Finding dropdown name where only the first word matches given string using Selenium

Question

I am trying to match the first word in a drop down list with a given string. What is happening is when I am creating a new drop-down name, it is getting updated by some different name, though the first word remains same.

The code I am using is:

public void DeleteStyleGroup()
    {
        var StyleGroupName = Driver.Instance.FindElement(By.Name("sgroupnbr"));
        StyleGroupName.Click();
        var selectelement = new SelectElement(StyleGroupName);
        selectelement.SelectByText(GrpName);

     }

The drop-down field name here is "sgroupbr"

In my Unit test class, the code I am using is:

 public class DeleteStyleGroup : ibankTest
{
[TestMethod]
public void Delete_Style_Group()
{

StyleGrp.GrpNme("AdrijaTest").DeleteStyleGroup();
}
[TestInitialize]
public void ClassInit()
{
StyleGrp.Goto();
StyleGrp.StyltGroupName("AdrijaTest").Configuration("C3 One Tab").Save();
}
}

So the the group name is a method where it tries to find the drop-down name "AdrijaTest", but it is getting updated with some other name like "AdrijaTest 401".

Can someone please help?

Answer 1

The easiest solution would probably to just use a css selector instead of looping over every possible candidate. The selector select[name^='sgroupnbr'] will return a select which name starts with (thats the purpose of the ^= operator) sgroupnbr.

That way you should get a value in pretty much constant time, no matter how many selects you have on your page.

Answer 2

1. Write the function to get the first option that matched given string and return full text of that option

   public string GetFirstOptionMatchedGivenString(SelectElement dropdown, string givenString)
   {
       foreach (WebElement option in dropdown.Options)
       {
           if(option.Text.Contains(givenString))
           {
               return option.Text;
           }
       }
   }
   

2. And modify your code to select option by the returned text

   public void DeleteStyleGroup()
   {
       WebElement StyleGroupName = Driver.Instance.FindElement(By.Name("sgroupnbr"));
       StyleGroupName.Click();
       Select selectelement = new SelectElement(StyleGroupName);
   
       // get first option
       String firstOption= GetFirstOptionMatchedGivenString(selectelement, GrpName);
   
       selectelement.SelectByText(firstOption);
   }
   

I didn't check this function, but it should work. Feel free to get back if it does not work.