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Selenium WebDriver: How to Handle Dynamic Content Loading with Explicit Waits in AngularJS

👀 Views: 63 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-13
selenium webdriver angularjs waits stale-element Java

I'm optimizing some code but I'm performance testing and I'm working with issues with Selenium WebDriver when trying to interact with elements on a page built with AngularJS. The page loads content dynamically, and I'm working with a `StaleElementReferenceException` when trying to click on a button that is supposed to appear after an AJAX call. I have tried using both implicit waits and explicit waits, but it seems like the button is not yet present when I attempt to click it. Here’s the code snippet that I'm currently using: ```java WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10)); WebElement button = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("myButton"))); button.click(); ``` The scenario arises intermittently; sometimes it works, but most of the time, it throws the following behavior: ``` org.openqa.selenium.StaleElementReferenceException: The element reference is stale; either the element is no longer attached to the DOM or the page has been refreshed. ``` I’ve tried refreshing the element reference right before clicking it by re-fetching the button like this: ```java WebElement button = driver.findElement(By.id("myButton")); wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(button)); button.click(); ``` However, that still leads to the same exception. I suspect it might be a timing scenario due to Angular's digest cycle. I also tried adding a sleep statement as a quick fix, but I know that’s not a best practice and doesn’t guarantee that the button will be ready: ```java Thread.sleep(2000); ``` Is there a more reliable way to wait for dynamic content to load without running into `StaleElementReferenceException`? Any suggestions on how to handle these kinds of scenarios effectively with Selenium WebDriver? For context: I'm using Java on Linux. I'm working in a Windows 11 environment. What's the best practice here? The stack includes Java and several other technologies. I'd be grateful for any help. Is there a simpler solution I'm overlooking?