Selenium findElement throws exception when element present in page but not visible in viewport

Question

The following code works perfectly when an element is present in DOM and visible in the viewport:

WebElement button = webdriver.findElement(By.id("myButton"));

But, I don't understand why it throws an exception when the button is present in the DOM but not visible in the viewport.

I know for sure that the button is present: there is no ajax in play here.

How can I test for an element to be present in the DOM whether or not it is visible in the viewport?

I already saw some usefull links here on stackoverflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/44916498/420593

How to check if an element is into view using Selenium WebDriver?

yes ` WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(webdriver, 3);wait.until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfAllElementsLocatedBy(By.id("myButton")));` But without any result. — fluminis, Mar 27 '20 at 14:29

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 27 '20 at 14:29

You can use WebDriverWait along with action class to move to element and perform click onto it.

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 30);
WebElement button = wait.until(
        ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("myButton")));
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.moveToElement(button).click().build().perform();

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 28 '20 at 06:01

After some more research, that's my conclusion:

webdriver.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView()", button);
button.click();

Should work, but in my case, due to some bootstrap fixed header, the button is in the view but hidden by the fixed header over it (z-index). And an exception is thrown when the second line is executed.

Same occurred with the following:

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.moveToElement(button).click().build().perform();

So, I finally resolved my problem by simulating a click in javascript:

webdriver.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView()", button);

Selenium findElement throws exception when element present in page but not visible in viewport

2 Answers2