Fluent Wait in Selenium

A Fluent Wait is a powerful tool that can be used to improve the reliability and efficiency of your Selenium automation tests. If you are finding that your tests are failing due to elements not being available, you should consider using Fluent Wait to improve the wait conditions. In this post, we’ll talk about what Fluent Wait is, how it works, and how to deploy it with Selenium WebDriver.

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Understanding Selenium

Selenium is a powerful framework for testing online applications that automates web browsers in a variety of coding languages, including Java, Python, and C++. Due to its ability to make functional testing, regression testing, and compatibility testing simpler, this framework has become a crucial tool for developers and testers all over the world.

Fluent Wait in Selenium

In Selenium, a form of wait mechanism called a “fluent wait” waits for a specific condition to be met before executing the subsequent step. Because it offers a more adaptable and customizable approach than other wait mechanisms in Selenium, it is known as “fluent.”

The Selenium WebDriverWait class, which is a component of the org.openqa.selenium.support.ui package, has the fluent wait functionality.

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The Need for Wait in Selenium

Wait is a critical component of web automation using Selenium, addressing scenarios where elements or conditions are not immediately available for interaction. With the asynchronous nature of web applications, elements may take time to load, especially with dynamic content or AJAX requests. Failing to incorporate appropriate waits can lead to synchronization issues and script failures.

By utilizing wait strategies in Selenium, we ensure that the script patiently waits for elements to become visible, clickable, or meet specified conditions before executing actions. This prevents errors, ensures consistency, and accommodates varying web application response times.

Waits in Selenium foster synchronization between the automation script and the application under test, ensuring that elements are present and ready for interaction. This enhances the stability and reliability of automated tests by handling dynamic content, unpredictable delays, and asynchronous element loading.

Selenium offers different types of waits, including implicit wait, explicit wait, and fluent wait. Implicit wait sets a global timeout for the WebDriver instance, while explicit wait enables waiting for specific conditions. Fluent wait, a more advanced form, grants additional flexibility and customization options.

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Fluent Wait Commands in Selenium

Here are some commonly used methods and commands for Fluent Wait in Selenium:

1. WebDriverWait(driver, timeout): The given WebDriver instance and timeout value are used to create a new instance of `WebDriverWait` through this command.

2. until(expected_condition): This method is used to define the condition to wait for. It waits until the provided expected condition is met or until the timeout expires. Some commonly used expected conditions are:

• `visibility_of_element_located(locator)`: Waits until the element located by the given locator becomes visible.
• `presence_of_element_located(locator)`: Waits until the element located by the given locator is present in the DOM.
• `element_to_be_clickable(locator)`: Waits until the element located by the given locator is visible and enabled, allowing it to be clicked.
•  `text_to_be_present_in_element(locator, text)`: Waits until the element located by the given locator contains the specified text.

3. polling(interval): This method sets the polling interval in seconds. It specifies the frequency at which Fluent Wait will check for the expected condition to be true.

4. ignore(exception_type): This method specifies the exception(s) to be ignored during polling. It allows the wait to continue even if the specified exception(s) occur.

5. until_not(expected_condition): This method waits until the provided expected condition is not met or until the timeout expires. It is useful when waiting for an element to disappear or become invisible.

6. timeout_exception(): This method throws a `TimeoutException` if the expected condition is not met within the specified timeout period.

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Script for Fluent Wait in Selenium

 Here’s an example script with explanations for implementing Fluent Wait in Selenium:

Python:

from selenium import webdriver
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.common.exceptions import TimeoutException
# Create a new instance of the WebDriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
# Open a website
driver.get("https://intellipaat.com/")
# Set the maximum amount of time to wait
timeout = 10
try:
    # Create a FluentWait instance with a timeout and polling interval
    wait = WebDriverWait(driver, timeout).until(
        EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.ID, "myElement"))
    )
    # Perform an action on the element after it becomes visible
    wait.click()
    # Print a success message
    print("Element is visible and clicked!")
except TimeoutException:
    # Print an error message if the element is not found within the timeout
    print("Timed out waiting for element to be visible!")
finally:
    # Close the browser
    driver.quit()

1. Import the necessary Selenium modules actively:

• Import the `webdriver` module to create a WebDriver instance.
• Import the `By` module to specify the element locator strategy.
• Import the `WebDriverWait` module to set up the FluentWait.
• Import the `expected_conditions` module to define the condition to wait for.
• Import the `TimeoutException` module to handle timeout errors.

2. Actively create a new instance of the WebDriver, specifically utilizing the Chrome driver.

3. Actively open a website by utilizing the `get()` method and providing the URL.

4. Actively define the maximum amount of time to wait, measured in seconds, by utilizing the `timeout` variable.

5. Actively handle timeout exceptions through the implementation of a try-except block.

6. Actively instantiate a `FluentWait` instance by passing the WebDriver and the timeout value. Employ the `until()` method to define the condition to wait for, specifically the visibility of an element with the ID “myElement”.

7. Actively perform an action on the element after it becomes visible. For this example, assume that the element supports the `click()` method.

8. Actively print a success message upon finding and clicking the element.

9. In the event that a `TimeoutException` occurs, actively print an error message indicating that the element was not found within the specified timeout.

10. Finally, ensure the browser is closed by actively invoking the `quit()` method on the WebDriver instance.

Also, check out the blog on locators in Selenium.

Advantages of Fluent Wait

Your test scripts will become more dependable, effective, and efficient thanks to Selenium’s Fluent Wait feature. You may prevent synchronization problems, increase the dependability of your test scripts, and handle failures and exceptions more skillfully by utilizing Fluent Wait in Selenium.

Selenium’s Fluent Wait has several benefits that make test automation possible, and they are elaborated below: 

• More adaptable and configurable – Fluent Wait offers a more flexible and adjustable approach compared to Selenium’s previous wait mechanisms. You can define the timeout period and polling interval according to your unique requirements.
• Dynamic waiting – Fluent Wait in Selenium employs a dynamic waiting strategy, which means it awaits the fulfillment of a specific condition before executing the subsequent step. When a web page takes a while to load, and certain online elements might not be instantly accessible, this strategy is helpful.
• Better synchronization – By waiting for the web elements to become available, Selenium’s Fluent Wait feature helps to synchronize the test script with the online application. By doing this, it is possible to prevent synchronization problems from emerging when the test script tries to interact with web items that have not yet loaded.
• Increased dependability – By waiting for the web elements to become available before executing the next step, Fluent Wait in Selenium helps increase your test scripts’ reliability. By doing this, it is possible to prevent potential problems and exceptions from happening when the test script tries to interact with site elements that haven’t yet loaded.
• Better error handling – Fluent Wait in Selenium offers better error handling by tossing a TimeoutException if the condition is not satisfied within the predetermined delay interval. This makes pinpointing the failure’s primary cause easier and conducting the necessary corrective action.

How to use Fluent Wait in Selenium WebDriver?

To use Fluent Wait in Selenium WebDriver with Java, follow the steps below:

Step 1 – Create an instance of the WebDriverWait class by passing the driver object and the timeout period as parameters.

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 30);

Step 2 – Define the expected condition using the ExpectedConditions class. For example, to wait for a web element to be clickable, use the following code:

WebElement element =wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("element-id")));

Step 3 – Perform the desired action on the web element. For example, to click on the web element, use the following code:

element.click();

Also, check out the blog on how to use Selenium with Java.

Conclusion

Selenium’s Fluent Wait feature is a potential tool for delaying the execution of subsequent steps while waiting for web items to become available. Comparatively speaking to other wait methods in Selenium, it offers a more dynamic method of waiting.

You can strengthen and rely on your test scripts by utilizing Fluent Wait in Selenium. We sincerely hope that this blog post has aided in your comprehension of Selenium’s Fluent Wait concept and offers a clear impression of its practical application.

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