WebDriver check if an element exists

Question

How to check if an element exist with web driver   Is using a try catch really the only possible way   boolean present  try      driver findElement By id  logoutLink        present   true    catch  NoSuchElementException e       present   false

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As I understand it  this is the default way of using the web driver

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Write the following method using Java   protected boolean isElementPresent By by           try              driver findElement by               return true                    catch NoSuchElementException e               return false                    Call the above method during assertion

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You could alternatively do  driver findElements  By id  quot     quot     size      0  Which saves the nasty try catch p s  Or more precisely by  JanHrcek here  driver findElements By id  quot     quot    isEmpty

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I extended Selenium WebDriver implementation  in my case HtmlUnitDriver to expose a method  public boolean isElementPresent By by      like this    check if page is loaded within a timeout period  Once page is loaded  I lower the implicitly wait time of the WebDriver to some milliseconds  in my case 100 mills  probably should work with 0 mills too  call findElements By   the WebDriver even if will not find the element will wait only the amount of time from above  rise back the implicitly wait time for future page loading   Here is my code   import java util concurrent TimeUnit  import org openqa selenium By  import org openqa selenium JavascriptExecutor  import org openqa selenium WebDriver  import org openqa selenium htmlunit HtmlUnitDriver  import org openqa selenium support ui ExpectedCondition  import org openqa selenium support ui WebDriverWait   public class CustomHtmlUnitDriver extends HtmlUnitDriver        public static final long DEFAULT TIMEOUT SECONDS   30      private long timeout   DEFAULT TIMEOUT SECONDS       public long getTimeout             return timeout            public void setTimeout long timeout            this timeout   timeout             public boolean isElementPresent By by            boolean isPresent   true          waitForLoad              search for elements and check if list is empty         if  this findElements by  isEmpty                  isPresent   false                      rise back implicitly wait time         this manage   timeouts   implicitlyWait timeout  TimeUnit SECONDS           return isPresent             public void waitForLoad             ExpectedCondition lt Boolean gt  pageLoadCondition   new ExpectedCondition lt Boolean gt                  public Boolean apply WebDriver wd                      this will tel if page is loaded                 return  complete  equals   JavascriptExecutor  wd  executeScript  return document readyState                                      WebDriverWait wait   new WebDriverWait this  timeout             wait for page complete         wait until pageLoadCondition             lower implicitly wait time         this manage   timeouts   implicitlyWait 100  TimeUnit MILLISECONDS                Usage   CustomHtmlUnitDriver wd   new CustomHtmlUnitDriver    wd get  http   example org    if  wd isElementPresent By id  Accept           wd findElement By id  Accept    click      else       System out println  Accept button not found on page

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String link   driver findElement By linkText linkText   getAttribute  href     This will give you the link the element is pointing to

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With version 2 21 0 of selenium-java jar you can do this   driver findElement By id         isDisplayed

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As the comment stated  this is in C  not Java but the idea is the same   I ve researched this issue extensively and ultimately the issue is  FindElement always returns an exception when the element doesn t exist   There isn t an overloaded option that allows you to get null or anything else   Here is why I prefer this solution over others    Returning a list of elements then checking if the list size is 0 works but you lose functionality that way   You can t do a  click   on a collection of links even if the collection size is 1  You could assert that the element exists but often that stops your testing   In some cases  I have an extra link to click depending on how I got to that page and I want to click it if it exists or move on otherwise  It s only slow if you don t set the timeout driver Manage   Timeouts   ImplicitlyWait TimeSpan FromSeconds 0    It s actually a very simple and elegant once the method is created   By using FindElementSafe instead of FindElement  I don t  see  the ugly try catch block and I can use a simple Exists method   That would look something like this   IWebElement myLink   driver FindElementSafe By Id  myId     if  myLink Exists       myLink Click         Here is how you extend IWebElement  amp  IWebDriver  IWebDriver FindElementSafe           lt summary gt          Same as FindElement only returns null when not found instead of an exception           lt  summary gt           lt param name  driver  gt current browser instance lt  param gt           lt param name  by  gt The search string for finding element lt  param gt           lt returns gt Returns element or null if not found lt  returns gt      public static IWebElement FindElementSafe this IWebDriver driver  By by                try                       return driver FindElement by                     catch  NoSuchElementException                        return null                    IWebElement Exists           lt summary gt          Requires finding element by FindElementSafe By           Returns T F depending on if element is defined or null           lt  summary gt           lt param name  element  gt Current element lt  param gt           lt returns gt Returns T F depending on if element is defined or null  lt  returns gt      public static bool Exists this IWebElement element                if  element    null            return false            return true          You could use polymorphism to modify the IWebDriver class instance of FindElement but that s a bad idea from a maintenance standpoint

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This works for me every time       if  driver findElements By xpath       id  submit      isEmpty               THEN CLICK ON THE SUBMIT BUTTON      else            DO SOMETHING ELSE AS SUBMIT BUTTON IS NOT THERE

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I agree with Mike s answer but there s an implicit 3 second wait if no elements are found which can be switched on off which is useful if you re performing this action a lot   driver manage   timeouts   implicitlyWait 0  TimeUnit MILLISECONDS   boolean exists   driver findElements  By id          size      0 driver manage   timeouts   implicitlyWait 3  TimeUnit SECONDS     Putting that into a utility method should improve performance if you re running a lot of tests

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you can do an assertion   see the example   driver asserts   assertElementFound  Page was not loaded   By xpath    div  id  actionsContainer     Constants LOOKUP TIMEOUT     you can use this this is native     public static void waitForElementToAppear Driver driver  By selector  long timeOutInSeconds  String timeOutMessage        try         WebDriverWait wait   new WebDriverWait driver  timeOutInSeconds         wait until ExpectedConditions visibilityOfElementLocated selector          catch  TimeoutException e          throw new IllegalStateException timeOutMessage

[java] WebDriver: check if an element exists?

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