WebdriverJS ElementNotVisibleError: element not visible

Question

I'm new to Selenium and I think I'm just not understanding what is happening in the code and browser. I can work around my issue by replacing the driver.wait code (posted below) with a driver.sleep(1000) but I have been reading that sleep statements aren't ideal.

Can somebody help me figure out why the code I have isn't working and what exactly is going on? I can provide a full stack trace if it is helpful.

Here is what the code looks like.

const webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver')
const chrome = require("selenium-webdriver/chrome");
const By = webdriver.By
const until = webdriver.until
var username = "XXX"
var password = "XXX"
function login(username, password) { 
 // This part works fine
 driver.wait(until.elementLocated(By.id('Email')))
 driver.findElement(By.id('Email')).sendKeys(username)
 driver.findElement(By.id('next')).click()
 // Here is where the element not visible happens
 driver.wait(until.elementLocated(By.id('Passwd')), 5000)
 // driver.sleep(1000) works but I'm not sure why?
 driver.findElement(By.id('Passwd')).sendKeys(password)
 // Login
 driver.findElement(By.id('signIn')).click()
}
var driver = new webdriver.Builder()
 .withCapabilities({'browserName': 'chrome'}).build()
driver.get('https://gmail.com')
login(username, password)

• Swagin9: This looks to be very similar to this question with the latest answer (April 6, 2017) showing the best solution: stackoverflow.com/a/43263908/3817795

Answer 1

You are right, Selenium allows you to avoid such woodoo waits, gives you full control. And you know the drill: "with great power comes great responsibility". So:

1) learn to use helper class ExpectedConditions: EC.presence_of_element_located() - will wait until element is visible and clickable

2) Once you located element, save reference and use it, so you don't have to locate in next line again.

• jmreicha: Do you have a reference to the ExpectedConditions class? I found the Until class seleniumhq.github.io/selenium/docs/api/javascript/module/…. Is that something different?
• jmreicha: I was able to get the code working with ExpectedConditions in Python but not in Javascript :(

Answer 2

My solution:

• You are saying is correct. In best practices we should avoid using explicit wait driver.sleep(5000)

• Try to use implicit wait which will not wait unnecessarily. See below method:

   public void waitForElement(WebElement value)
   {
   // wait for field
   WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 90);
   wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(value));
   System.out.print("."); // Just to verify code is used and working 
   }
  

• Actual Use:

  waitForElement(obj.your_web_element);
  

• jmreicha: I'm using Javascript, not Java.