python - Selenium - iframe headache - unable to solve -

i have been banging head against wall long enough okay turn here @ point.

i have page iframe:

<iframe frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" tabindex="0" src="" title="rich text editor, listing_description" aria-describedby="cke_18" style="width:100%;height:100%"> 

when xpath using: '//*[@aria-describedby="cke_18"]'

i web element where:

>>> elem <selenium.webdriver.remote.webelement.webelement object @ 0x104327b50> >>> elem.id u'{3dfc8264-71bc-c948-882a-acd6a8b93ab5}' >>> elem.is_displayed <bound method webelement.is_displayed of <selenium.webdriver.remote.webelement.webelement object @ 0x104327b50>> 

now, when try extract put information in iframe, along following error:

traceback (most recent call last): file "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> file "/applications/spyder.app/contents/resources/lib/python2.7/spyderlib/widgets/externalshell/sitecustomize.py", line 560, in debugfile debugger.run("runfile(%r, args=%r, wdir=%r)" % (filename, args, wdir)) file "/system/library/frameworks/python.framework/versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/bdb.py", line 400, in run exec cmd in globals, locals file "<string>", line 1, in <module> file "/applications/spyder.app/contents/resources/lib/python2.7/spyderlib/widgets/externalshell/sitecustomize.py", line 540, in runfile execfile(filename, namespace) file "/users/jasonmellone/documents/pythonprojects/nakedapts.py", line 88, in <module> = elem.find_element_by_xpath(".//*") file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.41.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/remote/webelement.py", line 201, in find_element_by_xpath return self.find_element(by=by.xpath, value=xpath) file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.41.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/remote/webelement.py", line 377, in find_element {"using": by, "value": value})['value'] file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.41.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/remote/webelement.py", line 370, in _execute return self._parent.execute(command, params) file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.41.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 166, in execute self.error_handler.check_response(response) file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/selenium-2.41.0-py2.7.egg/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py", line 164, in check_response raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace) selenium.common.exceptions.nosuchelementexception: message: u'unable locate element: {"method":"xpath","selector":".//*"}' ; stacktrace: @ firefoxdriver.prototype.findelementinternal_ (file:///var/folders/8x/0msd5dd13l9453ff9739rj7w0000gn/t/tmpmh4are/extensions/fxdriver@googlecode.com/components/driver_component.js:8905) @ firefoxdriver.prototype.findchildelement (file:///var/folders/8x/0msd5dd13l9453ff9739rj7w0000gn/t/tmpmh4are/extensions/fxdriver@googlecode.com/components/driver_component.js:8917) @ delayedcommand.prototype.executeinternal_/h (file:///var/folders/8x/0msd5dd13l9453ff9739rj7w0000gn/t/tmpmh4are/extensions/fxdriver@googlecode.com/components/command_processor.js:10884) @ delayedcommand.prototype.executeinternal_ (file:///var/folders/8x/0msd5dd13l9453ff9739rj7w0000gn/t/tmpmh4are/extensions/fxdriver@googlecode.com/components/command_processor.js:10889) @ delayedcommand.prototype.execute/< (file:///var/folders/8x/0msd5dd13l9453ff9739rj7w0000gn/t/tmpmh4are/extensions/fxdriver@googlecode.com/components/command_processor.js:10831)

now, i, not being selenium developer, have no idea means.

when run following code:

   elem = helper.getelementbyxpath(mydriver,'//*[@aria-describedby="cke_18"]',"abc");     mydriver.switch_to_frame(elem); 

the above runs helper.getelementbyxpath is:

    def getelementbyxpath(mydriver,xpath,valuestring):          try:              = mydriver.find_element_by_xpath(xpath);             a.send_keys(valuestring);             return a;         except:             print "unexpected error:", sys.exc_info()[0];             return 0;     = elem.find_element_by_xpath(".//*") 

giving me following:

>>> elem.id   u'{8be4819b-f828-534a-9eb2-5b791f42b99a}' 

and following statement:

  = elem.find_element_by_xpath(".//*") 

gives me huge error.

the frustrating part me following:

1. i don't need information out of embedded input in iframe, want sendkeys.
2. i happy "keys.tab" until reach proper box, , cursor.location.element.send_keys (pseudo code).
3. i want type text on page cursor in right place (can't easily?)

my goal send keys here, not deeper, , cannot seem solve problem without getting above issue.

is there way solve this? quite defeated , hope has answer.

thank you!

selenium can access elements in current frame. can switch deeper frame this:

driver.switch_to_frame(identifier) 

where identifier is: - name of frame - webelement reference frame - numeric index of frame

api reference here: http://selenium-python.readthedocs.org/en/latest/api.html

when finish in iframe, can switch top level following:

driver.switch_to_default_content()