How to extract the dynamic element id with random string using Selenium

Question

im using Selenium with python, im trying to enter value to the textarea with send_keys, but I can't get the id, because the id contain with random string

<div class="XiG xcv L4E zI7 iyn Hsu">
    <textarea class="TextArea__textArea TextArea__bold TextArea__enabled TextArea__large TextArea__wrap" id="pin-draft-title-7cd7d98c-0494-4cbb-98e3-12658ba8e175" placeholder="Add your title" rows="1" style="height: 65px;">
    </textarea>
    
    <div class="MIw QLY Rym ojN p6V zI7 iyn Hsu" style="pointer-events: none;">
    <div class="TextArea__textArea TextArea__dark TextArea__bold TextArea__large TextArea__wrap">
    </div>
    </div>
    </div>
    <div class=""><div class="xcv L4E zI7 iyn Hsu" style="box-shadow: rgba(142, 142, 142, 0.5) 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding-top: 8px;">
    </div>
    <div class="hDW xcv L4E zI7 iyn Hsu" style="min-height: 15px;"></div>
</div>

im trying to get the id below

id="pin-draft-title-7cd7d98c-0494-4cbb-98e3-12658ba8e175"

Here my send_keys code

self.send_keys( # Input a title. '//textarea[contains(@id, "pin-draft-title-")]', data.title)

i have already try use contains and starts-with its seems doesnt work

I got this error

Stacktrace:
Backtrace:
    Ordinal0 [0x0021ACD3+2075859]
    Ordinal0 [0x001AEE61+1633889]
    Ordinal0 [0x000AB7BD+571325]
    Ordinal0 [0x000DAC2F+764975]
    Ordinal0 [0x000DAE1B+765467]
    Ordinal0 [0x0010D0F2+970994]
    Ordinal0 [0x000F7364+881508]
    Ordinal0 [0x0010B56A+963946]
    Ordinal0 [0x000F7136+880950]
    Ordinal0 [0x000CFEFD+720637]
    Ordinal0 [0x000D0F3F+724799]
    GetHandleVerifier [0x004CEED2+2769538]
    GetHandleVerifier [0x004C0D95+2711877]
    GetHandleVerifier [0x002AA03A+521194]
    GetHandleVerifier [0x002A8DA0+516432]
    Ordinal0 [0x001B682C+1665068]
    Ordinal0 [0x001BB128+1683752]
    Ordinal0 [0x001BB215+1683989]
    Ordinal0 [0x001C6484+1729668]
    BaseThreadInitThunk [0x753F00F9+25]
    RtlGetAppContainerNamedObjectPath [0x77577BBE+286]
    RtlGetAppContainerNamedObjectPath [0x77577B8E+238]
    (No symbol) [0x00000000]

please help

Answer 1

To extract the value of the id attribute i.e. pin-draft-title-7cd7d98c-0494-4cbb-98e3-12658ba8e175 you need to induce WebDriverWait for the visibility_of_element_located() and you can use either of the following locator strategies:

• Using CSS_SELECTOR:

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "textarea.TextArea__textArea.TextArea__bold.TextArea__enabled.TextArea__large.TextArea__wrap[placeholder='Add your title']"))).get_attribute("id"))
  

• Using XPATH:

  print(WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "//textarea[@class='TextArea__textArea TextArea__bold TextArea__enabled TextArea__large TextArea__wrap' and @placeholder='Add your title']"))).get_attribute("id"))
  

• Note : You have to add the following imports :

  from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
  from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
  

You can find a relevant discussion in Python Selenium - get href value

Answer 2

Try the below XPath expression:

//textarea[@class='TextArea__textArea TextArea__bold TextArea__enabled TextArea__large TextArea__wrap']

Full code to locate using XPath would look like this:

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//textarea[@class='TextArea__textArea TextArea__bold TextArea__enabled TextArea__large TextArea__wrap']")
element.send_keys("Your text here")