap;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;empty-cells:show;display:block;padding-right: 1px;">FNAME</span>
</div>
</td>
<td class="GOFU2OVEG GOFU2OVGG GOFU2OVBH">
<div __gwt_cell="cell-gwt-uid-793" style="outline-style:none;">
<input type="checkbox" tabindex="-1"/>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="GOFU2OVEH" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="3">
<tr class="GOFU2OVFG" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="4">
<tr class="GOFU2OVEH" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="5">
<tr class="GOFU2OVFG" __gwt_subrow="0" __gwt_row="6">
more rows with names with checkboxes etc......
</tbody>
</table>
What XPATH could I use to get the checkbox for TITLE, FNAME etc?
I have the table ID "data_configuration_edit_mapping_tab_mappings_ct_mapping_body"
Maybe there is a way to start from the table ID and use a for loop to iterate through the rows and find the particular checkbox?
Thanks.
Riaz

Answer 1

you would use the following xpath expression
String xpath = "//span[#title = 'TITLE']/ancestor::tr[1]//input[#type = 'checkbox']"
What it does:
first search for a span element with your parameter (pls change 'TITLE' to the variable you are using)
then find the first ancestor element that is a tr-element
from there find the input element that is your checkbox within this tr-element
You could then refine to sth like this:
WebElement table = driver.findElement(By.id("data_configuration_edit_mapping_tab_mappings_ct_mapping_body"));
WebElement checkbox = table.findElement(By.xpath(xpath));

Answer 2

For the interest of others whom come across a similar problem. My Python code which I have used for the above answer is:
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
def add_mapping(self, name):
wait = WebDriverWait(self.driver, 10)
try:
checkbox = wait.until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, '//span[#title = "%s"]/ancestor::tr[1]//input[#type = "checkbox"]' % name)))
#table_id = self.driver.find_element(wait.until(EC.element_to_be_clickable(By.ID, 'data_configuration_edit_mapping_tab_mappings_ct_mapping_body')))
#checkbox = table_id.find_element(By.XPATH, '//span[#title = "TITLE"]/ancestor::tr[1]//input[#type = "checkbox"]')
checkbox.click()
except NoSuchElementException, e:
return False
return True
The table id i commented out also works.