WebElement#getScreenShotAs(OutputType.File) not working

Question

I am trying to use WebElement#getScreenShotAs(OutputType.FILE) feature added in selenium webdriver 2.47.0 version on Firefox Browser Code

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Answer 1

The real reason for the error is that many / most WebDriver implementations do not actually support element-based screenshots, despite WebElement extending TakesScreenshot since 2.47.0. Perhaps someday this will change.

If you want screenshots you need to do them at the whole-browser level, in which case - as other answers have it - you need to pass the WebDriver instance.

File ssFile = ((TakesScreenshot)(driver)).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);

Strictly speaking you should probably do the following, since not all Drivers are guaranteed to support screenshots, e.g. HtmlUnitDriver.

if (!(getDriver() instanceof TakesScreenshot)) {
    File ssFile = ((TakesScreenshot)(driver)).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
    // ...
}

There are alternate solutions for single-element screenshots, but they inevitably involve cropping of the full-browser screenshot. See, for example: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13834607/954442

Update: just to clarify that this is not a bug, it's that although element screenshots are a part of the W3C WebDriver spec, different browsers have different levels of compliance/coverage, and as far as I know this feature is only supported by Microsoft Edge.