Why Robot Framework, Selenium2Library, Element Text Should Be keyword does not verify input element text properly?

Question

I face an issue with testing a simple survey html page created for self learning purpose based on https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/responsive-web-design/responsive-web-design-projects/build-a-survey-form. When I try to check if the input field is filled using the Element text should be keyword, it constantly throws an error The text of element 'id=name' should have been 'Test Name' but it was '', but selenium screenshot done during the test shows that the text was entered properly.

To debug an issue I commented most of the code and try testing only for one input field.

survey.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Survey Form</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1 id="title">Survey Form</h1>

<p id="description">Thank you for taking the time</p>

<div class="container">
    <form id="survey-form">
        <div>
            <label for="name" id="name-label">Name:</label>
            <input type="text" name="name" id="name" placeholder="Enter your name"/>
        </div>

    </form>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Tests are written with BDD convention.

survey_tests.robot

** Settings **
Library           Selenium2Library
Test Teardown     Close Browser

** Variables **
${SURVEY PAGE}    an/absolute/path/to/survey.html
${BROWSER}        Chrome

** Test Cases **
Check name input
  When Survey Page is opened
  Given User fill the name field with 'Test Name'
  Then Element name contains 'Test Name'


** Keywords **
Survey Page is opened
    Open Browser                       ${SURVEY PAGE}    ${BROWSER}

User fill the name field with '${name}'
    Input Text                         id=name           ${name}

Element name contains '${name}'
    Element Text Should Be             id=name           ${name}

I use: Python 3.7.5
robotframework-selenium2library 3.0.0
and I tested the code with Chrome in versions 79, 81, 83.

Looks like a bug. I confirmed the problem with SeleniumLibrary 4.4.0 and Chrome 83 and Firefox 76. — Helio, May 26 '20 at 19:58

Todor Minakov · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-28T00:01:01.787

Get Element Text returns the text data inside a node, e.g. "<element>the text inside here</element>", while what you are targeting is an input element, and obviously the entered value.
That (value) is not stored inside the node's content, but is in an attribute called "value"; and you retrieve it through Get Element Attribute:

${value}=    Get Element Attribute    id=name    value

Then you can assret it is whatever you need it to be, with Should Be Equal As Strings, or other similar keywords.

Why Robot Framework, Selenium2Library, Element Text Should Be keyword does not verify input element text properly?

1 Answers1