What is the default element and page wait in Watir. Do we have to explicitly set PageObject.default_element_wait?

[NaviHan]

The automation code in our project uses PageObject and yesterday's nightly build shows a failure.

 [31m      timed out after 10 seconds, waiting for true condition on #<Watir::Div: located: false; {:class=>"slide-dialog-container-cart-page", :tag_name=>"div"}> (Watir::Wait::TimeoutError) [0m

On checking hooks I found a statement

PageObject.default_element_wait=(10)

As per my undersatnding Watir has its own inbuilt page and element level waits which is a default of 30 seconds?

And the above statement over rides that to 10 seconds?

Please correct me if Im wrong.

Cheers

[Titus Fortner]

Yes, watir default is 30 seconds, so likely that line is setting it to 10.

[Justin Ko]

Page-Object introduces its own couple of waits (https://github.com/cheezy/page-object/blob/master/lib/page-object.rb#L87-L113):

• default_page_wait which has a default of 30 and
• default_element_wait which has a default of 5

The default_element_wait will impact the Element methods #check_exists, #check_visible, #when_present, #when_not_present and #wait_until. Also impacts some of accessors for waiting for a page to load.

Setting Page-Object's default_element_wait only sometimes overrides Watir's in-built waiting. For example:

• Watir does not do any waiting before checking if an element exists, where as Page-Object's #check_exists wraps the call in a wait (using default_element_wait).
• In most cases, using #when_present will be overriding - eg element.when_present.click. Page-Object's #when_present wait effectively takes precedence over Watir's in-built one. That said, I would argue you should be removing the #when_present calls (they are a relic from before Watir had the in-built waiting).

Unfortunately not a black-and-white answer. Though again more evidence that we need to re-visit what Page-Object is doing given how much Watir has evolved.

Justin

[NaviHan]

Hi Justin

I  have two questions here..

1.

Im use wait_until(&:present) a lot.

I see wait_until is a method which is present in Watir and PageObject and as you said wait_until of PageObject depends on default_element_wait

Do you know which method is invoked when I call a wait_until(&:present) the Watir one or PageObject one?

I have commented out default_element_wait in hooks. The nightly suite hasnt run yet. So not sure about the impact.

# PageObject.default_element_wait=(10)

So if the PageObject one is invoked then lots of tests will fail

2.

If I check for an elements existence like

element.exists?

As watir doesnt wait here do you suggest leaving default_element_wait to say 30 seconds?

Cheers

Navi

[Justin Ko]

Hi Navi,

1) It would depend on who is calling the method - ie a Watir::Element vs a PageObject::Element. Generally you would be working with PageObject::Element, so you would be calling the Page-Object version. The recent versions of Page-Object forward missing methods directly to the Watir browser/element, which has clouded things a bit. For finding elements you can technically call Watir methods directly, which returns Watir::Elements, which means you would get Watir's version of the method. If you want to double-check which version is being called, check the class of your caller.

2) Calling `element.exists?` will not do any waiting - neither Watir or Page-Object's timeouts will apply. The default_element_wait will only apply if you did page-object's #check_exists (returns true as soon as the element exists, otherwise returns false when the timeout has elapsed).

Justin

[NaviHan]

Hi Justin

It a bit confusing...

For example I have defined a PageObject element as

div(:applied_voucher_list, :class => 'applied-evouchers')

When I print the class of it

puts applied_voucher_list_element.wait_until(&:present?).class

Im getting Watir::Div

I would expect this to return PageObject::Div?

On Monday, 15 April 2019 09:29:57 UTC+10, NaviHan wrote:

[NaviHan]

Hi Justin

Also please note the error I was getting as I mention in the original post

 [31m      timed out after 10 seconds, waiting for true condition on #<Watir::Div: located: false; {:class=>"slide-dialog-container-cart-page", :tag_name=>"div"}> (Watir::Wait::TimeoutError) [0m

Watir::Div  timed out after 10 seconds.

The 10 seconds because I was using defualt_element_wait.Which doesn't match

PageObject.default_element_wait=(10)

On Monday, 15 April 2019 09:29:57 UTC+10, NaviHan wrote:

[NaviHan]

In fact I have printed three classes

puts applied_voucher_list_element.class
puts applied_voucher_list_element.element.class
puts applied_voucher_list_element.wait_until(&:present?).class

and got

PageObject::Elements::Div
Watir::Div
Watir::Div

How  is applied_voucher_list_element.wait_until(&:present?).class returning Watir::Div? This should have been calling the wait_until methods of PageObject calss and returned PageObject::Div?

On Monday, 15 April 2019 09:29:57 UTC+10, NaviHan wrote:

[jkot...@gmail.com]

The PageObject::Elements::Div#wait_until just calls the underlying Watir::Div#wait_until method, but with different default values (ie the timeout).

For the returned object:

* Watir::Div#wait_until is set to return itself - ie the Watir::Div.

* PageObject::Elements::Div#wait_until simply returns whatever Watir::Div#wait_until returned - ie the Watir::Div.

Arguably, Page-Object should also start returning itself, so it can allow #wait_until methods to be chained.

Justin