Checkbox, Dropdown & Radio Button Handling

Checkbox, dropdown and radio button controls are present in almost every enterprise web application.

Playwright provides dedicated APIs for checkbox controls: check(), uncheck() and is_checked().

terms = page.get_by_label(
    "I agree to the Terms and Conditions"
)

terms.check()

terms.uncheck()

After checking a checkbox, validate the state when that state is important to the business workflow.

from playwright.sync_api import expect

terms = page.get_by_label(
    "I agree to the Terms and Conditions"
)

terms.check()

expect(terms).to_be_checked()

Imagine an online shopping checkout page containing:

• Terms and Conditions checkbox
• Marketing newsletter checkbox
• Gift wrapping checkbox

from playwright.sync_api import expect

terms = page.get_by_label(
    "I agree to the Terms and Conditions"
)

newsletter = page.get_by_label(
    "Subscribe to newsletter"
)

gift_wrap = page.get_by_label(
    "Add gift wrapping"
)

terms.check()

newsletter.check()

gift_wrap.uncheck()

expect(terms).to_be_checked()
expect(newsletter).to_be_checked()
expect(gift_wrap).not_to_be_checked()

A permissions form is a common enterprise example where multiple checkboxes can be selected.

page.get_by_label(
    "View Customers"
).check()

page.get_by_label(
    "Create Customers"
).check()

page.get_by_label(
    "Edit Customers"
).check()

page.get_by_label(
    "Delete Customers"
).uncheck()

This is useful for admin portals, role management systems, employee permissions and access-control applications.

For a native HTML <select> element, Playwright provides select_option().

page.get_by_label(
    "Country"
).select_option("IN")

You can also select using the visible label.

page.get_by_label(
    "Country"
).select_option(
    label="India"
)

Consider a customer registration form containing Country, State and Customer Type.

page.get_by_label(
    "Country"
).select_option(
    label="India"
)

page.get_by_label(
    "State"
).select_option(
    label="Maharashtra"
)

page.get_by_label(
    "Customer Type"
).select_option(
    label="Premium"
)

After selecting an option, validate the selected state when it is part of the test's business purpose.

from playwright.sync_api import expect

country = page.get_by_label("Country")

country.select_option(
    label="India"
)

expect(country).to_have_value("IN")

Not every dropdown is a native HTML <select>. Modern applications often use custom dropdown components.

page.get_by_role(
    "combobox",
    name="Country"
).click()

page.get_by_role(
    "option",
    name="India"
).click()

Radio buttons normally allow one selection from a group. Playwright provides check() for radio buttons as well.

page.get_by_label(
    "Credit Card"
).check()

Another example:

page.get_by_label(
    "Standard Delivery"
).check()

An e-commerce checkout may offer several payment methods:

from playwright.sync_api import expect

page.get_by_label(
    "Credit Card"
).check()

expect(
    page.get_by_label("Credit Card")
).to_be_checked()

Do not use fixed delays after selecting a checkbox, radio button or dropdown option just because the application may update.

This example combines all three controls in a realistic checkout workflow.

from playwright.sync_api import expect

def test_checkout_options(page):

    page.goto(
        "https://shop.example.test/checkout"
    )

    # Dropdown
    country = page.get_by_label("Country")

    country.select_option(
        label="India"
    )

    expect(country).to_have_value("IN")

    # Radio button
    express = page.get_by_label(
        "Express Delivery"
    )

    express.check()

    expect(express).to_be_checked()

    # Checkbox
    terms = page.get_by_label(
        "I agree to the Terms and Conditions"
    )

    terms.check()

    expect(terms).to_be_checked()

    # Submit
    page.get_by_role(
        "button",
        name="Place Order"
    ).click()

    # Business validation
    expect(
        page.get_by_text(
            "Order placed successfully"
        )
    ).to_be_visible()

Selenium can also handle checkboxes effectively. A common approach is to locate the element and click it.

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

terms = driver.find_element(
    By.ID,
    "terms"
)

terms.click()

Selenium can also inspect the state using is_selected().

assert terms.is_selected()

For native select elements, Selenium commonly uses its Select helper.

from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import Select

country = Select(
    driver.find_element(
        By.ID,
        "country"
    )
)

country.select_by_visible_text(
    "India"
)

Scenario

Customer selects:

• Country = India
• Shipping = Express Delivery
• Terms = Checked

• Prefer get_by_label() for labeled form controls.
• Prefer get_by_role() for accessible UI controls.
• Use check() for checkboxes and radio buttons.
• Use uncheck() when a checkbox should be disabled.
• Use select_option() for native HTML select elements.
• Understand whether a dropdown is native or custom.
• Validate selected states when they are important to the test.
• Use web-first assertions instead of immediate state assertions when synchronization matters.
• Avoid fixed waits after selection.
• Avoid brittle CSS/XPath selectors when semantic locators exist.
• Test the business result, not just the click.
• Keep test data deterministic.

Playwright and Selenium can both automate these controls. Playwright's dedicated locator APIs, accessible locator strategy, actionability checks and web-first assertions can make the resulting automation more expressive and reduce manual synchronization in many modern web applications.