java - How to return a lazily-instantiated dynamic webelement -

i've been using @findby while now, , love fact element doesn't located until necessary (not on instantiation).

however, webpage may have anywhere 2-10 of element, , id's on elements numbered (so first element has id of "element1" , forth)

i write function can pass in integer, , return webelement appropriate id, and lazily instantiated. means having function following won't work:

public webelement getelement(int numonpage){     return driver.findelement(by.id("element"+numonpage)); } 

because instant call function webelement gets located. (the reason why can't instantiated because have function waits until element exists calling isdisplayed() on , on over it, catching nosuchelementexceptions).

i realize create list<webelement> selects via css every element id starts "element" have had other cases i've wanted return dynamically generated element, , had use workaround there well.

thanks!

first, don't understand why absolutely need webelement reference before element in page. in normal case, check page loaded , find webelement. first typically done loop , catch nosuchelementexception mentioned.

however, if need reference webelement before can't found in page, create proxy loads lazily (only when first time needed) real webelement instance. this:

public webelement getelement(final int numonpage) {         return (webelement) proxy.newproxyinstance(this.getclass().getclassloader(), new class<?>[] { webelement.class }, new invocationhandler() {             // lazy initialized instance of webelement             private webelement webelement;              public object invoke(object proxy, method method, object[] args)                     throws throwable {                 if (webelement == null) {                     webelement = driver.findelement(by.id("element" + numonpage));                 }                 return method.invoke(webelement, args);             }         });     } 

by calling getelement, retrieve object of type webelement. call 1 of method, retrieved using webdriver.findelement. note that, if call method on proxy instance, element must in page otherwise of course nosuchelementexception.