How to avoid “StaleElementReferenceException” in Selenium?

Question

I\'m implementing a lot of Selenium tests using Java. Sometimes, my tests fail due to a StaleElementReferenceException. Could you suggest some approaches to mak

Answer 1

A solution in C# would be:

Helper class:

internal class DriverHelper
{

    private IWebDriver Driver { get; set; }
    private WebDriverWait Wait { get; set; }

    public DriverHelper(string driverUrl, int timeoutInSeconds)
    {
        Driver = new ChromeDriver();
        Driver.Url = driverUrl;
        Wait = new WebDriverWait(Driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(timeoutInSeconds));
    }

    internal bool ClickElement(string cssSelector)
    {
        //Find the element
        IWebElement element = Wait.Until(d=>ExpectedConditions.ElementIsVisible(By.CssSelector(cssSelector)))(Driver);
        return Wait.Until(c => ClickElement(element, cssSelector));
    }

    private bool ClickElement(IWebElement element, string cssSelector)
    {
        try
        {
            //Check if element is still included in the dom
            //If the element has changed a the OpenQA.Selenium.StaleElementReferenceException is thrown.
            bool isDisplayed = element.Displayed;

            element.Click();
            return true;
        }
        catch (StaleElementReferenceException)
        {
            //wait until the element is visible again
            element = Wait.Until(d => ExpectedConditions.ElementIsVisible(By.CssSelector(cssSelector)))(Driver);
            return ClickElement(element, cssSelector);
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Invocation:

        DriverHelper driverHelper = new DriverHelper("http://www.seleniumhq.org/docs/04_webdriver_advanced.jsp", 10);
        driverHelper.ClickElement("input[value='csharp']:first-child");

Similarly can be used for Java.