Button Clicks do not work in IE11 through Robot Tests - IEDriverServer + SeleniumWebdriver

[Vaishnavi Sriram]

OS:  Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit

Selenium Version:  2.53.6

Browser:  Internet Explorer

Browser Version:  11.0.9600.17843 (64-bit)

Python Version: 2.7

Robot Framework Version: 3.0

IEDriverServer.exe Version: 2.53.1 - 32 bit (Latest available in the official download site)

Expected Behavior - Using Keyword  Click Element | ${Xpath_Locator_Of_Button} should click the respective elements such as Buttons on the web page (Such as Login/Logout)

Actual Behavior - In IE11, button clicks do not work. Test halts without failing or proceeding further

Scenario -

I'm trying to execute automated UI tests in IE11 for testing a web app. These tests work fine with Chrome and Firefox Browsers. The issue I face with IE is that, whenever the driver encounters a Submit button such as Login/Logout, the test just halts. The script does not stop neither does it fail that step and proceed further to the next. The driver does not interact with the Web elements at all.

Points to note:

1. I have downloaded the IEDriverServer.exe from Selenium's official site and have done the configurations necessary in my PC for running the tests in IE11.

2. I'm using Xpaths or IDs as locators in my keywords to interact with my webpage elements.

3. I'm using the Robot Framework ExtendedSelenium2Library's keyword Click Element | ${Xpath_Locator_Of_Element} to click buttons

After a lot of research in many forums I found that sometimes Submit button clicks and selecting <option> elements do not work as expected with the current implementation of IEDriverSriver in IE11

Ref:  IE11 Required Configuration

Workaround I've implemented now:

I have changed all the Mouse Clicks to Press Enter Key in my test script and now the tests run. But since this is just a work around I would like to know if there is any fix or a better solution to solve this Click issue.

Also, since I'm not sure if the issue lies with only Selenium's current implementation of IEDriverServer and/or Microsoft's changes made in IE11, I'm posting this issue here in the hope that I would get a solution from at least ONE of the two sources.

P.S - I'm new to this forum so please do let me know if there's a better or more concise way for me to post issues in future

Thanks,

Vaish :)