JAVA-Selenium: TimeoutException: Expected condition failed

Question

While working on code written in Java to automate clicking of a search button on a certain website, i have come across an interesting problem.

The java code runs in loops and locates plus clicks the search button on every iteration. This works well for initial two-three iterations but then the code breaks. If i click on this web-element (a button) manually during execution before the breaking of code, everything works well.

Command in Java:

WebElement shineWebElementSearchButton = shineWaitLocal.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("button[id=id_searchButton]")));
shineWebElementSearchButton.click();
WebElement shineWebElementSearchBoxPopUpField1 = shineWaitLocal.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("input[id=id_q]")));
shineWebElementSearchBoxPopUpField1.sendKeys("Testing Automation Selenium Qa");

The error:

Exception in thread "main" org.openqa.selenium.TimeoutException: Expected condition failed: waiting for element to be clickable: By.cssSelector: input[id=id_q] (tried for 30 second(s) with 500 MILLISECONDS interval)
Build info: version: '3.6.0', revision: '6fbf3ec767', time: '2017-09-27T16:15:26.402Z'
System info: host: 'ADMIN-PC', ip: '192.168.2.8', os.name: 'Windows 10', os.arch: 'x86', os.version: '10.0', java.version: '1.8.0_161'
Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver
Capabilities [{moz:profile=C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Temp\rust_mozprofile.tYzdI4bJaghM, rotatable=false, timeouts={implicit=0, pageLoad=300000, script=30000}, pageLoadStrategy=normal, moz:headless=false, platform=XP, moz:accessibilityChecks=false, acceptInsecureCerts=true, browserVersion=57.0, platformVersion=10.0, moz:processID=8664, browserName=firefox, javascriptEnabled=true, platformName=XP, moz:webdriverClick=false}]
Session ID: 89991b7d-9acd-485c-bc59-b537ece2af76
    at org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait.timeoutException(WebDriverWait.java:82)
    at org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.FluentWait.until(FluentWait.java:231)
    at autoApplyShine.applyForJobs.applyForJobsFunctionality(applyForJobs.java:32)
    at autoApplyShine.ApplyShine.main(ApplyShine.java:28)

Answer 1

You have to take care of a couple of points here as follows :

• Once you perform shineWaitLocal for the WebElement shineWebElementSearchButton next you are invoking click() method. Hence instead of ExpectedConditions clause of visibilityOfElementLocated you must be using elementToBeClickable as follows :

  shineWaitLocal.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(Locator Strategy)).click();
  

But, your code is generating TimeoutException even when waiting for visibility of element which implies that the Locator Strategy which you have adapted doesn't identifies the WebElement uniquely. So we have to take help of a locator which uniquely identifies the element.

Now there is a clear mismatch between the Locators you have used in your code ( which is "button[id=id_searchButton]") and in the error stack trace (which is input[id=id_q])

• As per the locator in your code it must be :

  By.cssSelector("button#id_searchButton")
  

• As per the error trace log the locator must be :

  By.cssSelector("input#id_q")
  

Note : It is quite clear from the trace logs you are using Selenium Client v3.6.0 but surprisingly the GeckoDriver version is missing from the below trace log which could have made the debugging much more easier and possible holds the key to answer your question :

Driver info: org.openqa.selenium.firefox.FirefoxDriver