Selenium WebDriver: I want to overwrite value in field instead of appending to it with sendKeys using Java

In WebDriver, if I use sendKeys it will append my string to the value that already exists in the field. I can't clear it by using clear() method because the second I do that, the webpage will throw an error saying that it has to be between 10 and 100. So I can't clear it or an error will be thrown before I can put in the new value using sendKeys, and if I sendKeys it just appends it to the value already there.

Is there anything in WebDriver that lets you overwrite the value in the field?

You can also clear the field before sending it keys.

element.clear()
element.sendKeys("Some text here")

I think you can try to firstly select all the text in the field and then send the new sequence:

from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
element.sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"), "55");

Okay, it is a few days ago... In my current case, the answer from ZloiAdun does not work for me, but brings me very close to my solution...

Instead of:

element.sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"), "55");

the following code makes me happy:

element.sendKeys(Keys.HOME, Keys.chord(Keys.SHIFT, Keys.END), "55");

So I hope that helps somebody!

In case it helps anyone, the C# equivalent of ZloiAdun's answer is:

element.SendKeys(Keys.Control + "a");
element.SendKeys("55");

This worked for me.

mElement.sendKeys(Keys.HOME,Keys.chord(Keys.SHIFT,Keys.END),MY_VALUE);

Use this one, it is trusted solution and works well for all browsers:

protected void clearInput(WebElement webElement) {
    // isIE() - just checks is it IE or not - use your own implementation
    if (isIE() && "file".equals(webElement.getAttribute("type"))) {
        // workaround
        // if IE and input's type is file - do not try to clear it.
        // If you send:
        // - empty string - it will find file by empty path
        // - backspace char - it will process like a non-visible char
        // In both cases it will throw a bug.
        // 
        // Just replace it with new value when it is need to.
    } else {
        // if you have no StringUtils in project, check value still empty yet
        while (!StringUtils.isEmpty(webElement.getAttribute("value"))) {
            // "\u0008" - is backspace char
            webElement.sendKeys("\u0008");
        }
    }
}

If input has type="file" - do not clear it for IE. It will try to find file by empty path and will throw a bug.

More details you could find on my blog

Had issues using most of the mentioned methods since textfield had not accepted keyboard input, and the mouse solution seem not complete.

This worked for to simulate a click in the field, selecting the content and replacing it with new.

     Actions actionList = new Actions(driver);
     actionList.clickAndHold(WebElement).sendKeys(newTextFieldString).
     release().build().perform();

Use the following:

driver.findElement(By.id("id")).sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a", Keys.DELETE), "Your Value");

This solved my problem when I had to deal with HTML page with embedded JavaScript

WebElement empSalary = 	driver.findElement(By.xpath(PayComponentAmount));
Actions mouse2 = new Actions(driver);
mouse2.clickAndHold(empSalary).sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"), "1234").build().perform();

JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
js.executeScript("arguments[0].onchange()", empSalary);

The original question says clear() cannot be used. This does not apply to that situation. I'm adding my working example here as this SO post was one of the first Google results for clearing an input before entering a value.

For input where here is no additional restriction I'm including a browser agnostic method for Selenium using NodeJS. This snippet is part of a common library I import with var test = require( 'common' ); in my test scripts. It is for a standard node module.exports definition.

when_id_exists_type : function( id, value ) {
driver.wait( webdriver.until.elementLocated( webdriver.By.id( id ) ) , 3000 )
    .then( function() {
        var el = driver.findElement( webdriver.By.id( id ) );
        el.click();
        el.clear();
        el.sendKeys( value );
    });
},

Find the element, click it, clear it, then send the keys.

This page has a complete code sample and article that may help.

This is something easy to do and it worked for me:

//Create a Javascript executor
    
JavascriptExecutor jst= (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
jst.executeScript("arguments[1].value = arguments[0]; ", 55, driver.findElement(By.id("id")));

55 = value assigned

 WebElement p= driver.findElement(By.id("your id name"));
 p.sendKeys(Keys.chord(Keys.CONTROL, "a"), "55");