Using XPath to identify an element not containing something?

[Fergal]

I am testing an application that contains a number of buttons. Some of those buttons contain a text element with an index of 4 and a text value of
"(Voided)". Using an XPath that ends with "/button[@automationid='button']/text[index()=4 and @text='(Voided)']" finds the buttons that contain a text element with an index of 4 and a text value of "(Voided)".

How can that XPath be changed to find the first button which does not contain a text element with an index of 4 and a text value of
"(Voided)"?

Thanks.

[odklizec]

Hi,

Well, the obvious solution looks like this:

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/button[@automationid='button']/text[index()!=4 and @text!='(Voided)']

But I guess you mean to find a button, which actualy does not contain the Text sub-element? In this case,
I'm afraid, there is no xpath way to detect this. I've already discussed a similar issue with Ranorex folks and there is no xpath way to detect a non-existence of an element. I think the only solution is using Find method?

[Fergal]

Thanks for your helpful reply odklizec.

...I guess you mean to find a button, which actual does not contain the Text sub-element?..

Yes, that's exactly what I want to do.

...I think the only solution is using Find method?

Thanks, are you referring to writing some code to identify the element?

[odklizec]

Thanks for your helpful reply odklizec.

...I think the only solution is using Find method?

Thanks, are you referring to writing some code to identify the element?

Yes, you will have to write some code to identify a button without requested sub-elements.

[Fergal]

there is no xpath way to detect a non-existence of an element

Thanks again odklizec for steering me in the right direction. Clarifying that helped me to stop focusing on that approach and figure out a way that works.

I've discovered that "Voided" text element exists in all of the buttons, but is invisible in the button required. The updated XPath, which works by finding the parent element (i.e. the required button) of the first invisible text element, ends with the following:

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...text[@name=' (Voided)' and @visible='False'][1]/..

[odklizec]

Of course, if the child element is available, just not visible, your solution should be just fine. In my case, sub-elements are sometimes not available at all