Error Message: NoSuchElementException: Message: no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"css selector","selector":"._5qtp"}

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I was trying the following code for an automated status update on Facebook with selenium.

I copied it from some website to learn about selenium. Here the web driver could not find the class or the id of the box in which we write status.

I even searched for it with the inspect panel, but I didn't get any proper id or class and the above error prompted. Please help me!

How can I find the XPath or id the status update box?

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

import time
### login details ########################
username = "xxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx"
pwd = "xxxxxxxxx"
##########################################

### what is on my mind ###################
msg = "hey there!"
##########################################

# initializing driver and loading web
chrome_path = r"chromedriver.exe"
options = Options()
options.add_argument("--disable-notifications")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_path, chrome_options=options)
driver.get("http://www.facebook.com/")
# end initializing

# start login
user_input = driver.find_element_by_xpath("""//*[@id="email"]""")
pwd_input = driver.find_element_by_xpath("""//*[@id="pass"]""")
user_input.send_keys(username)
pwd_input.send_keys(pwd)
pwd_input.send_keys(Keys.ENTER)
# end login

# writing msg
time.sleep(3)
first_what_is_on_my_mind_element = driver.find_element_by_class_name("_5qtp")
first_what_is_on_my_mind_element.click()
time.sleep(3)
second_what_is_on_my_mind_element = driver.switch_to.active_element
second_what_is_on_my_mind_element.send_keys(msg)
# end writing

# posting
buttons = driver.find_elements_by_tag_name('button')
for button in buttons:
    if 'Post' in button.text:
        button.click()
# end posting
selenium-chromedriver web-scraping facebook python-3.x css
1 Answers

First of all, I suggest, you proceed the work step by step in a shell and test your code in progress.

import time
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

#This part is for opening the webdriver with proxy (since FB is prohibited here!)
proxy="127.0.0.1:0000"
chrome_options=webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.add_argument('--proxy-server=socks5://' + proxy)
driver=webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)

# Let's open the FB and insert Username and Password:
driver.get("https://www.facebook.com")

# Give the username by copying the full XPath and send keys:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[3]/div/div/div/div/div[2]/form/table/tbody/tr[2]/td[1]/input").send_keys("Username") 

#Same for the Password:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[3]/div/div/div/div/div[2]/form/table/tbody/tr[2]/td[2]/input").send_keys("Password")

#Click the login button, you also can send Return key to password field:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div[3]/div/div/div/div/div[2]/form/table/tbody/tr[2]/td[3]/label/input").click()

#Hitting the status bar:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[3]/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div[3]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div[1]/div/div[1]/div").click() 

#giving the status message:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[4]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/form/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div/div/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div").send_keys("This is a test status from an automation :)")

#Hit the Post button:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[4]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/form/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[3]/div[2]/div").click()

#Enjoy the code :)

I have tested the above code and it works perfectly. You can find the Full-Xpath as shown in below: How to copy full XPath

Edited: First of all, forget about XPath for the Login page. Because it is relative to the browser condition. Instead, use the CSS Selector as below code: (It has also webdriver option for disabling notification which might solve the error of not finding status element)

import time
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

username=str(input("Please enter your FB username:\n"))
password=str(input("Please enter your FB password:\n"))
proxy=str(input("Please enter your proxy:\n"))


#This part is for opening the webdriver with proxy (since FB is prohibited here!)
chrome_options=webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.add_argument('--proxy-server=socks5://' + proxy)

# Making Notifications off automatically
prefs = {"profile.default_content_setting_values.notifications" : 2}
chrome_options.add_experimental_option("prefs",prefs)
driver=webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)

# Let's open the FB and insert Username and Password:
driver.get("https://www.facebook.com")

# Give the username by copying the css_selector and send keys:
driver.find_element_by_css_selector("input#email.inputtext.login_form_input_box").send_keys(username)
#Same for the Password:
driver.find_element_by_css_selector("input#pass.inputtext.login_form_input_box").send_keys(username)

#Click the login button, you also can send Return key to password field:
driver.find_element_by_css_selector("label#loginbutton.login_form_login_button.uiButton.uiButtonConfirm").click()
#Hitting the status bar:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[3]/div/div/div[1]/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div[3]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div[1]/div/div[1]/div").click() 

#giving the status message:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[4]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/form/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[2]/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/div/div/div/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div").send_keys("This is a test status from an automation :)")

#Hit the Post button:
driver.find_element_by_xpath("/html/body/div[1]/div/div/div[1]/div[4]/div/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/form/div/div[1]/div/div[2]/div[3]/div[2]/div").click()

BTW, this is the way to select an element by mouse and in below picture you can see the CSS Selector name for Username field: (If you right-click on any element, while the inspector is on, you can find Copy>full XPath to copy the XPath)

Using Inspector tool for showing css selector item

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