How to Check if Element is Displayed in Selenium

In Selenium, use the isDisplayed() method on a web element to check if it is visible on the page. This method returns true if the element is shown and false if it is hidden or not present.

Syntax

The isDisplayed() method is called on a WebElement object. It returns a boolean indicating if the element is visible on the page.

• WebElement: The element you want to check.
• isDisplayed(): Returns true if visible, false otherwise.

java

boolean visible = driver.findElement(By.id("elementId")).isDisplayed();

Example

This example shows how to open a webpage, find an element by its ID, and check if it is displayed. It prints the result to the console.

java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class CheckElementDisplayed {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        try {
            driver.get("https://example.com");
            WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("exampleElement"));
            boolean isVisible = element.isDisplayed();
            System.out.println("Element displayed: " + isVisible);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Element not found or not displayed.");
        } finally {
            driver.quit();
        }
    }
}

Output

Element displayed: true

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when checking if an element is displayed include:

• Trying to call isDisplayed() on an element that does not exist, which throws NoSuchElementException.
• Confusing isDisplayed() with isEnabled() or isSelected(), which check different states.
• Not handling exceptions when the element is missing, causing test failures.

To avoid errors, first check if the element exists or handle exceptions properly.

java

import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchElementException;

try {
    WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("missingElement"));
    boolean visible = element.isDisplayed();
    System.out.println("Visible: " + visible);
} catch (NoSuchElementException e) {
    System.out.println("Element not found.");
}

Output

Element not found.

Quick Reference

Method	Purpose	Returns
isDisplayed()	Checks if element is visible on page	boolean (true/false)
isEnabled()	Checks if element is enabled (can be interacted with)	boolean (true/false)
isSelected()	Checks if element (checkbox/radio) is selected	boolean (true/false)

Key Takeaways

Use isDisplayed() on a WebElement to check if it is visible on the page.

Handle exceptions like NoSuchElementException to avoid test failures when element is missing.

isDisplayed() returns false if the element is hidden but present in the DOM.

Do not confuse isDisplayed() with isEnabled() or isSelected(), they check different states.