Selenium Mouse And Keyboard Actions

The Actions Class

Regular click() and sendKeys() commands handle simple interactions. Some pages need advanced gestures like hovering, dragging, or holding a key. Selenium provides the Actions class for these complex movements.

Diagram: Actions Class Building A Sequence

Actions Builder
    |
    |-- moveToElement()
    |-- clickAndHold()
    |-- dragAndDrop()
    |-- keyDown() / keyUp()
    |
    v
 .build().perform()
    |
    v
 Executes the full sequence

Creating An Actions Object

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

Mouse Hover

Many navigation menus reveal a submenu only when a user hovers the mouse over a parent item.

WebElement menu = driver.findElement(By.id("courses-menu"));
actions.moveToElement(menu).perform();

This moves the virtual mouse over the menu item, triggering any hover-based dropdown to appear.

Right Click

WebElement image = driver.findElement(By.id("course-thumbnail"));
actions.contextClick(image).perform();

This performs a right-click, opening a context menu on elements that support one.

Double Click

WebElement editableText = driver.findElement(By.id("bio-field"));
actions.doubleClick(editableText).perform();

This performs a double-click, often used to select a word or activate an inline editor.

Click And Hold

actions.clickAndHold(image).perform();

This presses the mouse button down without releasing it, useful before a drag movement.

Drag And Drop

WebElement source = driver.findElement(By.id("draggable-item"));
WebElement target = driver.findElement(By.id("drop-zone"));
actions.dragAndDrop(source, target).perform();

This picks up the source element and drops it onto the target element in one motion, common on file upload zones and kanban boards.

Keyboard Key Combinations

WebElement textBox = driver.findElement(By.id("search"));
actions.click(textBox)
       .keyDown(Keys.CONTROL)
       .sendKeys("a")
       .keyUp(Keys.CONTROL)
       .perform();

This clicks the text box, holds the Control key, presses A to select all text, then releases Control, mimicking a keyboard shortcut.

Chaining Multiple Actions

actions.moveToElement(menu)
       .pause(Duration.ofMillis(500))
       .click(driver.findElement(By.linkText("Selenium Course")))
       .build()
       .perform();

This hovers over a menu, pauses briefly for the submenu animation to finish, then clicks a link inside that submenu.

Practical Example

An online quiz page lets students drag answer options into matching boxes. A test script locates each draggable answer and its matching drop zone, then performs dragAndDrop() for every pair to confirm the quiz interface accepts the interaction correctly.