Unable to automate a click using Python and Selenium - selenium

Question

I'm trying to automate adding requirements to a TestLink database. I'm running into an issue trying to click on this anchor/span.
<a hidefocus="on" class="x-tree-node-anchor" href="javascript:REQ_SPEC_MGMT(17473)" tabindex="1">
<span unselectable="on" id="extdd-6">0:Project-0 (0)</span>
</a>
Here is the section of Python code with things I've tried:
anchor = browser.find_element_by_xpath('//a[contains(#href, "REQ_SPEC_MGMT")]')
span = anchor.find_element_by_xpath('.//span')
anchor.click() # Doesn't work
span.click() # Doesn't work
browser.execute_script("arguments[0].click();", anchor) # Doesn't work
browser.execute_script("arguments[0].click();", span) # Doesn't work
I don't get any errors, but I still don't get the page that appears when I manually click on the link. I verified that I'm finding the correct anchor/span by dumping out the properties so I know I have the correct elements. I've also tried long pauses just to make sure that the element is clickable before I try it. Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Thanks!
Update - Here's a larger section of the HTML:
<div id="tree_div" style="overflow:auto; height:100%;border:1px solid #c3daf9;" class=" x-panel x-tree">
<div class="x-panel-bwrap" id="ext-gen12"><div class="x-panel-body x-panel-body-noheader" id="ext-gen13" style="overflow: auto;">
<ul class="x-tree-root-ct x-tree-arrows" id="ext-gen14">
<li class="x-tree-node"><div ext:tree-node-id="17472" class="x-tree-node-el x-unselectable x-tree-node-expanded" unselectable="on" id="extdd-1">
<span class="x-tree-node-indent"></span>
<img alt="" src="http://192.168.11.111/third_party/ext-js/images/default/s.gif" class="x-tree-ec-icon x-tree-elbow-end-minus">
<img alt="" src="http://192.168.11.111/third_party/ext-js/images/default/s.gif" class="x-tree-node-icon" unselectable="on" id="extdd-2">
<a hidefocus="on" class="x-tree-node-anchor" href="javascript:TPROJECT_REQ_SPEC_MGMT(17472)" tabindex="1">
<span unselectable="on" id="extdd-3">ProjTasks (0)</span>
</a>
</div>
<ul class="x-tree-node-ct" style="">
<li class="x-tree-node">
<div ext:tree-node-id="17473" class="x-tree-node-el x-unselectable folder x-tree-node-collapsed" unselectable="on" id="extdd-4">
<span class="x-tree-node-indent"><img alt="" src="http://192.168.11.111/third_party/ext-js/images/default/s.gif" class="x-tree-icon"></span>
<img alt="" src="http://192.168.11.111/third_party/ext-js/images/default/s.gif" class="x-tree-ec-icon x-tree-elbow-plus">
<img alt="" src="http://192.168.11.111/third_party/ext-js/images/default/s.gif" class="x-tree-node-icon" unselectable="on" id="extdd-5">
<a hidefocus="on" class="x-tree-node-anchor" href="javascript:REQ_SPEC_MGMT(17473)" tabindex="1">
<span unselectable="on" id="extdd-6">0:Project-0 (0)</span></a></div><ul class="x-tree-node-ct" style="display:none;">
</ul>
</li>

Answer 1

At first, try to use implicit selenium wait, to make sure that all your elements is download.
anchor = WebDriverWait(browser,30).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, '//a[contains(#href, "REQ_SPEC_MGMT")]')))
span = WebDriverWait(anchor,30).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, './/span')))
If it does'n work fine, try to execut js script in href:
browser.execute_script("javascript:REQ_SPEC_MGMT(17473)")
or
browser.execute_script(anchor.get_attribute("href"))

Answer 2

I figured out the issue. Some of the characters I was passing to execute_script were being dropped by my vnc software (Python Selenium script drops keys but only when used on a VNC).

Answer 3

To click() on the element with text as 0:Project-0 (0) element is an JavaScript enabled element so to click() on the element you have to induce WebDriverWait for the element_to_be_clickable() and you can use either of the following solutions:
Using CSS_SELECTOR:
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "a.x-tree-node-anchor[href*='REQ_SPEC_MGMT']>span[id^='extdd-']"))).click()
Using XPATH:
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//a[#class='x-tree-node-anchor' and contains(#href, 'REQ_SPEC_MGMT')]/span[starts-with(#id, 'extdd-') and text()='0:Project-0 (0)']"))).click()
Note : You have to add the following imports :
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC