Explicit wait (WebDriverWait) in Selenium Java - Test Execution Trace

Test Overview

This test opens a webpage, waits explicitly for a button to become clickable using WebDriverWait, clicks it, and verifies the expected result appears.

Test Code - JUnit with Selenium WebDriver

Selenium Java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.WebDriverWait;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
import java.time.Duration;

public class ExplicitWaitTest {
    WebDriver driver;
    WebDriverWait wait;

    @BeforeEach
    public void setUp() {
        driver = new ChromeDriver();
        wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
    }

    @Test
    public void testButtonClickWithExplicitWait() {
        driver.get("https://example.com/wait-demo");

        // Wait until the button with id 'delayed-button' is clickable
        WebElement button = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("delayed-button")));

        button.click();

        // Verify that clicking the button shows the message with id 'result-message'
        WebElement message = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("result-message")));
        String text = message.getText();
        assertEquals("Button clicked!", text);
    }

    @AfterEach
    public void tearDown() {
        if (driver != null) {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

Execution Trace - 6 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Test starts and Chrome browser opens	Chrome browser window is open and ready	-	PASS
2	Navigates to https://example.com/wait-demo	Page loads with a delayed button that appears after some time	-	PASS
3	Waits explicitly up to 10 seconds for the button with id 'delayed-button' to become clickable using WebDriverWait	Button becomes visible and clickable on the page	Checks that the button is clickable before proceeding	PASS
4	Clicks the 'delayed-button'	Button is clicked, triggering a message to appear	-	PASS
5	Finds the element with id 'result-message' and reads its text	Message 'Button clicked!' is displayed on the page	Verifies the message text equals 'Button clicked!'	PASS
6	Test ends and browser closes	Browser window is closed	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: The button with id 'delayed-button' does not become clickable within 10 seconds

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the WebDriverWait in this test do?

A Waits for the page to load completely

B Waits until the button is clickable before clicking it

C Waits for the browser to open

D Waits for the test to finish

Key Result

Using explicit waits like WebDriverWait helps tests wait only as long as needed for elements to be ready, making tests more reliable and faster than fixed delays.