Selenium NoSuchElementError cannot be caught (Javascript)

Question

Edit: Not sure why this was marked as answered as neither of the questions linked deal with this issue, nor use Javascript. I am looking for a way to catch this error, not prevent it as methods like invisibilityOfElementLocated are unavailable in the Javascript version.

I have a website that I'm setting up some basic automated tests on using nodeJS, selenium and mocha. When first opening the site users click a box and dismiss a welcome message (here 'elemId') which then is no longer rendered in the DOM. I need to check it no longer exists before beginning the actual tests but despite using stalenessOf I frequently get a selenium error of NoSuchElementError. This wouldn't be a problem if I could catch and ignore this exception but unfortunately catching it doesn't seem to work. Below is the code in question and the error message I receive.

    // Check it no longer exists before moving on

    driver.wait(until.stalenessOf(driver.findElement(By.id('elemId'))))

    .then(null, function(err) {

        // Sometimes this throws an error even though the element is stale

        // Using this syntax should catch the error, as it is a selenium error, not a javascript error

        console.log('Threw error but that is acceptable');

    })

NoSuchElementError: no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"css selector","selector":"*[id="elemId"]"}

Nic Laforge · Answer 1 · 2018-10-13T15:58:32.360

The Exception occur before calling stalenessOf.
The code

driver.findElement(By.id('elemId')

will be generating the exception NoSuchElementFound.

Method stalenessOf:
The method stalenessOf is not doing what you think it does. The method expect the element to be present and will wait until a StaleElementException is being raised. Meaning that the element exist but then get either refresh or removed from the DOM.

Try with using Method invisibilityOfElementLocated:

 wait.until(ExpectedConditions.invisibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("elemId"));

The method will return True for either of those conditions:

Element was never attached to the DOM
Once the element is not present on the DOM in your set time. If still present it will raise a TimeOutException.

Selenium NoSuchElementError cannot be caught (Javascript)

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