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Work with tables

HTML tables are one of the most common sources of brittle Selenium tests. The fix is to target structure and meaning instead of absolute row indexes: read the headers, find the row that contains a known value, then read the cell you care about.

Assert a cell value by row content​

Find the row whose first cell contains a known key, then assert the value in another column:

OrdersPage.java
import io.testfly.test.BasePage;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;

public class OrdersPage extends BasePage {

    private static final By TABLE = By.id("orders");

    public String statusOf(String orderId) {
        return cellByRowText(TABLE, orderId, "Status");
    }

    private String cellByRowText(By table, String rowKey, String columnName) {
        WebElement tableEl = find(table).first().element();

        // Map header text to column index
        java.util.List<WebElement> headers = tableEl.findElements(By.tagName("th"));
        int columnIndex = -1;
        for (int i = 0; i < headers.size(); i++) {
            if (headers.get(i).getText().trim().equals(columnName)) {
                columnIndex = i;
                break;
            }
        }
        if (columnIndex < 0) {
            throw new AssertionError("Column not found: " + columnName);
        }

        // Find the row whose first cell (or any cell) contains rowKey
        for (WebElement row : tableEl.findElements(By.cssSelector("tbody tr"))) {
            if (row.getText().contains(rowKey)) {
                return row.findElements(By.tagName("td")).get(columnIndex).getText().trim();
            }
        }
        throw new AssertionError("Row not found: " + rowKey);
    }
}
OrdersTest.java
public class OrdersTest extends BaseTest {

    @Test
    public void orderStatusIsShipped() {
        open("/orders");
        OrdersPage page = new OrdersPage();
        softAssert().that(page.statusOf("ORD-1234").equals("Shipped"), "Order ORD-1234 should be Shipped");
    }
}

Count rows​

int visibleRows = find("#orders tbody tr").count();
softAssert().that(visibleRows > 0, "Should have at least one visible row");

Wait for a row to appear​

assertThat(find("#orders tbody tr")).count(3);   // auto-waits until 3 rows exist

Assert a row exists​

Use withText(...) to scope the locator to the row containing the text (substring matching by default), then assert visibility:

assertThat(find("#orders tbody tr").withText("ORD-1234")).isVisible();

Tips for stable table tests​

  • Never hard-code row indexes. A new row from another test can shift every index.
  • Use header names, not column numbers. The order of columns changes more often than their labels.
  • Scope queries to the table. Use #orders tbody tr instead of global tr selectors.
  • Assert the visible text, not the DOM order. A user's bug report says "Status shows Pending," not "the third td is wrong."

Deeper reference: Locator — counting, filtering, and iterating over matching elements.