Explicit Wait - Element Visible

How it works

An explicit wait waits for one condition, for one element, at one point in the test. You create new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10)) and pass a condition to until(). The wait checks the condition every 500 milliseconds and returns as soon as it holds. If the time runs out, it throws TimeoutException.

ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated() holds when an element matching the locator is in the DOM and displayed, and until() then returns that WebElement, ready to use. That return value is why you rarely need a separate findElement() after a wait.

The Appearing Elements page shows why visibility matters. The paragraph appearing5sec is in the HTML from the start but hidden by the page's CSS (display: none), so findElement() finds it at once and getText() returns an empty string. presenceOfElementLocated() would also return immediately. Only a visibility wait holds until the text can actually be seen.

About the assignment

A message on Appearing Elements becomes visible about five seconds after the page loads. You wait for it with a ten-second explicit wait and print its text, so the read happens only once the message is visible.

What you will do

1. 1Create a WebDriverWait for the driver with a ten-second Duration.
2. 2Call until() with ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated() and the id from the task, and keep the element it returns.
3. 3Print that element's text after the label Element visible:.

Common mistakes

• Finding the element before waiting

  findElement() succeeds because the element is already in the DOM, but it is hidden, so getText() returns an empty string and the line prints with nothing after the label.

• Using Thread.sleep()

  A fixed sleep either wastes time or is too short on a slow run. The wait returns as soon as the message shows.

• A timeout shorter than the delay

  A two-second wait on a five-second element throws TimeoutException with "Expected condition failed: waiting for visibility of element found by By.id". Size the timeout for the slowest normal case.

In a real test suite

Related lessons

• Wait for Elements Appearing at Different TimesWait for several elements that appear at different times.
• Wait for an Element to DisappearThe reverse condition, for spinners and messages that go away.
• isDisplayed() - Check Element VisibilityThe isDisplayed() check this condition runs on each poll.

To try one of these calls on any page without a task, open the Online Selenium Java Compiler.

Starter code

The editor above opens with this code. Fill in the TODO lines, then run and submit it.

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import java.time.Duration;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        driver.get("https://testkru.com/Interactions/AppearingElements");
        
        // TODO: Create WebDriverWait with 10 second timeout
        // TODO: Wait for appearing5sec to be visible
        // TODO: Print its text
        
        driver.quit();
    }
}