What is `NoSuchElementException` in Selenium-Python?
What is an exception?
An exception is an event that occurs during the execution of a program, that disrupts the normal flow of the program’s instructions.
Why does NoSuchElementException occur in Selenium?
When we try to find any element in an HTML page that does not exist, NoSuchElementException will be raised.
selenium.common.exceptions.NoSuchElementException: Message: no such element: Unable to locate element: {"method":"css selector","selector":"[name="userNam"]"}
Possible reasons to debug
Below are some examples of scenarios that would raise an exception.
1. Change in source code of the webpage
It’s possible that the source code of the webpage may have been changed since the last time you accessed it. Change your code according to the new source to solve the issue.
2. Spelling error of the element
Cross-check the spelling of the element you want to find.
3. Invalid XPath
When new elements are added or deleted from the source code of the webpage, the XPath of that specific element also changes. Check XPath to determine if it is valid.
Demo
When we try to run the code below, it raises NoSuchElementException. This is because we try to find an element called userNam, but the webpage element name in the source code is userName.
from selenium import webdriverfrom selenium.webdriver.common.by import Byfrom selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWaitfrom selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as ECfrom selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keysimport timePATH=r"provide your chrome driver path here"driver = webdriver.Chrome(PATH)driver.get("http://demo.guru99.com/test/newtours/")user_name = driver.find_element_by_name("userNam")password = driver.find_element_by_name("password")submit = driver.find_element_by_name("submit")user_name.send_keys("mercury")password.send_keys("mercury")submit.click()
Handle exceptions
Script will terminate when an exception is raised. We can handle exceptions with the try except block and continue with the flow of the script.
from selenium import webdriverfrom selenium.webdriver.common.by import Byfrom selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWaitfrom selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as ECfrom selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keysfrom selenium.common.exceptions import NoSuchElementExceptionimport timePATH=r"C:\Users\GUTKRISH\chromedriver.exe"driver = webdriver.Chrome(PATH)driver.get("http://demo.guru99.com/test/newtours/")try:user_name = driver.find_element_by_name("userNam")user_name.send_keys("mercury")except NoSuchElementException:print("exception handled")password = driver.find_element_by_name("password")submit = driver.find_element_by_name("submit")password.send_keys("mercury")submit.click()
