Waits

Learning objectives#

• Explain why fixed sleeps fail
• Use explicit waits with conditions
• Understand implicit waits and why not to mix them
• Wait for dynamic content

Explanation#

Thread.Sleep(5000) either waits too long (slow) or not long enough (flaky).

An implicit wait applies a global timeout to every FindElement. An explicit wait (WebDriverWait) polls until a condition you choose is true.

Prefer explicit waits and do not combine them with implicit waits — mixing causes unpredictable timeouts.

Wait for what the user waits for: an element visible, clickable, text present or a spinner gone.

Code example: Explicit waits with WebDriverWait#

1using OpenQA.Selenium.Support.UI;   // dotnet add package Selenium.Support
2

3var wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
4

5// Wait until the search results are visible
6driver.FindElement(By.Name("q")).SendKeys("laptop" + Keys.Enter);
7var results = wait.Until(d =>
8{
9    var list = d.FindElements(By.CssSelector("[data-testid='result']"));
10    return list.Count > 0 && list[0].Displayed ? list : null;
11});
12

13// Wait until the loading spinner disappears
14wait.Until(d => d.FindElements(By.CssSelector(".spinner")).Count == 0);
15

16Assert.That(results!.Count, Is.GreaterThan(0));

The test continues the moment results appear — 300 ms on a fast day, up to 10 s on a slow one — and fails clearly after the timeout.

This example is illustrative. Copy or download it and run it in your own environment; the expected output is shown above.

Step-by-step explanation#

1. WebDriverWait polls the condition every 500 ms.
2. The lambda returns null until results are visible.
3. A second wait checks the spinner is gone.
4. Timeouts throw WebDriverTimeoutException with a clear message.

Real-world use case#

Common mistakes#

Best practices#

• Explicit waits for specific conditions
• No Thread.Sleep
• Reasonable timeouts (5–15 s)
• Wrap common waits in helper methods

Remember this#

Practice exercise#

1var pay = wait.Until(d => { var b = d.FindElement(By.Id("pay")); return b.Enabled ? b : null; });

Mini quiz#

Want more? Practise all Automation Testing MCQs · Automation Testing interview questions

Related topics#

My notes#

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