Sending special characters and key events to WebDriver using sendKeys() method

There are times at which we would like to send special characters (Enter , F5, Ctrl, Alt etc..) to webdriver from our script. This can be done by using sendKeys method itself. For this purpose we will use the Keys  method as parameter to the sendKeys method.

Syntax :

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1. //Sending F5 key  
2. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.F5);  
3.   
4. //Sending arrow down key   
5. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN);  
6.   
7. //sending pagedown key from keyboard  
8. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.PAGE_DOWN);  
9.   
10. //sending space key   
11. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.SPACE);  
12.   
13. //sending tab key  
14. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.TAB);  
15.   
16. //sending alt key  
17. driver.findElement(By.id("name")).sendKeys(Keys.ALT);  

We can also send the pressable keys as Unicode PUA(Privtae User Area)  format . So the above samples can be rewritten as below :

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1. sendKeys(Keys.F5) == sendKeys("\uE035")  
2.   
3. sendKeys(Keys.PAGE_DOWN) == sendKeys("\uE00F")  
4.   
5. sendKeys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN) == sendKeys("\uE015")  
6.   
7. sendKeys(Keys.SPACE) == sendKeys("\uE00D")  
8.   
9. sendKeys(Keys.TAB) == sendKeys("\uE004")  
10.   
11. sendKeys(Keys.ALT) == sendKeys("\uE00A")  

Here is the sample program for logging into Facebook :

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1. import org.openqa.selenium.By;  
2. import org.openqa.selenium.Keys;  
3. import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;  
4. import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver;  
5. import org.testng.annotations.BeforeTest;  
6. import org.testng.annotations.Test;  
7.   
8. public class Sendkeys {  
9.    
10. WebDriver driver;  
11.    
12. @BeforeTest  
13.  public void start(){  
14.   driver = new FirefoxDriver();  
15.  }  
16.   
17. @Test  
18. public void sendkeysmethod(){  
19.  //Load facebook login page  
20.  driver.get("https://facebook.com");  
21.    
22.  //Refresh the page   
23.  //We can also refresh like below   
24.  //driver.findElement(By.name("email")).sendKeys("\uE035")  
25.  driver.findElement(By.name("email")).sendKeys(Keys.F5);  
26.    
27.  //Fillup Emailadress and Password fields  
28.  driver.findElement(By.name("email")).sendKeys("EmailAddress");  
29.  driver.findElement(By.name("pass")).sendKeys("password");  
30.    
31.  //Sending Enter key so that facebook login credentials will be authenticated  
32.  driver.findElement(By.name("pass")).sendKeys(Keys.ENTER);  
33.    
34.     }  
35. }