Why Isn't My Selenium WebDriverWait Working, Even Though the Element Is Visible?

WebDriverWait Not Working As Expected

When working with selenium to scrape data, it is crucial to handle dynamic elements that take time to appear. However, a user has encountered an issue where WebDriverWait, which should pause execution until an element is visible, is not working as expected. This issue occurs only in isolated instances, where the element is visible, but WebDriverWait fails to find it.

As per the user's code, they are using WebDriverWait with a 20-second delay and the presence_of_element_located() method. The element locator is searching for a button that opens a new window, allowing the user to select custom columns.

To resolve this issue, it is recommended to use element_to_be_clickable() instead of presence_of_element_located(). The presence_of_element_located() method only ensures the element exists on the DOM, while element_to_be_clickable() verifies that the element is not only visible but also clickable. This change should address the issue of occasionally failing to select elements in the new window, even if they are visible.

Understanding the Expected Conditions Methods

To further clarify the situation, let's examine the three methods mentioned:

1. presence_of_element_located:
   This method checks if an element is present on the page's DOM but does not guarantee visibility or interactivity.
2. visibility_of_element_located:
   This method asserts that an element is present on the DOM and is visible, meaning its height and width are greater than 0.
3. element_to_be_clickable:
   This method confirms that an element is visible, enabled, and interactable, meaning it can be clicked.

In this specific case, using element_to_be_clickable() ensures that the custom columns button is not only present and visible but also enabled and ready to click. This should eliminate the occasional failure in selecting elements in the new window.

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