org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.UnexpectedTagNameException: Element should have been "select" but was "a"

Question

package Practice;

import java.util.List;

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.Select;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class Vistair2 {
    @Test
    public void seeProducts() throws InterruptedException{

System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "/Users/dominiclee/Documents/workspace/chromedriver 4");
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("https://www.vistair.com/");
driver.manage().window().maximize();

Thread.sleep(10000);
//Create action builder instance by passing WebDriver instance
driver.findElement(By.id("hs-eu-confirmation-button")).click();
Actions builder = new Actions(driver);
WebElement menuElement = driver.findElement(By.linkText("SOLUTIONS"));
builder.moveToElement(menuElement).build().perform();
Thread.sleep(10000);

Select dropDown = new Select (driver.findElement(By.linkText("SOLUTIONS")));
List<WebElement> e = dropDown.getOptions();
int itemsCount = e.size();
System.out.println(itemsCount);
//driver.close();

}

}

When I run this in Selenium I get the following error: Element should have been "select" but was "a"

Do I want to find the size of the drop-down menu?

Here is the html:

Update from mistaken answer:

I have also tried classname:

Select dropDown = new Select (driver.findElement(By.className("dropdown-menu")));

but then I get the error:

The Element should have been "select" but was "ul"

What locator should I be using?

Answer 1

You're using linktext locator, hence it locates a link (a). Then you're trying to wrap your found link with Select element which obviously causes an error as Selenium is trying to work with found link as with a list.

What you need to do is to use the proper locator for your Select element.

UPD: According to the HTML you have provided what you have is not a select element but just a list. Selenium Select class is a wrapper for elements like this:

Even if you have a drop-down implemented as a list, you need to use a regular approach.

1. Prepare a locator that would locate all elements you need
2. Invoke driver.findElements(..) with that locator
3. Count the number of item in returned List<WebElement>