Using the Select Utility Class

The big secret to working with dropdowns is that you don't want to work with them as WebElements, but instead create a Select element for them. The Select class (java and python documentation) includes utility methods that allow you to perform common tasks. We will be working with the following html:

<select id="mySelectID">
    <option value="Value">Option</option>
    <option value="NotValue">Not Option</option>
</select>

Select by option name

Java:

WebElement mySelectElm = driver.findElement(By.id("mySelectID")); 
Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
selMySelect.selectByVisibleText("Option");

Python:

mySelect = Select(driver.find_element_by_id("mySelectID"))
mySelect.select_by_visible_text("Option")

C#:

var mySelectElm = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mySelectID"));
var mySelect = new SelectElement(mySelectElm);
selectElement.SelectByText("Option");

Select by option value

Java:

WebElement mySelectElm = driver.findElement(By.id("mySelectID")); 
Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
selMySelect.selectByValue("Value");

Python:

mySelect = Select(driver.find_element_by_id("mySelectID"))
mySelect.select_by_value("Value")

C#:

var mySelectElm = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mySelectID"));
var mySelect = new SelectElement(mySelectElm);
selectElement.SelectByValue("Value");

Select by index

Java:

WebElement mySelectElm = driver.findElement(By.id("mySelectID")); 
Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
selMySelect.selectByIndex(0);

Python:

mySelect = Select(driver.find_element_by_id("mySelectID"))
mySelect.select_by_index(0)

C#:

var mySelectElm = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mySelectID"));
var mySelect = new SelectElement(mySelectElm);
selectElement.SelectByIndex(0);

Get the selected option

Java:

WebElement mySelectElm = driver.findElement(By.id("mySelectID")); 
Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
WebElement option = mySelect.getFirstSelectedOption();
System.out.println(option.getText()); //prints "Option"

Python:

mySelect = Select(driver.find_element_by_id("mySelectID"))
option = mySelect.first_selected_option
print option.text  #prints "Option"

C#:

var mySelectElm = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mySelectID"));
var mySelect = new SelectElement(mySelectElm);
var option = mySelect.SelectedOption;
Console.write(option.Text); //prints "Option"

Get the list of options

Java:

WebElement mySelectElm = driver.findElement(By.id("mySelectID")); 
Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
List<WebElement> options = mySelect.getOptions();
for (WebElement option : options) {
    System.out.println(option.getText()); //Prints "Option", followed by "Not Option"
}

Python:

mySelect = Select(driver.find_element_by_id("mySelectID"))
print [o.text for o in mySelect.options] #Prints "Option", followed by "Not Option"

C#:

var mySelectElm = driver.FindElement(By.Id("mySelectID"));
var mySelect = new SelectElement(mySelectElm);
var options = mySelect.SelectedOptions;
foreach(var option in options) {
    Console.write(option.Text); //Prints "Option", followed by "Not Option"
}