{"id":27929,"date":"2024-01-22T10:25:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T10:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/?p=27929"},"modified":"2026-01-22T10:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T10:28:35","slug":"selenium-by-and-appium-appiumby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/selenium-by-and-appium-appiumby\/","title":{"rendered":"Selenium By and Appium AppiumBy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selenium By<\/code> and Appium AppiumBy<\/code><\/h1>\n

As an Appium and Selenium expert, I\u2019ll explain these concepts in a beginner-friendly way.
\nBoth Selenium By<\/strong> and AppiumBy<\/strong> are used to locate elements<\/em> on an application so that automation scripts can interact with them (click, type, read text, etc.)<\/p>\n

Selenium By<\/code><\/h2>\n

In Selenium, By<\/code> is a class used to locate elements on web applications<\/strong>.
\nIt tells Selenium how<\/em> to find an element on a web page.<\/p>\n

Why Selenium By is needed<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Web pages contain many elements (buttons, inputs, links, etc.).<\/li>\n
  • Selenium needs a clear rule to identify the correct element.<\/li>\n
  • By<\/code> provides different locator strategies to do this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Common Selenium By locator methods<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • By.id()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by HTML id attribute<\/li>\n
    • By.name()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by name attribute<\/li>\n
    • By.className()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by CSS class<\/li>\n
    • By.tagName()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by HTML tag<\/li>\n
    • By.linkText()<\/code> \u2013 Locate link using exact text<\/li>\n
    • By.partialLinkText()<\/code> \u2013 Locate link using partial text<\/li>\n
    • By.cssSelector()<\/code> \u2013 Locate using CSS selector<\/li>\n
    • By.xpath()<\/code> \u2013 Locate using XPath<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Selenium By<\/code> is mainly designed for desktop and mobile web browsers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      Appium AppiumBy<\/code><\/h2>\n

      AppiumBy<\/code> is an Appium-specific locator class used to automate mobile applications<\/strong>
      \n(Android and iOS), including both native apps and mobile web apps.<\/p>\n

      Why AppiumBy is needed<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • Mobile apps do not use HTML like web apps.<\/li>\n
      • Mobile platforms expose elements using platform-specific attributes.<\/li>\n
      • AppiumBy<\/code> supports mobile-only locator strategies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Common AppiumBy locator methods<\/h3>\n
          \n
        • AppiumBy.id()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by resource-id (Android) or accessibility id<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.accessibilityId()<\/code> \u2013 Locate using accessibility identifier<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.className()<\/code> \u2013 Locate by UI class<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.xpath()<\/code> \u2013 Locate using XPath (works for mobile too)<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.androidUIAutomator()<\/code> \u2013 Android-specific locator<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.iOSNsPredicateString()<\/code> \u2013 iOS-specific locator<\/li>\n
        • AppiumBy.iOSClassChain()<\/code> \u2013 Faster iOS locator strategy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          AppiumBy<\/code> is optimized for mobile automation<\/strong> and understands
          \nAndroid and iOS internals.<\/p>\n

          By<\/code> and AppiumBy<\/code><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
          Aspect<\/th>\nSelenium By<\/th>\nAppiumBy<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
          Primary Usage<\/td>\nWeb application automation<\/td>\nMobile application automation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Supported Platforms<\/td>\nDesktop and mobile web browsers<\/td>\nAndroid, iOS (native, hybrid, mobile web)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          HTML Dependency<\/td>\nWorks directly with HTML elements<\/td>\nDoes not rely on HTML (uses mobile UI hierarchy)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Mobile-specific Locators<\/td>\nNot supported<\/td>\nSupported (UIAutomator, iOS predicates, class chain)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Accessibility ID Support<\/td>\nNot available<\/td>\nAvailable and recommended<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          XPath Support<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Performance on Mobile<\/td>\nLimited and not optimized<\/td>\nOptimized for mobile automation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Package<\/td>\norg.openqa.selenium.By<\/code><\/td>\nio.appium.java_client.AppiumBy<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
          \n

          Summary<\/h2>\n
            \n
          • Use Selenium By<\/strong> for automating web applications.<\/li>\n
          • Use AppiumBy<\/strong> for automating mobile applications.<\/li>\n
          • AppiumBy<\/code> extends the idea of By<\/code> to support mobile-specific locators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Selenium By and Appium AppiumBy As an Appium and Selenium expert, I\u2019ll explain these concepts in a beginner-friendly way. Both Selenium By and AppiumBy are used to locate elements on an application so that automation scripts can interact with them (click, type, read text, etc.) Selenium By In Selenium, By is a class used to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automation","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27932,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27929\/revisions\/27932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.testingdocs.com\/questions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}