The WebElement ID Issue

[GCuser99]

Hi, I'm wondering why whenever a WebDriver method requires user to pass WebElement as a parameter, that a string WebElement ID is passed, instead of the WebElement object? The WebElement ID is only needed for passing on to Execute's data dictionary for Selenium WebDriver processing, and then in turn by ToWebElement to process Excecute's response. So it seems to me that use of the WebElement ID is mainly "under the hood" and should be invisible to the user.

It took me about 30 minutes of coding to make the transition from ID string to object for the entire code base. Here are some examples...

In WebDriver class:

 ' Returns element.value
Public Function GetValue(element As WebElement, Optional ByVal SessionId As String = vbNullString) As String
    Dim Data As New Dictionary
    
    If SessionId <> vbNullString Then
        Data.Add "sessionId", SessionId
    End If
    Data.Add "id", element.ElementId
    Data.Add "name", "value"

    GetValue = Execute(CMD_GET_ELEMENT_ATTRIBUTE, Data)("value") 'see GCUser99's proposed changes to Execute
End Function

In WebElement Class using Me object to send reference to WebDriver class:

Private ElementId_ As String 'changed to private

Friend Property Let ElementId(ByVal val) 
    ElementId_ = val
End Property

Friend Property Get ElementId()
    ElementId = ElementId_
End Property

' Returns element.value
Public Function GetValue() As String
    GetValue = Driver_.GetValue(Me, SessionId_)
End Function

Here is how to handle an Optional WebElement argument in WebDriver class:

Public Function GetInnerHTML(Optional element As WebElement, Optional ByVal SessionId As String = vbNullString) As String
    Dim Script As String
    If element Is Nothing Then
        Script = "return document.body.innerHTML"
    Else
        Script = "return arguments[0].innerHTML"
    End If
    GetInnerHTML = ExecuteScript(Script, vbNullString, element, SessionId)
End Function

And another Optional WebElement argument example:

' Find multiple DOM elements
Public Function FindElements(by_ As by, ByVal value As String, Optional parentElement As WebElement, Optional ByVal SessionId As String = vbNullString) As WebElement()
    Dim Data As Dictionary
    Set Data = ToSelector(by_, value)
    
    If SessionId <> vbNullString Then
        Data.Add "sessionId", SessionId
    End If
    
    Dim cmd
    If Not parentElement Is Nothing Then
        Data.Add "id", parentElement.ElementId
        cmd = CMD_FIND_CHILD_ELEMENTS
    Else
        cmd = CMD_FIND_ELEMENTS
    End If
    
    Dim elements
    Set elements = Execute(cmd, Data)("value") 'see GCUser99's proposed changes to Execute
    
    ' To array of ids
    Dim Ret() As WebElement
    Dim i As Integer
    For i = 0 To elements.Count - 1  ' elements is Collection, not array
        ReDim Preserve Ret(i)
        Set Ret(i) = ToWebElement(elements(i + 1)(ELEMENT_KEY), SessionId)
    Next
    
    ' Return element ids
    FindElements = Ret
End Function

I'm willing to share my version of the WebDriver and WebElement classes, if that is of interest. Thanks again for sharing your code on GitHub!