Selenium button click works in Python console but not script

Question

I have the following Python code using Selenium to automate a button press:

from selenium import webdriver
import time

def main():
    page_url = 'x.htm?'
    driver = webdriver.Safari()
    driver.get(page_url)
    time.sleep(2)
    elem = driver.find_element_by_xpath('yy')
    elem.click()
    driver.quit()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

I've removed the URL and button but they are valid. When I copy the code into an interactive Python console it runs and the click works; the browser is redirected. But when I run the code as as script, the click doesn't happen (the browser appears and the page renders but click is not registered).

Would love some help understanding why this is happening.

Try add some sleep before `elem = driver.find_element_by_xpath('yy')` to wait page loading. — yong, Dec 31 '18 at 06:21
is it throwing some exception in headless browser if yes please let me know — iamsankalp89, Dec 31 '18 at 07:40
Are you sure the page is opened in browser when run the code as script? In your question you mentioned `headless browser` which i confused how you know the page opened when run in Python interactive console. — yong, Jan 01 '19 at 12:40
@yong Yes. I guess I shouldn't use the term headless; both interactive and the script I see the browser open and can control it programmatically. — Clinton Boys, Jan 01 '19 at 12:45
Change your script to find other clickable element to see click not work on any element or only that element. And update your code includes sleep in your question. — yong, Jan 01 '19 at 12:53

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 18 '20 at 17:50

As you mentioned ...copy the code into an interactive Python console it runs and the click works... that implies the element doesn't turns clickable even with 2 seconds of sleep.

Solution

Ideally, to click on the element you need to induce WebDriverWait for the element_to_be_clickable() and you can use the following xpath based Locator Strategy:

WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "yy"))).click()

Note: You have to add the following imports :

from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

Selenium button click works in Python console but not script

1 Answers1

Solution