Dealing with False positive

[anishas]

How do we deal with a situation - for web testing where the element (hyperlink) is clickable and action is ‘Click’
But on running the test case - the script does not actually ‘click’ the element - but the script is passed
Seems like a false positive
If the element was successfully clicked - it would have opened the next screen
I have tried ‘Click’, ‘Enhanced Click’
All give the same outcome - passed successfully but not actually clicking the element

[Dave_Evers]

Welcome to the forum @anishas, Please review this link so someone can help you with your question. [TIP] How To Help Us Help You!

[discover.selenium]

@anishas

the script does not actually ‘click’ the element - but the script is passed

Solutions to The Click Problem With Selenium & Java - TestProject

[Dave_Evers]

Hi @anishas,

You could try clicking on the element(s) using a Javascript Keyword instead (see this post):

Unable to click on Object, Other Element Would receive click

Hi there, You can try to click on the element using Javascript instead: - Create a custom keyword and insert script to click on the element using Javascript: https://docs.katalon.com/display/KD/Define+custom+keywords Your custom keyword will be like this: import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver as WebDriver import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement as WebElement import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions as Actions import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.common.WebUiCommonHelper as WebUiCommonHe…

Or you could try this:
When using ‘WebUI.click’ or ‘WebUI.enhancedClick’ you should first use ‘WebUI.waitForElementPresent’ , ‘WebUI.waitForElementVisible’ or WebUI.delay()

For example:

WebUI.waitForElementPresent(findTestObject('ObjectPath/SubmitBtn'), 30) //waits up-to 30 seconds
WebUI.click(findTestObject(ObjectPath/SubmitBtn))

Or:

WebUI.waitForElementVisible(findTestObject('ObjectPath/SubmitBtn'), 30)
WebUI.enhancedClick(findTestObject(ObjectPath/SubmitBtn))

Or:

WebUI.delay(5) //Not the best practice but when all else fails.
WebUI.click(findTestObject(ObjectPath/SubmitBtn))

[mwarren04011990]

Using JavaScript to do a click, especially when there are perfectly good built-in keywords for that, is a test code smell.

Also, hard-coded delay() or sleep() is also code smell.

Those first two code snippets are the way to go here.

[Russ_Thomas]

@mwarren04011990

Using JavaScript to do a click, especially when there are perfectly good built-in keywords for that, is a test code smell.

That’s quite an assertion you’re making. Perhaps you believe webdrivers are the only valid means of responding to test scripts – which is evidently not true. How do you think Cypress does it? And Playwright? (to name just two). How do you ensure that complex onchange handlers are called correctly for tricky/quirky (questionable?) built frameworks?

Native, in-browser JavaScript calls are not the enemy. Neither do they smell.

[bionel]

@mwarren04011990

especially when there are perfectly good built-in keywords for that

I suppose, you have a good sence of humor…

[Dan_Bown]

My response would be to ask what you are testing and what are you you trying to validate? If your test ends after you click something then perhaps you need an additional assertion to check that you are now on the right acreen? You also need to make the click less flaky, as others have given suggestions for

[Russ_Thomas]

@Dan_Bown

then perhaps you need an additional assertion to check that you are now on the right acreen?

Bingo. In a nutshell, test the outcomes of actions whenever possible. One surefire way to help in the ongoing battle with flakiness.