How to click on a deeply buried button in div classes via protractor. No id - angularjs

Question

I am trying to click a button that is buried in div classes in the code via protractor.
I am pioneering a protractor project for my work and have reached a point where I no longer know what to do. I have a button that is buried in div classes and is not allowing me to click. I have tried using mouseMove to get over to the coordinates of the button, I have tried using the className of the specific button, etc. The button does not have an id. The id is not the issue as I have tried clicking a different button, equally buried in divs, by it's id. I need to know how to get through the layers of divs in order to click the button because the rest of the tests will be dependent on it.
APPLICATION CODE:
::before
<dashboard-label>
<div class="att-topic-analysis-tabs">
<div class="att-button-group">
<button class="btn btn-default btn-lg att-close-topic ng-scope"
role="presentation" tabindex="-1"
ng-click="removeTopic(currentTopic.id)" translate>
Close Topic
</button>
</div>
</div>
PROTRACTOR TEST:
it('Closes Topic Successfully', function(){
//opens the first available topic
openTopic.click();
//checks that the URL contains 'topics' after 5 seconds
browser.wait(proExpect.urlContains('topics'), 5000);
var closeTopic = element(by.className('att-close-topic'));
//browser.wait(proExpect.elementToBeClickable(closeTopicButton), 5000);
console.log(closeTopic);
closeTopic.click();
browser.wait(proExpect.urlContains('home'), 5000);
});
As you can see, the Close Topic button is kind of buried in div classes and the standard click isn't working. Any info would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

If the closeTopic locator is finding the element, but failing to click it, check to make sure there's only one matching element in the DOM, and that it's visible. My favorite way to check the DOM is just ctrl-F in Chrome inspector and paste the exact CSS that the test is using (.att-close-topic). And to check that what it's getting is visible, use
console.log(closeTopic.isDisplayed());
This can be a big gotcha in protractor, because it doesn't fail (only warns) when there are multiple matches on the page, and it defaults to the first match rather than the first visible match, which drives me nuts, because it's very rare that you want to do anything with a non-visible element on the page.
This will be partly opinion, but just to add a layer to the conversation...
Sometimes the solution to locating a troublesome element on the page is to go back to the developers and make the page more testable. I've seen testers spend hours or days crafting brilliant workarounds to access a stubborn element, and the end result was a fragile, complicated end-to-end test (and aren't they fragile enough already?).
Sometimes a 5-minute conversation with a developer can result in a quick change in the production code (e.g. add a unique ID) that avoids all that effort and yields a much better result, more stable, more simple. But this requires open conversation between the dev and test team, and a culture that values testing as a primary activity enough to make those testability changes to production code that is otherwise working just fine.

Answer 2

This is what you want to read to help you debug why your test doesn't work.
Also, you might want to start adopting await/async since the control flow will go away in the future.
http://www.protractortest.org/#/debugging

Answer 3

try this
var closebutton=element(by.css("[ng-click="removeTopic(currentTopic.id)"]"),
EC = protractor.ExpectedConditions;
Waits for the element to be clickable.checks for display and enable state of button
browser.wait(EC.elementToBeClickable(closebutton), 10000);
now use : closebutton.click();