Implicit vs. Explicit Wait in Selenium WebDriver: Which Should You Choose?

Selenium-WebDriver: Implicit vs. Explicit Wait, Which is Better?

In Java Seleneium-WebDriver, you may encounter scenarios where the application takes time to load its user interface, causing element location failures. To address this, you have two wait options: implicit and explicit wait.

Implicit Wait:

As demonstrated in your code snippet, you set an implicit wait of 2 seconds:

<code class="java">driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);</code>

This means that the driver will wait for a maximum of 2 seconds for an element to become available before raising an error.

Explicit Wait:

Explicit wait requires a specific condition to be met before the driver proceeds. The WebDriverWait.until method can be used for this purpose:

<code class="java">WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);
WebElement textbox = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("textbox")));</code>

Here, the driver will wait up to 10 seconds for the element with ID "textbox" to become visible before continuing.

Which is Better?

The choice between implicit and explicit wait depends on the situation:

• Explicit Wait: Preferable when you have a specific condition to check and want to avoid wasting time unnecessarily.
• Implicit Wait: Can be useful as a backup for implicit wait scenarios, but it's not ideal for long wait times.

Recommendation:

For situations like yours, where the element presence is not guaranteed within a specific time frame, using an explicit wait, particularly a fluent wait like the one provided in the answer, is recommended.

<code class="java">public WebElement fluentWait(final By locator) {
    // Fluent wait implementation provided in the answer...
}

WebElement textbox = fluentWait(By.id("textbox"));</code>

The fluent wait allows you to customize the timeout and polling interval, providing more flexibility and preventing unnecessary delays.

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