Selenium WebDriver reliable tests - selenium

Question

I know that this question was asked many times before, but I still couldn't find a solution that works for me. When I run my tests with Selenium WebDriver most of the times they fail with "NoSuchElementException". I tried using Explicit and Implicit Waits but nothing seems to work. So, is there any other way besides using Waits in which I can make my tests more reliable?
I'm using selenium-java-2.31.0 with FirefoxDriver. Below are some samples of code I tried to make my tests more reliable:
public void waitAndClickElement(WebDriver driver, final By selector) {
Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
.withTimeout(50, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.pollingEvery(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);
WebElement elementToClick = wait
.until(new Function<WebDriver, WebElement>() {
public WebElement apply(WebDriver driver) {
return driver.findElement(selector);
}
});
waitForElementVisible(driver, selector);
elementToClick.click();
}
..and this:
public WebElement waitForElementPresent(WebDriver driver, final By selector){
Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>(driver)
.withTimeout(70, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.pollingEvery(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);
WebElement elementToClick = wait
.until(new Function<WebDriver, WebElement>() {
public WebElement apply(WebDriver driver) {
return driver.findElement(selector);
}
});
return elementToClick;
}
...and this:
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 50);
WebElement user_name = wait.until(visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath("//*#id='userName']")));
...and this:
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(50, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
...and finally one of the tests that I try to make more reliable:
#Test
public void test1{
waitAndClickElement(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='linkLogIn']"));
waitForElementPresent(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='userName']")).sendKeys("name");
waitForElementPresent(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='inputEmail']")).sendKeys("email#gmail.com");
waitForElementPresent(driver,By.xpath("//*[#id='resetPassword']")).click();
assertTrue(isElementPresent(By.xpath("//*[#id='moduleMain']")));
}
Thank you!

Answer 1

Try below custom method. It works fine for me,
public boolean waitForElementToBePresent(By by, int waitInMilliSeconds) throws Exception
{
WebDriver driver = getDriver();
int wait = waitInMilliSeconds;
int iterations = (wait/250);
long startmilliSec = System.currentTimeMillis();
for (int i = 0; i < iterations; i++)
{
if((System.currentTimeMillis()-startmilliSec)>wait)
return false;
List<WebElement> elements = driver.findElements(by);
if (elements != null && elements.size() > 0)
return true;
Thread.sleep(250);
}
return false;
}
Use it like,
waitForElementToBePresent(By.id("linkLogIn", 5000);
driver.findElement(By.id("linkLogIn")).click();

Answer 2

WebDriver is perfectly stable if you handle exceptions properly. The problem is that the methods of ExpectedConditions class don't handle the exceptions for you although most people will reply to your question as if it does.
You can try my method if you want. This method returns in between 0 to 90 seconds, depending on the scenario. You may prefer to alter this method a little, but it should work. The important concepts here are:
1. Use the new FluentWait class with the .ignoring method (or .ignoreAll() ).
2. Use findElement() BUT make sure you catch (and nicely handle) the possible
exceptions (that you are ignoring in the wait).
3. Use a loop to retry after exceptions but govern that by either time or
# of tries.
And the code:
public WebElement getElementByLocator( final By locator ) {
LOGGER.info( "Get element by locator: " + locator.toString() );
final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<WebDriver>( driver )
.withTimeout(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.pollingEvery(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.ignoring( NoSuchElementException.class )
.ignoring( StaleElementReferenceException.class ) ;
int tries = 0;
boolean found = false;
WebElement we = null;
while ( (System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) < 91000 ) {
LOGGER.info( "Searching for element. Try number " + (tries++) );
try {
we = wait.until( ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated( locator ) );
found = true;
break;
} catch ( StaleElementReferenceException e ) {
LOGGER.info( "Stale element: \n" + e.getMessage() + "\n");
} catch ( NoSuchElementException nse ) {
LOGGER.info( "No such element: \n" + nse.getMessage() + "\n");
}
}
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
long totalTime = endTime - startTime;
if ( found ) {
LOGGER.info("Found element after waiting for " + totalTime + " mill." );
} else {
LOGGER.info( "Failed to find element after " + totalTime + " mill." );
}
return we;
}

Answer 3

When you run findElement, you will get an error when it's not found. This occurs for one of three reasons:
Your selector is wrong
If the selector is wrong, the best thing to do debug until you get to that spot and pause test execution. Then use the console to figure out the correct selector to find the element.
The element isn't there
You may notice in your first action that the element you're looking for isn't actually there. In that case, find out why you're in that wrong state and fix it. If you're expecting the element to not be there, Here is a great C# example on how to extend your IWebElement object to allow for a .Exists() method.
The element is late
Determining if the element is just late is easy. Run the test normally once and then run in debug mode stepping over each step manually. If your normal test run fails while your manual steps work, you know you found your issue. Typically the issue is due to AJAX loads not occurring on page load. In these instances, a good webdev will typically add some kind of spinner image that you can easily search for. I created a helper method called WaitForPageLoad() that first waits till page load, then verifies that the spinner isn't present, then waits again for page load to complete. You want 2 page load waits because a modal will spin then load while a new page load will load then spin. Finally, the page is complete, your element will be present.

Answer 4

I have faced with the same type of problem, while using WebDriver with C#.
I can propose 2 different ways on how you can avoid(not completely, but minimize) NoSuchElementException in your tests:
First of all you should figure out how your application works - does it use a lot of Ajax and other asynch. requests/responses. Then you can use explicit wait for every element, which can not be located at once.
You can write your own implementation of WebElement class based on Selenium WebDriver WebElement class.
Main idea - everytime you will use your webelement it will relocated - so you will not be worry about NoSuchElement or StaleElementException.

Answer 5

Did you try to catch element by element without all theses wait and wait.until?
simply like : WebElement username = driver.findelement(By.id("userName"));
Can you drop your html by the way ?
EDIT:
What i can suggest is :
protected void sleep(int i) {
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(i, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
}
#test
void test(){
driver.findElement(By.id("linkLogIn")).click(); sleep(6);
driver.findElement(By.id("userName")).sendKeys("user"); sleep(1);
driver.findElement(By.id("inputEmail")).sendKeys("mail#gmail.com"); sleep(1);
driver.findElement(By.id("resetPassword")).click(); sleep(10);
Assert.assertTrue(isElementPresent(By.id("moduleMain")));
}

Answer 6

Well your code tells me that you are only waiting until the element is present.
waitForElementPresent(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='userName']")).sendKeys("name");
waitForElementPresent(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='inputEmail']")).sendKeys("email#gmail.com");
It tells me nothing that you clicked the field, then using sendkeys to input the text.
How about adding click
waitForElementPresent(driver, By.xpath("//*[#id='userName']"));
driver.findElement(by.id ="userName").click();
driver.findElement(by.id ="userName").sendKeys("name");
The problem is the mouse focus on webdriver, it need to be focused in appropriate field AFAIK