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What is an Explicit Wait in Selenium?

In Selenium, an explicit wait is a mechanism that allows test automation scripts to wait for a certain condition to be met before proceeding with the execution. It enables the script to wait for specific elements or events to appear or change on a web page. By obtaining Selenium Training, you can advance your career in Selenium. With this course, you can demonstrate your expertise in TestNG Framework, Robot Class, Cucumber, and Gherkin to control your automation environment, many more fundamental concepts, and many more critical concepts among others.

Here are key points about explicit waits in Selenium:

1. Condition-based Waiting: An explicit wait involves specifying a condition or set of conditions that need to be satisfied before proceeding further in the test script. It allows the script to wait until the condition is met, rather than executing the next step immediately.

2. Customizable Wait Time: With explicit waits, you can define a specific wait time duration, indicating how long the script should wait for the condition to be met. This wait time can be set based on the specific needs of the test scenario.

3. Conditions for Waiting: Explicit waits provide various conditions that can be used to wait for specific elements or events. Examples include waiting for an element to be visible, clickable, or present in the DOM, waiting for an element's text or attribute value to change, or waiting for a certain condition to be true.

4. WebDriverWait Class: In Selenium, explicit waits are implemented using the WebDriverWait class, which is provided by the Selenium WebDriver API. This class allows you to define the wait time and the condition to wait for.

5. Fluent Wait: WebDriverWait offers a fluent interface that allows you to chain multiple conditions together. This allows you to define complex waiting conditions, such as waiting for an element to be visible and enabled simultaneously.

6. Timeout Exception: If the condition specified in the explicit wait is not met within the specified wait time, a TimeoutException is thrown, indicating that the condition was not satisfied within the given timeframe.

Explicit waits are particularly useful when dealing with dynamic web pages or situations where certain elements may take time to load or become interactive. By using explicit waits, you can ensure that your test scripts wait for the desired conditions before proceeding, making your tests more reliable and resilient to timing-related issues.

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