How to send text within the Search Box of Facebook Ad Library using Selenium Python

I'm trying to setup a simple page surfing automation script using Selenium's functionality.
However I'm at a step where the script has handled a previous xpath not found issue, but now gave me the next lines error of needing a form to utilize my submit button.

Here is the piece of function in question:

# A function to utilize Selenium to crawl the Meta Ads Library and grab needed ads links 
def get_facebook_ads():

try:
    # Initialize the browser and navigate to the page
    browser = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="C:\\Users\\S\\OneDrive\\Programming\\Learning-Projects\\chromedriver.exe")
    browser.get("https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=ALL&q=%22%20%22&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&media_type=all&content_languages[0]=en")

    # Enter a keyword in the search box
    search_box = WebDriverWait(browser, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "//input[@placeholder='Search by keyword or advertiser']")))
    search_box.send_keys("dog")
    try:
        form = WebDriverWait(browser, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.XPATH, "//form")))
        form.submit()
    except:
        print("Form element not found.")
except Exception as e:
    print(e)
    browser.quit()

Ideally this should just;

• find the search box of the page with the XPATH
• input the text 'dog' into the field
• submit the actual information and press the search button as I would manually

The get request url is exactly the page im looking to surf automate, the main search box is what im referring to. Any help appreciated.

Use element_to_be_clickable(), click on the search box and then clear the search box and enter new search and click enter.

browser.get("https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=ALL&q=%22dogs%22&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&media_type=all")
search=WebDriverWait(browser,10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH,"//input[@placeholder='Search by keyword or advertiser']")))
search.click()
search.clear()
search.send_keys("cats"+Keys.ENTER)

you need to import below library.

from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

If you want to explicitly click on search button here you go.

browser.get("https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=ALL&q=%22dogs%22&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&media_type=all")
search=WebDriverWait(browser,10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH,"//input[@placeholder='Search by keyword or advertiser']")))
search.click()
search.clear()
search.send_keys("cats")
WebDriverWait(browser,10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH,"//div[@aria-label='Search']"))).click()

You were pretty close. The Search box on Facebook Ad Library is an <input> field.

Solution

Ideally to send a character sequence to an <input> element you need to induce WebDriverWait for the element_to_be_clickable() and you can use either of the following locator strategies:

• Using CSS_SELECTOR:

  driver.get('https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=ALL&q=%22%20%22&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&media_type=all&content_languages[0]=en')
  element = WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[placeholder='Search by keyword or advertiser']")))
  element.click()
  element.clear()
  element.send_keys("dog" +Keys.RETURN)
  

• Using XPATH:

  driver.get('https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=ALL&q=%22%20%22&search_type=keyword_exact_phrase&media_type=all&content_languages[0]=en')
  element = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//input[@placeholder='Search by keyword or advertiser']")))
  element.click()
  element.clear()
  element.send_keys("dog" +Keys.RETURN)
  

• Note: You have to add the following imports :

  from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
  from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC