Appium : Clear a field

Question

I have my login screen in app now. Each time the app is launched in screen the mobile number is pre filled with the older text.

I just want to know I have tried:

WebElement mob = driver.findElement(By.name("Mobile Number"));
mob.clear // Not working

I have tried :

String Mobile
mob="";

but still it cannot delete the pre filled text.

I am trying to automate my android app using appium, please help me with this.

Do mark an answer to the question. It helps other know of whats already existing and how could that be worked out. — Naman, Sep 16 '17 at 11:58

Naman · Answer 1 · 2015-10-24T15:41:14.683

7

A click on to the textBox before you clear should do with the latest libs:

WebElement mob = driver.findElement(By.name("Mobile Number"));
mob.click();
mob.clear();

OR from the sample jUnitTest here

WebElement text = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//UIATextField[1]"));
text.sendKeys("12");
text.clear();

I guess

edited Oct 24 '15 at 15:41

answered Oct 24 '15 at 15:35

Naman

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This is working fine with iOS. For Android need to test. – Anshuman Chatterjee Apr 21 '16 at 11:46
Works for me on iOS as well and much simpler than many other answers – Avery Pelle Nov 02 '20 at 02:23

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 21 '14 at 19:43

I had trouble with this too. A main issue I found was that in order to delete the area by pressing the delete key was that it needed to tap at the end of the line. This works for me:

public void clearTextField(WebElement element) {
    double x = element.getLocation().getX() + element.getSize().width - 5;
    double y = element.getLocation().getY() + ((double) element.getSize().height / 3);
    preciseTap(x, y, 0.1, 1);
    while (!element.getText().isEmpty()) {
        pressDeleteKey();
    }
}

public void preciseTap(double x, double y, double duration, int touchCount) {
    JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
    HashMap<String, Double> tapObject = new HashMap<String, Double>();
    tapObject.put("x", x);
    tapObject.put("y", y);
    tapObject.put("touchCount", (double)touchCount);
    tapObject.put("duration", duration);
    js.executeScript("mobile: tap", tapObject);
}

public void pressDeleteKey() {
    HashMap swipeObject = new HashMap();
    swipeObject.put("keycode", 67);
    ((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("mobile: keyevent", swipeObject);
}

It is a lot slower than just clearing it all out but I have not figured out how to do this yet. Would be ideal to double tap or tap and hold until everything is selected.

It's slower but worked for me. Thanks for this solution. – NITIN SURANGE Aug 09 '21 at 15:07 — NITIN SURANGE, Aug 09 '21 at 15:07

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 11 '14 at 17:50

It is definitely not efficient, could be improved and there's probably a better way... But, using adb's shell input key event codes I simply called "dpad right" to move the cursor all the way to the right. Once there, send the key code "DEL" to start deleting all the way back... So... two for-loops. This was mainly used for short texts:

public void cleatTextFully(WebElement element) {
    int stringLength = element.getText().length();

    for (int i = 0; i < stringLength; i++) {
        mDriver.sendKeyEvent(22); // "KEYCODE_DPAD_RIGHT"
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < stringLength; i++) {
        mDriver.sendKeyEvent(67); // "KEYCODE_DEL"
    }
}

mDriver is the AppiumDriver instance. Hope this helps some what.

if edit text contains hint text then I am not sure your code Will work or not.. Once I tried same approach, after clearing text box also length was equal to the hint text. — Chandrashekhar Swami, Feb 07 '16 at 04:26
This is the method which works for me with Ionic. But I only have to use KEYCODE_DEL, because a click into the textfield already puts the cursor to the right. — Highriser, Apr 05 '17 at 07:52

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered May 15 '15 at 10:08

3

We can use selectAll if tests are executing on android.

longPress on textfield
Locate and tap on element of selectAll (Android select all button)
sendKeyEvent(67)

It will select entire text and will press delete.

answered May 15 '15 at 10:08

Kevin Shah

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3

Note: in Android Virtual Devices emulator, the emulator will helpfully deselect any select-all long-press on password fields. – kiminoa Oct 16 '15 at 20:31

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 08 '16 at 12:51

I was able to resolve this issue using the code below as "textField().clear()" didn't appear to work on some devices and emulators such as Genymotion.

while (!textField().getText().isEmpty()) {
   TouchAction touchAction = new TouchAction(driver);
   touchAction.longPress(textField());
   driver.getKeyboard().sendKeys(Keys.DELETE);
}

The code would loop through until textfield is cleared. Hope this helps, works for both Android and iOS.

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 08 '14 at 18:39

you might want to refrain from using appium's built in clear method.

you can try using adb shell input keyevent 67 which sends a delete keyevent to android. this works on all versions pretty much.

you can just click the textfield twice to highlight the text:

WebElement mob = driver.findElement(By.tagName("editText"));

that would locate the first textField avilable, as other methods in selenium bindings, you can try findElements as well, and get all the textfields in an array, and you can choose whichever you meant to manipulate.

then, send an input keyevent 67 to delete the whole field.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 27 '14 at 09:41

1

If the text field contains any pre-specified mobile number, please do in the following way.

WebElement mob = driver.findElement(By.name("xxxxxxxxxx")); mob.clear();

xxxxxxxxxx: mobile number that is pre-specified while opening the application.

Else use some other locating techniques like By.xpath , By.id(if you are testing android and Selendroid as capability) etc.

answered Mar 27 '14 at 09:41

Abhishek Swain

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as mentioned above i have tried .clear in both ways. – user1664899 Mar 31 '14 at 06:52
1

.clear() does not work for native apps like it would on the web. I have also tried to do a double tap but it is too slow since touchCount doesnt also work. – plosco Apr 21 '14 at 19:28

score 1 · Answer 8 · edited Mar 04 '15 at 07:52

This method worked for me, although I am trying for a better solution. In the meantime please use this method.

public void clear(String locatorType, String locator, long... waitSeconds)
{

WebElement we =  getElementWhenPresent(getByLocator(locatorType, locator), waitSeconds);

String text = we.getText();

int maxChars = text.length();

//we.clear() is not working

for (int i = 0; i < maxChars; i++)

((AppiumDriver)driver).sendKeyEvent(67);

}

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 01 '15 at 11:25

To avoid recent iOS 8.x errors I use the following (where by is an instance of By representing your textfield/textview):

    int stringLength = driver.findElement(by).getText().length();
    if (stringLength > 0) {
        driver.findElement(by).clear();
    }

If you try and call clear() against an already clear textfield I was tending to get errors in appium.

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Nov 26 '16 at 14:29

1

I faced similar issue recently. What I did, get the text from edit text if equals "", then send keys else called clear() method.

edited Nov 26 '16 at 14:29

Naman

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answered Feb 07 '16 at 04:34

Chandrashekhar Swami

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 29 '14 at 13:25

This normally happens when the opened screen in your app, is a "WebView".

When faced with similar problem, I followed the below steps:

Got the value of the textfield, i.e., prefilled text, using the "getAttribute" method. And, then retrieved the length of the string, so as to know how many characters are present to delete

Tapped on the textfield.

Deleted the characters inside the textfield using the "Delete button" element of the iOS Keyboard.

Filled the necessary value in the textfield.

Below, is the code that might just help you out in resolving your problem:

WebElement ele = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//Locator of the textfield")); //Locating the textfield

int characters_to_delete = ele.getAttribute("value").length();//Counts the number of characters to delete

ele.click(); //Tapping or Clicking on the textfield

// Deleting or Clearing the textfield off of the prefilled values
for(int i=0;i<characters_to_delete;i++){
 driver.findElement(By.xpath("//Locator of the Keyboard button 'Delete' ")).click();
}

ele.sendKeys("value to be filled in the textfield"); //Filling the textfield with the value

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Mar 03 '15 at 16:35

0

driver.findElement(By.name("Mobile Number")).clear();

this works for me. I am using find element by id and then calling clear.

wd.findElement(By.id("username")).clear();

This clears the pre-entered data in the field user name in my case.

edited Mar 03 '15 at 16:35

GitaarLAB

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answered Feb 26 '15 at 16:04

Suman

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score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Mar 24 '15 at 19:58

0

I faced the same issue.

Tried to click, clear and send keys, it worked.

See this code

driver.findElement(By.name("address").click(); 
driver.findElement(By.name("address").clear();
driver.findElement(By.name("address").sendKeys("something");`

edited Mar 24 '15 at 19:58

Farhan

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answered Mar 24 '15 at 18:41

pinktoes

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:00

0

It's about login screen so i would suggest to restart the app each time you run your script, go to appium and check Full Reset in Android Settings.

answered Jan 29 '16 at 11:00

Emna Ayadi

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score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Nov 03 '16 at 07:31

For iOS, I can perform backspace/delete by using below code of snippet:

    //Get the keyword
    String name = driver.findElement(by).getText();
    WebElement e1 = driver.findElement(by);
    System.out.println("Length of Keyword = " +name.length());
    int count = 0;
    int keywordlength = name.length();
    //click on keyword textbox
    e1.click();
    while (count < keywordlength) {
        //Clear the keyword
           TouchAction ta = new TouchAction(driver);
           ta.longPress(e1);
           driver.getKeyboard().sendKeys(Keys.DELETE);
           count++;
    }

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 12:43

0

This thing can be overcome by using the latest version of appium. In older version clear sometimes doesn't clear all the text-fields in case of longer text.

answered Jan 31 '17 at 12:43

thisisdude

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Are you referring to *clear text fix for large centered edit fields* version [1.3.4](https://github.com/appium/appium/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#user-content-android-12)? – Jon Jan 31 '17 at 15:25

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Feb 14 '17 at 10:00

0

    WebElement element2 = appiumDriver.findElement(By.xpath(element));
        element2.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL + "a");
         element2.sendKeys(Keys.DELETE);

answered Feb 14 '17 at 10:00

akhilesh gulati

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4

While this code snippet may solve the question, [including an explanation](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/114762/explaining-entirely-code-based-answers) really helps to improve the quality of your post. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, and those people might not know the reasons for your code suggestion. – J. Chomel Feb 14 '17 at 10:22
1

will find the element and than select all and delete the selected content – akhilesh gulati Feb 14 '17 at 11:05

score 0 · Answer 18 · edited Mar 05 '17 at 20:46

0

List<WebElement> x=driver.findElements(By.className("enter widget details")); //You can get widget details via android UIautomator
driver.findElementById("enter widget details").click(); //You can get widget details via android UIautomator
x.get(index).clear();
x.get(index).clear();

Please note this worked for me but you may have to maneuver your code as per your requirements, thanks.

edited Mar 05 '17 at 20:46

Tunaki

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answered Mar 05 '17 at 20:41

Star

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score 0 · Answer 19 · edited Apr 24 '17 at 03:55

0

def Clear(self):
    self.driver.keyevent(123)#Move Cursor Last one
    time.sleep(2)
    for i in range(10):
        self.driver.keyevent(67)#Deleted Keyboard 
        self.driver.implicitly_wait(60)

edited Apr 24 '17 at 03:55

Nathan Tuggy

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answered Apr 24 '17 at 03:37

ILA chaos

1

Welcome to Stack Overflow! Whilst this code snippet is welcome, and may provide some help, it would be [greatly improved if it included an explanation](//meta.stackexchange.com/q/114762) of *how* it addresses the question. Without that, your answer has much less educational value - remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, not just the person asking now! Please [edit] your answer to add explanation, and give an indication of what limitations and assumptions apply. – Toby Speight Apr 24 '17 at 11:44

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Apr 26 '17 at 14:02

What helped for me was to add an empty sendKeys before the clear.

Like this:

public void sendKeysToElement(WebElement element, String keys) {
    element.sendKeys("");
    element.clear();
    element.sendKeys(keys);
    driver.hideKeyboard();
}

This method is used for all our input fields. Without the empty sendKeys it was not clearing all the fields properly.

Emjey · Answer 21 · 2017-05-24T06:19:31.493

0

I use cucumber and ruby to write my tests and this one works good for both iOS and Android for me.

arg1 and arg2 are the input values that I give in the gherkin steps.

And(/^I enter "([^"]*)" on identifier "([^"]*)"$/) do |arg1, arg2|
      Input = find_element(id: arg2)
      Input.click
      Input.clear
      Input.send_keys(arg1)
    end

edited May 24 '17 at 06:19

answered May 23 '17 at 11:48

Emjey

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Thank you for this code snippet, which may provide some immediate help. A proper explanation [would greatly improve](//meta.stackexchange.com/q/114762) its educational value by showing *why* this is a good solution to the problem, and would make it more useful to future readers with similar, but not identical, questions. Please [edit] your answer to add explanation, and give an indication of what limitations and assumptions apply. – Toby Speight May 23 '17 at 13:59
@TobySpeight Edited accordingly! – Emjey May 24 '17 at 06:19

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Jul 18 '17 at 06:36

0

I have faced the same issue, but i found one proper solution.

 public void clearTextBox(WebElement element) throws Exception
  {
      element.click();
      element.sendKeys(Keys.CONTROL + "a");
      element.sendKeys(Keys.DELETE);          
  }

It will work for sure.

answered Jul 18 '17 at 06:36

Manish Kumar Mani

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This works _most_ of the time, though sometimes the CTRL+a is not sent correctly and `a` is simply added to the text. – Alvin Stanescu Sep 17 '20 at 09:27

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Sep 06 '18 at 12:19

0

Is working for me:

action.longPress(WebElement).perform();
WebElement.clear();

answered Sep 06 '18 at 12:19

Adama Diagne

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Ok @DieterMeemken, for the context: `import io.appium.java_client.TouchAction; ` `WebElement mob = driver.findElement(By.name("Mobile Number"));` `TouchAction action = new TouchAction(driver);` `action.longPress(mob).perform();` `mob.clear();` Hope that it's clear ? – Adama Diagne Sep 06 '18 at 13:48

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Aug 06 '19 at 04:41

I am using a double tab and send an empty key to the field. This works stable in my UI tests.

new TouchAction<>((AndroidDriver<?>) driver).tap(new TapOptions().withTapsCount(2).withElement(new ElementOption().withElement(element))).perform();
element.sendKeys("");

score 0 · Answer 25 · edited Oct 04 '19 at 10:25

I HAD A HARD TIME IN SOLVING THIS ISSUE AS WHILE AUTOMATING ios APP was unable to clear a specific field

was not able to use any other alternatives as well so this worked out in my case!

1.Get the XPath of delete button of keyboard and then loop it and use click method to clear it this is what worked in my case

for(int x=1;x<6;x++)
{
    driver.findElementByXpath("//XCUIElementTypeKey[@name='Delete']").click;
}

score 0 · Answer 26 · answered Jun 16 '21 at 11:03

The verified solution for clearing the text in IOS Simulator or device

MobileElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("id_data"));
Rectangle rectangle = element.getRect();
int YAxis = element.getCenter().getY();
int XAxis = rectangle.getWidth();
TouchAction action = new TouchAction(this.getIOSDriver());
action.tap(TapOptions.tapOptions().withPosition(PointOption.point(XAxis, 
YAxis))).perform();
element.clear();

Verified on Simulator iOS 14.3 with appium 1.21.0

score -1 · Answer 27 · answered Mar 15 '16 at 09:32

-1

I'm working with python and this is what I use:

 self.driver.find_element_by_id(element_id).click()
 self.driver.find_element_by_id(element_id).send_keys('')

I hope that it helps.

answered Mar 15 '16 at 09:32

AndreiP

1

Appium : Clear a field

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