What does arguments[0] and arguments[1] mean when using executeScript method from JavascriptExecutor interface through Selenium WebDriver?

Question

What does arguments[0] and arguments[1] mean when using executeScript() method from JavascriptExecutor interface through Selenium WebDriver and what is the purpose of the arguments[0] in the below code.

javaScriptExecutor.executeScript("arguments[0].click()", webElement);

Answer 1

The executeScript() method from the JavascriptExecutor Interface can invoke multiple arguments in the form of arguments[0], arguments[1], etc

• As per your example, to javaScriptExecutor.executeScript("arguments[0].click()", webElement); to work you need to have the webElement defined. executeScript() method will take the reference of the element as arguments[0] along with the method to be performed [in this case click()] and the reference should be provided thereafter.

  WebElement webElement = driver.findElement(By.xpath("xpath_element"));
  JavascriptExecutor javaScriptExecutor = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
  javaScriptExecutor.executeScript("arguments[0].click()", webElement);
  

• Similarly, an example of executeScript() with multiple arguments[] is as follows :

  JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver; 
  js.executeScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('style', arguments[1])", driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@type='file']")), "0");
  

  Here in this example :

  • driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@type='file'] is referred as arguments[0]
  • "0" is referred as arguments[1]

You can find a relevant discussion in What is arguments[0] while invoking execute_script() method through WebDriver instance through Selenium and Python?