Ggtcf

Working on an automation test using codeceptjs/selenium, I need to read the text of the nodes of a select drop down without knowing what they will be ahead of time and excluding the greyed out default option (since the app will not function until a choice is made).

<select id="itemname1">
 <option class="greydefault">How Many?</option>
 <option>6</option>
 <option>8</option>
 <option>10</option>
 <option>12</option>
</select>
<select id="itemname2">
 <option class="greydefault">What Type?</option>
 <option>a</option>
 <option>b</option>
 <option>c</option>
 <option>d</option>
</select>

Given the above simple dom, question is how to write an xpath that grab all 4 of the option nodes that contain 6 8 10 and 12. And another xpath that returns all 4 of the option nodes a b c and d.

Here are my attempts that don't work for me:

.//option/preceding::option[text()="What Type?"]/following::option[text()="How Many?"]

.//option/following::option[text()="How Many?"]/preceding::option[text()="What Type?"]


.//option/preceding::option[text()="What Type?"] and following::option[text()="How Many?"]


.//option/[preceding::option[text()="What Type?"] and following::option[text()="How Many?"]]

The first 2 attempts returns only the node "How many" for me, and the next attempts are invalid.

The output of the xpath query should return each option node other than the default node.

That xpath is put into a function that reads the texts of the nodes, it looks like this:

 getElementsText(locator) 
 let driver = this.helpers.Protractor.browser;
 return driver.element.all(locator).getAttribute("textContent").then((result) => 
 return result.toString().split(',');
 );
 

Get all option elements based on the default one's text (displayed value) in this select:

//select[option[text()="How Many?"]]/option[not(@class="greydefault")]

Get all based on the the parent select's id:

//select[@id="itemname2"]/option[not(@class="greydefault")]

In both cases you first find the select element - in the first, the one that has a child option with that text; in the 2nd - the one with that id, and then get all its children (direct descendants) that do not have that class value.

Here is the css that will fetch all the options except the default.

First List:

select#itemname1 option:not(:first-child)

Second List:

select#itemname2 option:not(:first-child)

Extremely confusingly to me, this is working to grab the options in the second list excluding the default, but when I read this I assume it should be grabbing the first set of options excluding the default.

.//option[following::option[text()="How Many?"] and preceding::option[text()="What Type?"]]