Explicit waits (WebDriverWait) in Selenium Python - Test Execution Trace

Test Overview

This test opens a webpage, waits explicitly for a button to appear using WebDriverWait, clicks it, and verifies the resulting message is displayed.

Test Code - Selenium

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
import unittest

class TestExplicitWait(unittest.TestCase):
    def setUp(self):
        self.driver = webdriver.Chrome()
        self.driver.get('https://example.com/wait_test')

    def test_click_button_after_wait(self):
        driver = self.driver
        wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 10)
        button = wait.until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.ID, 'delayed-button')))
        button.click()
        message = wait.until(EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.ID, 'result-message')))
        self.assertEqual(message.text, 'Button clicked!')

    def tearDown(self):
        self.driver.quit()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Execution Trace - 6 Steps

Step	Action	System State	Assertion	Result
1	Test starts and Chrome browser opens	Browser window is open, ready to load the test page	-	PASS
2	Navigates to 'https://example.com/wait_test'	Page is loading or loaded with initial content	-	PASS
3	Waits up to 10 seconds for button with ID 'delayed-button' to be clickable using WebDriverWait	Button appears and becomes clickable after a delay	Button is clickable	PASS
4	Clicks the 'delayed-button'	Button is clicked, triggering page update	-	PASS
5	Waits up to 10 seconds for element with ID 'result-message' to be visible	Result message appears on page	Result message text equals 'Button clicked!'	PASS
6	Test ends and browser closes	Browser window is closed	-	PASS

Failure Scenario

Failing Condition: Button with ID 'delayed-button' does not become clickable within 10 seconds

Execution Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does WebDriverWait do in this test?

A Waits for the page to fully load before starting

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

Use explicit waits like WebDriverWait to pause test steps until elements are ready, avoiding flaky tests caused by timing issues.