My Webdriver method is 'Not Reliable' when clicking an 'Item' stored inside a Dropdown Menu?

Question

My Webdriver method is not reliable when clicking an 'Item' stored inside a Dropdown Menu?

For example 10 tests will pass but one will fail (Example image listed below)

My Code:

    public void selectTitleFromDropdownMenu(WebElement dropdown, String textToSearchFor) throws Exception {
    Wait<WebDriver> tempWait = new WebDriverWait(this.driver, 30);
    try {
        tempWait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(dropdown));
        List<WebElement> options = dropdown.findElements(By.tagName("option"));
        Select selectDropdown = new Select(dropdown);
        for (int i = 0; i < options.size(); i++) {
            if (options.get(i).getText().equals(textToSearchFor))
                this.wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(options.get(i)));
                selectDropdown.selectByVisibleText(textToSearchFor);
        }
        System.out.println("Successfully selected the following text: " + textToSearchFor + ", using the following webelement: " + "<" + dropdown.toString() + ">");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Unable to select the following text: " + textToSearchFor + ", using the following WebElement: " + "<" + dropdown.toString() + ">");
            System.out.println("Exception: " + e.getMessage());
        }
    }

Even the following Code Fails:

    public void selectTitleFromDropdownMenu(WebElement dropdown) throws Exception {
    Wait<WebDriver> tempWait = new WebDriverWait(this.driver, 30);
    try {
        tempWait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(dropdown));
        WebElement mySelectElm = dropdown;
        Select mySelect= new Select(mySelectElm);
        mySelect.selectByVisibleText("Mr.");

Element:

<select class="form-control title ng-touched ng-dirty ng-valid-parse ng-valid ng-valid-required" name="Salutation" ng-model="AddingDelivery.EditingDeliveryAddress.Title" ng-options="salut.id as salut.id for salut in Salutations" required="">
<option class="ng-binding" value="">Please select</option>
<option value="0" label="Mr.">Mr.</option>
<option value="1" label="Miss">Miss</option>
<option value="2" label="Mrs.">Mrs.</option>
<option value="3" label="Ms.">Ms.</option>
<option value="4" label="Dr.">Dr.</option>
</select

Example of build Fail:

Exceptions: the only exceptions I would see are timeout exceptions, for example unable to locate element after 15Seconds...

thanks for your help

It's not reliable because it looks like the drop down is generated using JavaScript. You should use implicit waits and have a reasonable timeout period to make it more reliable. — AntonB, Feb 21 '17 at 15:50
@AntonB thanks for the adice, would that make much difference if i have already set a explicit wait for this method? — Gbru, Feb 21 '17 at 15:52
Also, I don't think you need this line: `this.wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(options.get(i)));`, this is basically saying wait for the visibility of the option value... you already waited for the `elementToBeClickable` of the select drop down which is usually more than enough. Also, note that `visibilityOf` option value will fail because option values in html have a height and width of 0. — AntonB, Feb 21 '17 at 16:10

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 21 '17 at 13:39

0

If I were you I was going to add some simple retry logic if you don't have something built in your test framework- e.g. retry failed tests a couple of times.

C# example for simple retry code, in Java I guess will be the same:

public void DoWithRetry(Action action, TimeSpan sleepPeriod, int tryCount = 3)
{
    if (tryCount <= 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(tryCount));

    while (true) {
        try {
            action();
            break; // success!
        } catch {
            if (--tryCount == 0)
                throw;
            Thread.Sleep(sleepPeriod);
        }
   }
}

answered Feb 21 '17 at 13:39

Anton Angelov

1,705
13
16

`thread.sleep` is an `anti-pattern`, it consumes the thread and should not be used for this case, see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8815895/why-is-thread-sleep-so-harmful – AntonB Feb 21 '17 at 15:52
1

I am aware. Because of that, I said "simple". You can write lots of more optimised code, but I am not sure whether you need it for all cases. If you decompile the WebDriver DLLs you will find lots more so... :) – Anton Angelov Feb 21 '17 at 16:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 21 '17 at 16:20

I would recommend trying the following approach and remove the explicit wait:

 // when you instantiate your driver
 // this is global across all elements, and you no longer need to wait for one element at a time, i.e explicit waits
 driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

 try {
        Select selectDropdown = new Select(dropdown);
        selectDropdown.selectByVisibleText(textToSearchFor);

        System.out.println("Successfully selected the following text: " + textToSearchFor + ", using the following webelement: " + "<" + dropdown.toString() + ">");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Unable to select the following text: " + textToSearchFor + ", using the following WebElement: " + "<" + dropdown.toString() + ">");
            System.out.println("Exception: " + e.getMessage());
        }
     }

thanks again, is it not best practise to combile explicit and implicit waits due to risk of times clashing etc? — Gbru, Feb 21 '17 at 16:40
no, you should not need to do both the implicit wait and an explicit wait. — AntonB, Feb 21 '17 at 16:41
the error you will get from this is usually `NoSuchElementException`. — AntonB, Feb 21 '17 at 16:43

My Webdriver method is 'Not Reliable' when clicking an 'Item' stored inside a Dropdown Menu?

2 Answers2