*Summary
I am encountering an issue when using WebUI.findWebElements() with a Smart Locator in Katalon Studio.
*Steps to reproduce
1. Use WebUI.openBrowser()to navigate towww.google.com. 2. Define a Smart Locator in the Object Repository targeting a div` element.
3. In a test case, use the following code:
import static com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement
import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltInKeywords as WebUI
TestObject myDivSmartLocator = findTestObject(‘Object Repository/myDivSmartLocator’)
WebUI.openBrowser(“https://www.google.com”)
List elements = WebUI.findWebElements(myDivSmartLocator, 10)
println “Number of elements found: ${elements.size()}”
*Expected Results
The code should find the correct number of div elements on the Google homepage that match the Smart Locator’s criteria.
*Actual Results
Only 1 element is being found, even though there might be more matching div elements on the page. (print log: Number of elements found: 1)
*Blocker?
Yes
*** Image
*Operating System
Windows 10
*Katalon Studio version
version 10.1.0
*Katalon Studio logs
Windows logs folder: Katalon Studio folder>\config\.metadata\.log
Environment (for Web Testing)
Chrome Version 134.0.6998.118 (Official Build) (64-bit)
3 Likes
Hello there, welcome!
I have tried to reproduce this but in my case i received an “Unknown locator” message on the log.
I am not familiar enough with Smart Locators to help you more, but based on the message I received it could be related with using valid Smart Locator syntax. (Maybe “div” is not valid as a Smart Locators.
Anyway, using “div” as a way to locate multiple elements in an HTML could and on a 100+ list of elements. Did you try this to understand Multiple element finding or you really need to get that list of divs?
As a workaroung you can change the selection method and this should work fine:
I have tried the same code but using CSS as the selection method and it logged me 4 div elements.
Hope it helps, in the mean time.
1 Like
So, I ran your test case with a few modifications, as below, and got the result further down at the last bit. Like @gmarichal, I think you (or maybe the “Smart Locator”) did not make a proper pathway for your <div> objects and that is why you/it did not get a “proper” count.
import static com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement
import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltInKeywords as WebUI
TestObject myDivSmartLocator = com.Tools.makeTO('//div')
WebUI.openBrowser("https://www.google.com")
WebUI.waitForPageLoad(10)
List<WebElement> elements = WebUI.findWebElements(myDivSmartLocator, 10)
println("Number of elements found: ${elements.size()}")
2025-03-27 09:15:42.877 DEBUG testcase.blah blah - 5: println(Number of elements found: $elements.size())
Number of elements found: 156
Edit: @Elly_Tran Can you do an experiment with the above test case using your team and the “Smart Locator” option to see if there is an issue? Is the “Smart Locator” based on xpath or css pathways? (And then state the basis somewhere in your documents.)
2 Likes
I wonder if anybody actually uses “Smart Locator”.
Maybe none uses it.
I could not find any documentation for it.
So I do not know “Smart Locator” at all.
Hello everyone,
The purpose of this ticket is to report an issue related to Smart Locators. When I use a Smart Locator to get all elements, it’s always returning only one, even though there are more.
Could you please double-check this issue with Smart Locators?
I’ve also created an example to show the difference between Smart Locator and CSS results.
import static com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement
import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltInKeywords as WebUI
def myDivSmartLocator = findTestObject('Object Repository/myDivSmartLocator')
def myDivCssLocator = findTestObject('Object Repository/myDivCssLocator')
WebUI.openBrowser("https://testautomationpractice.blogspot.com/")
WebUI.waitForPageLoad(30)
List<WebElement> smartElements = WebUI.findWebElements(myDivSmartLocator, 5)
println("Number of elements found by smart locator: ${smartElements.size()}")
List<WebElement> cssElements = WebUI.findWebElements(myDivCssLocator, 5)
println("Number of css elements found by css locator: ${cssElements.size()}")
Console log:
Number of elements found by smart locator: 1
Number of css elements found by css locator: 12
2 Likes
I’ve hit the same snag too. The issue seems to come from trying to find a list of elements—it only returns the first one.
To make sure it supports both XPath and CSS properly in one place, you could try finding a single element using WebUI.findElement(testObject) as a quick test. That might help you better understand how it behaves.
