ElementNotInteractableException: Message: element not interactable error sending text in search field using Selenium Python

Question

I try to use send_keys on a website, which gives me an error of element not interatable.

Here is my code below:

import selenium
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.support.select import Select
from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains
import time

chrome_optionsme = Options()
chrome_optionsme.add_argument("--incognito")
chrome_optionsme.add_argument("--window-size=1920x1080")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_optionsme, 
                          executable_path="/Users/chueckingmok/Desktop/html/chromedriver")

url='https://thelubricantoracle.castrol.com/industrial/en-DE'
driver.get(url)
time.sleep(5)

welcome_sec_one=WebDriverWait(driver,10).until(
    EC.presence_of_element_located((By.XPATH,'//*[@id="ctl00_termsPopup_lbConfirm"]'))
    )
welcome_sec_one.click()

time.sleep(5)



driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@class='search'[@id='txtSearch']").send_keys("Example")

![Uploaded the error image][1]

Here is the code 

ElementNotInteractableException           Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-2-1415cecd56f9> in <module>
----> 1 driver.find_element_by_xpath("//input[@class='search'][@id='txtSearch']").send_keys("Example")

/Applications/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webelement.py in send_keys(self, *value)
    477         self._execute(Command.SEND_KEYS_TO_ELEMENT,
    478                       {'text': "".join(keys_to_typing(value)),
--> 479                        'value': keys_to_typing(value)})
    480 
    481     # RenderedWebElement Items

/Applications/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webelement.py in _execute(self, command, params)
    631             params = {}
    632         params['id'] = self._id
--> 633         return self._parent.execute(command, params)
    634 
    635     def find_element(self, by=By.ID, value=None):

/Applications/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py in execute(self, driver_command, params)
    319         response = self.command_executor.execute(driver_command, params)
    320         if response:
--> 321             self.error_handler.check_response(response)
    322             response['value'] = self._unwrap_value(
    323                 response.get('value', None))

/Applications/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py in check_response(self, response)
    240                 alert_text = value['alert'].get('text')
    241             raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace, alert_text)
--> 242         raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
    243 
    244     def _value_or_default(self, obj, key, default):

ElementNotInteractableException: Message: element not interactable
  (Session info: chrome=83.0.4103.116)

I think the problem is that I cannot locate the element eventually. So, that's why the element not interactable. btw, the website link: https://thelubricantoracle.castrol.com/industrial/en-DE# I want to use the search button.

Anyone can help?

Answer 1

This error message...

ElementNotInteractableException: Message: element not interactable

...implies that the WebElement with whom you are trying to interact isn't interactable (isn't in interactable state) at that point of time.

The two(2) main reasons for this error are:

• Either you are trying to interact with a wrong/mistaken element.
• Or you are invoking click() too early even before the element turns clickable / interactable.

---

To send a character sequence with in the search field you you have to induce WebDriverWait for the element_to_be_clickable() and you can use the following Locator Strategies:

Code Block:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions() 
options.add_argument("start-maximized")
options.add_experimental_option("excludeSwitches", ["enable-automation"])
options.add_experimental_option('useAutomationExtension', False)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options, executable_path=r'C:\WebDrivers\chromedriver.exe')
driver.get("https://thelubricantoracle.castrol.com/industrial/en-DE")
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(lambda driver: driver.execute_script('return document.readyState') == 'complete')
time.sleep(3)
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//a[@class='button primary' and contains(@id, 'termsPopup_lbConfirm')]"))).click()
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//div[@id='search-init']"))).click()
WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//input[@class='search']"))).send_keys("Example")

Browser Snapshot:

---

Reference

You can find a couple of relevant detailed discussions in:

• selenium.common.exceptions.ElementNotInteractableException: Message: element not interactable when clicking on an element using Selenium Python