The element does not exist in DOM anymore

[Gaurav_Valera]

Hi,

Appium throws intermittent error

selenium.common.exceptions.StaleElementReferenceException: Message: The element 'By.id: com.androidsample.generalstore:id/productPrice' does not exist in DOM anymore

Code:
driver.find_element_by_id("com.androidsample.generalstore:id/productPrice").is_displayed()

Test data:
Appium Version: 1.17.1
Python Version: 3.8
IDE: Pycharm

Kindly guide me to resolve above issue.

Best Regards,
Gaurav Valera

[Gaurav_Valera]

driver.find_element_by_id(“com.androidsample.generalstore:id/productPrice”).is_displayed()

Issue is fixed after applying Explicit Wait.In case some one is facing the same issue, do apply following steps:

            wait = WebDriverWait(self.driver, 8)
            wait.until(expected_conditions.presence_of_element_located((By.ID, "productPrice")))
            self.driver.find_element_by_id("productPrice").is_displayed()

Note: Import necessary packages too

[chetan_thummar]

Which packages require to handle this exception?
@Gaurav_Valera

[pnutalapati]

@Gaurav_Valera @Aleksei @KazuCocoa
Thanks for your code snippet. We had already implemented this wait feature of 20sec. But occasionally, or rather randomly this error still pops up. I could not figure out the reason. The code snippet for wait mechanism we use is as follows:

• tapByElement(menuOptions.get(3), "Tap Devices Option");

• public void tapByElement(WebElement e, String msg) {
            waitForVisibility(e);
            utils.log().info(msg);
            Rectangle elRect = e.getRect();
            Point point = new Point(
                    elRect.x + (int) (elRect.getWidth() / 2.0),
                    elRect.y + (int) (elRect.getHeight() / 2.0)
            );
            tapAtPoint(point);
        }
  

• public boolean waitForVisibility(WebElement e) {
        WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(TestUtils.WAIT));
       return wait.until(ExpectedConditions.attributeContains(e, "enabled", String.valueOf(true)));
    }

[Aleksei]

it is cause you send element instead of it locator. plus your screen redraw during waiting.

[pnutalapati]

Thanks Aleksei @Aleksei

[Elena]

Hello there!
I’m trying to catch the error in case the element doesn’t appear, because that’s how I need it. Is there any way to do it? With .size !=0 it acts as if it is always displayed, even though it is not.
Thanks in advance

[Aleksei]

first add example how you search for needed element.

[Elena]

Yes, sorry, this is my code

WebElement displayedError = driver.findElement(By.id(“com.example.prep:id/textinput_error”));
String errorText = driver.findElement(By.id(“com.example.prep:id/textinput_error”)).getText();

  driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(3));

  if (displayedError.isDisplayed()){
  	Assert.assertEquals(errorText, "Este teléfono no es válido.");
  	System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "Aparece mensaje de error y texto es correcto" + ANSI_RESET);
  }
  
  else {
  	System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "No aparece mensaje de error" + ANSI_RESET);
  }

[Aleksei]

lets change a bit your code:

        // this is FAST action by default if you need a bit more time use implicitlyWait before search element
        // driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(3)); // 3 sec wait for elements
        WebElement textErrorInput = driver.findElement(By.id("com.example.prep:id/textinput_error"));

        // check textErrorInput element appeared
        if (isLoaded(textErrorInput)) {
            Assert.assertEquals(textErrorInput.getText(), "Este teléfono no es válido.", "Text input error NOT correct");
            System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "Aparece mensaje de error y texto es correcto" + ANSI_RESET);
        } else {
            System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "No aparece mensaje de error" + ANSI_RESET);
        }

        public boolean isLoaded (WebElement el){
            boolean bool = false;
            try {
                bool = !((RemoteWebElement) el).getId().isEmpty();
            } catch (Exception ignored) {
            }
            return bool;
        }

[Elena]

It works perfectly. I thank you very much.

Edit: Seemed to work but actually acts like it never found the item. I don’t understand what’s going on.

Edit again (sorry): I have corrected something that was wrong in my code and now I have the same problem as before.
I must point out that in the same test I have to do this check twice: in the first, the error should appear, in the second, not.
And it is in the second that Appium throws me the error:

FAILED: appiumTest.Login.Login

org.openqa.selenium.StaleElementReferenceException: The element ‘By.id: com.example.prep:id/textinput_error’ does not exist in DOM anymore

For documentation on this error, please visit: https://www.selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/troubleshooting/errors#stale-element-reference-exception

Build info: version: ‘4.10.0’, revision: ‘c14d967899’

System info: os.name: ‘Windows 10’, os.arch: ‘amd64’, os.version: ‘10.0’, java.version: ‘17.0.6’

Driver info: io.appium.java_client.android.AndroidDriver

Command: [719e1b4b-35b7-4a2c-a5e3-8b7f1b02447a, getElementText {id=00000000-0000-0946-ffff-ffff0000007f}]

Capabilities {appium:app: C:\Users\elena\ecli…, appium:appPackage: com.example.prep, appium:automationName: UIAutomator2, appium:databaseEnabled: false, appium:desired: {app: C:\Users\elena\ecli…, automationName: UIAutomator2, deviceName: Pixel 6 API 33, platformName: ANDROID}, appium:deviceApiLevel: 33, appium:deviceManufacturer: Google, appium:deviceModel: sdk_gphone_x86_64, appium:deviceName: emulator-5554, appium:deviceScreenDensity: 420, appium:deviceScreenSize: 1080x2400, appium:deviceUDID: emulator-5554, appium:javascriptEnabled: true, appium:locationContextEnabled: false, appium:networkConnectionEnabled: true, appium:pixelRatio: 2.625, appium:platformVersion: 13, appium:statBarHeight: 128, appium:takesScreenshot: true, appium:viewportRect: {height: 2081, left: 0, top: 128, width: 1080}, appium:warnings: {}, appium:webStorageEnabled: false, platformName: ANDROID}

Element: [[AndroidDriver: on ANDROID (719e1b4b-35b7-4a2c-a5e3-8b7f1b02447a)] -> id: com.example.prep:id:id/textinput_error]

[Aleksei]

in the first, the error should appear, in the second, not.

lets look all together

        // this is FAST action by default if you need a bit more time use implicitlyWait before search element
        // driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(3)); // 3 sec wait for elements
        WebElement textErrorInput = driver.findElement(By.id("com.example.prep:id/textinput_error"));

        // check textErrorInput element appeared
        if (isLoaded(textErrorInput)) {
            Assert.assertEquals(textErrorInput.getText(), "Este teléfono no es válido.", "Text input error NOT correct");
            System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "Aparece mensaje de error y texto es correcto" + ANSI_RESET);
        } else {
            System.out.println(ANSI_YELLOW + "No aparece mensaje de error" + ANSI_RESET);
        }

       // ... here some your steps...
       
      // now need AGAIN to check. so you need AGAIN first find your element
      textErrorInput = driver.findElement(By.id("com.example.prep:id/textinput_error"));
      // only after this you can check if it appeared or not

[Elena]

Sorry for taking so long to respond, I was busy with other tasks during the summer.
I have tried this new code and I still get the same error. I don’t understand what is happening, since it recognizes that the text does not appear, but it does not consider it valid when it should, and the test fails.