StaleElementReferenceException on Selenium + Python

Question

I am trying to run a code and every time, I am getting an error of "StaleElementReferenceException", and it makes my life a living hell. The code is as follow:

import time
import unittest
import DropDownAddresses
import re


from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.common.exceptions import *
from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.remote.webelement import WebElement
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.support.select import Select
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.common.exceptions import *

UserEmail = "[email protected]"
UserPassword = '12345678'
SubcategoryName = input("Enter Name of Sub category: ")


def dropDown(self, Category):
    driver = self.driver
    actions = ActionChains ( driver )
    actions.move_to_element ( Category ).perform ( )
    SelectedCategory = driver.find_element_by_partial_link_text ( SubcategoryName )
    self.NameofSelectedCategory = print ( SelectedCategory.text )
    time.sleep ( 2 )
    actions.move_to_element ( SelectedCategory ).click ( ).perform ( )
    time.sleep ( 2 )


def headings(self):
    driver= self.driver
    Pageheading = driver.find_element_by_tag_name ( "h1" ).text
    headingName = re.sub ( "[^a-zA-Z]", "", Pageheading )
    # Mainheading = int(Pageheading.text[:-4])
    offerCount = re.findall ( '\d+', Pageheading )

    NumberofOffers = (offerCount[0])
    if headingName == self.NameofSelectedCategory:
        print ( "Heading is correct i.e. " + headingName )
    else:

        print ( "Heading was not correct" )

    if NumberofOffers == 1:
        print ( "Number of Offers in this section is " + str ( NumberofOffers ) )
    else:
        print ( "Number of offers in this section are " + str ( NumberofOffers ) )



class Categories(unittest.TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        DropDownAddresses.browserCalling(self)

    def test_Test1(self):
        DropDownAddresses.openBrowser(self)
        driver = self.driver
        MoveSliderAhead = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='wrapper']/div[2]/div[1]//div/button[2]")
        MoveSliderAhead.click()
        time.sleep(2)
        print("Slider Moved Ahead")

        MoveSliderBehind = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='wrapper']/div[2]/div[1]//div/button[1]")
        MoveSliderBehind.click()
        time.sleep(2)
        print("Slider Moved Behind")


        HealthandBeautyDD = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[1]/a")
        SportsnLeisureDD= driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[2]/a")
        FashionDD = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[3]/a")
        JewellWatchDD = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[4]/a")
        ElectronicsDD = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[5]/a")


        dropDown(self, HealthandBeautyDD )
        headings(self)

        Wait = WebDriverWait ( driver, 10, poll_frequency=1,
                               ignored_exceptions=[NoSuchElementException, ElementNotVisibleException] )
        Wait.until ( EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[5]/a")))

        time.sleep(3)
        dropDown(self, ElectronicsDD)
        headings(self)







    def tearDown(self):
        print("Checking Categories")

if __name__ == "__main__":

Whereas DropDownAddresses file is as like this:

import os
import time
import unittest


from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.common.exceptions import *
from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.support.select import Select
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait

UserEmail = "[email protected]"
UserPassword = '12345678'


def browserCalling(self):
    driverlocation = "/Users/new/Documents/Learning/Drivers/selenium-2.53.1/py/selenium/webdriver/chromedriver"
    os.environ["webdriver.chrome.driver"] = driverlocation
    self.driver = webdriver.Chrome ( driverlocation )


def openBrowser(self):
    driver = self.driver
    url = "https://bizplace.theentertainerme.com/"
    driver.get ( url )
    driver.implicitly_wait ( 10 )
    self.LoginButton = driver.find_element_by_id ( "signin" )
    self.LoginButton.click ( )
    self.LoginEmail = driver.find_element_by_xpath ( "//*[@id='sign_form-default']//div[1]/input[@type='email']" )
    self.LoginEmail.clear ( )
    self.LoginEmail.click ( )
    self.LoginEmail.send_keys ( UserEmail )

    self.LoginPassword = driver.find_element_by_xpath (
        "//*[@id='sign_form-default']//div[1]/input[@type='password']" )
    self.LoginPassword.clear ( )
    self.LoginPassword.click ( )
    self.LoginPassword.send_keys ( UserPassword )

    self.LoginSubmitButton = driver.find_element_by_xpath ( "//*[@id='sign_form-default']//div[3]/input" )
    self.LoginSubmitButton.click ( )
    time.sleep ( 5 )

Now the Problem is, After done processes on "Health and Beauty" dropdown, I want to switch to "Electronics" dropdown and it's showing me the following error:

Error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/unittest/case.py", line 58, in testPartExecutor
    yield
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/unittest/case.py", line 600, in run
    testMethod()
  File "/Users/new/PycharmProjects/Selenium/Categories.py", line 87, in test_Test1
    dropDown(self, ElectronicsDD)
  File "/Users/new/PycharmProjects/Selenium/Categories.py", line 25, in dropDown
    actions.move_to_element ( Category ).perform ( )
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/action_chains.py", line 83, in perform
    action()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/action_chains.py", line 293, in <lambda>
    Command.MOVE_TO, {'element': to_element.id}))
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 308, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py", line 194, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.StaleElementReferenceException: Message: stale element reference: element is not attached to the page document
  (Session info: chrome=63.0.3239.84)
  (Driver info: chromedriver=2.33.506106 (8a06c39c4582fbfbab6966dbb1c38a9173bfb1a2),platform=Mac OS X 10.13.0 x86_64)




Ran 1 test in 47.314s

FAILED (errors=1)

Process finished with exit code 1

Can someone please help me out on this?

seleniumhq.org/exceptions/stale_element_reference.jsp -- can be helpful. — Ratmir Asanov
– Ratmir Asanov, Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 10:29

suit · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-21 10:03:16Z

2

StaleElementReferenceException happens because you went away from a page where you did find the element. For example:

element = driver.find_element_by_css_selector('#menu')
element.click()
element.click()

We got StaleElementReferenceException

But if:

element = driver.find_element_by_css_selector('#menu')
element.click()
element = driver.find_element_by_css_selector('#menu')
element.click()

Every thing will be fine.

You should redesign your test. Try to find an element just before making an action:

ElectronicsDD = driver.find_element_by_xpath("//*[@id='bs-example-navbar-collapse-1']/ul/li[5]/a")
dropDown(self, ElectronicsDD)

answered Dec 21, 2017 at 10:03

suit

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1 Comment

TeSter Over a year ago

It Worked.. Thanks alot Mate :)

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