Synchronization & waits in Selenium

Synchronization and waits are fundamental concepts in Selenium automation testing, enabling the handling of dynamic elements and ensuring that your test scripts only interact with elements when they are ready. Here’s an overview of synchronization and waits in Selenium:

Why Synchronization is Important:

Web pages often have dynamic content that may take a long time to load fully.
Elements on the page may be loaded asynchronously or appear after a delay due to animations or AJAX calls.
If your test script attempts to interact with an element before it is fully loaded, it could result in failures or flakiness in your tests.

Types of Waits:

Implicit Waits: Implicit waits tell the WebDriver to poll the DOM for a certain amount of time when trying to locate an element. If the element is found within the specified time, the action is performed. Otherwise, a NoSuchElementException is thrown. Implicit waits are set globally and apply to all subsequent WebDriver interactions.
Explicit Waits: Explicit waits are more precise than implicit waits. They allow you to wait for a certain condition to occur before proceeding with the execution of the test script. You can wait for elements to be clickable, visible, present, etc. Explicit waits are applied to specific elements only when needed.
Fluent Waits: Fluent waits are similar to explicit waits but offer more flexibility. They allow you to define the maximum amount of time to wait for a condition and how frequently to check for the condition.

When to Use Waits:

Use implicit waits when you want to apply a default waiting time for all elements in your test script.
Use explicit waits when you want to wait for a specific condition before proceeding with the script execution. This is particularly useful for elements that may take varying amounts of time to appear on the page.
Use fluent waits when you need more control over the waiting conditions, such as polling frequency and timeout.