Python Selenium send_keys() for non-input tag

Question

The Problem

I'm trying to change the page of a database (ReferenceUSA, requires paid or university credentials) using selenium by typing the page number in and clicking enter, but the catch is that the search box is in a div tag. send_keys() only works for input and textarea tags. Here's a picture of the page navigator, and here's the HTML:

<div class="pager">
<div class="prev button" title="Hold down to scroll through records faster." style="float: left;">«</div>
<div class="page" style="text-align: center; margin: 0px 1em; float: left; width: 40px;">1</div>
<div class="next button" title="Hold down to scroll through records faster.">»</div><span style="clear: both;"></span></div>

My Attempt

I figured out how to change the innerHTML, so I really only need to hit enter on the div tag. I thought of and tried changing the innerHTML for the next button (e.g. set current page to 1207 in next_button() function if I wanted to navigate to page 1208), but the functions are all written in a global file for the site, thousands of lines long, and they all feed off each other using the same 6 variables making it essentially unreadable. I've brought this problem to one of my CS professors to no avail.

There must be a simple solution, but I'm at a loss right now. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could offer some guidance

I don't think sendKeys works only on input and textarea, what error are you getting when you use sendKeys on div? — Gaurang Shah
– Gaurang Shah, Commented Sep 4, 2017 at 8:12
@TheChetan I added a screenshot and the relevant HTML. Hitting enter switches the page number to what you type when you're actually on the page, so I figure it should work in selenium as well. — In_Circ
– In_Circ, Commented Sep 4, 2017 at 12:47
@GaurangShah It doesn't return an error, but it doesn't do anything either. Maybe I'm not identifying the problem correctly? Here's the code I tried: start_page = driver.find_element_by_xpath(XPATH) driver.execute_script('arguments[0].innerHTML = "1207";', start_page) start_page.send_keys(Keys.RETURN) — In_Circ
– In_Circ, Commented Sep 4, 2017 at 12:51

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

0

Update:

I ended up scrapping Selenium altogether and figured out how to do it using the Requests module. The following is the snippet of code for my workaround:

Select start page

data_data = {
    'requestKey': page_data,  # Collected earlier in the code
    'direction': 'Ascending', # Collected with Chrome DevTools
    'pageIndex': page_index   # Page number - 1
}
data = r.post(SELECT_PAGE, data = data_data)

Rather than clicking the button in Selenium, I figured out every time the page number changed I was sending a POST request, so I just sent the POST request.

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

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answered Oct 9, 2017 at 20:31

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Python Selenium send_keys() for non-input tag

The Problem

My Attempt

1 Answer 1

Update:

Select start page

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