Selenium InvalidCoordinatesException: How to Handle?

Anushree Chatterjee

In Selenium, you will face the InvalidCoordinatesException when the coordinates provided for an action, such as clicking or moving the mouse, are invalid.

Reasons for InvalidCoordinatesException

You might run into this issue for various reasons, such as trying to interact with an element that is not visible on the screen or the coordinates being outside the bounds of the web page or element. Here are the most common causes of this exception:

Element not in the viewport

If the element you are trying to interact with is not in the browser’s currently visible area (viewport), Selenium might be unable to calculate the coordinates correctly. For example, if the element is off-screen, either scrolled out of view or hidden by other elements, Selenium may not be able to find it.

Incorrect coordinate calculation

If you manually calculate coordinates for an action like a mouse move or click, and the calculations are incorrect, it could lead to coordinates outside the bounds of the browser window or the web page.

Element is not rendered

If the element has not been rendered on the page yet, for instance, it might be dynamically loaded, then the coordinates for the element might be invalid or undefined.

Element is hidden or collapsed

If the element is hidden, for example, display: none is set in CSS or collapsed, Selenium cannot interact with it, and attempting to do so might lead to invalid coordinates.

Stale element reference

If the reference to the web element is stale, the element has been reloaded, or the DOM has been updated since the reference was obtained, then the coordinates might no longer be valid.

Incorrect element locator

If the locator used, like XPath or CSS Selector, is incorrect or points to an element different from what was intended, the coordinates derived from this element might not be what you expect.

Changes in page layout

Sometimes, changes in the page’s layout after loading the page due to dynamic content loading, window resizing, etc., can cause previously valid coordinates to become invalid.

Issues with WebDriver

Your browser’s WebDriver implementation might have issues or bugs that can cause unexpected behavior, including invalid coordinate calculations.

Resolution for InvalidCoordinatesException

Here are a few ways to resolve the InvalidCoordinatesException in Selenium:

Make sure the element is visible

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://example.com/abc-xyz");

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("elementId"));

// Check if the element is displayed
  if (element.isDisplayed()) {
    element.click();

Wait for the element to be accessible

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://example.com");

// Create a WebDriverWait instance
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10); // wait for a maximum of 10 seconds

// Define the expected condition
By locator = By.id("elementId");
WebElement element = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(locator));

// Interact with the element
element.click();

Scroll into view

If the element is not in the viewport, then you can use JavaScript or Selenium’s built-in methods to scroll and bring the element into the view.

For example, you can use ((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", element); in Java.

Check and correct coordinate calculations

Double-check the coordinates calculations when generating them manually for certain actions. Also, make sure they are within the element’s bounds or the browser window. You can use the size and location of elements along with the browser window size to validate your calculations.

Example 1: Checking Coordinates Against Element Bounds

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://example.com/abc-xyz");

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("elementId"));

// Get element location and size
Point location = element.getLocation();
Dimension size = element.getSize();

// Coordinates to check (these should be calculated in your actual code)
int xCoordinate = 100; // Example coordinate
int yCoordinate = 50; // Example coordinate

// Check if coordinates are within element bounds
if (xCoordinate >= location.getX() && xCoordinate <= location.getX() + size.getWidth() &&
  yCoordinate >= location.getY() && yCoordinate <= location.getY() + size.getHeight()) {

Example 2: Checking Coordinates Against Browser Window Size

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://example.com/abc-xyz");

// Get the browser window size
Dimension windowSize = driver.manage().window().getSize();

// Coordinates to check
int xCoordinate = 100; // Example coordinate
int yCoordinate = 50; // Example coordinate

// Check if coordinates are within window bounds
if (xCoordinate >= 0 && xCoordinate <= windowSize.getWidth() &&
  yCoordinate >= 0 && yCoordinate <= windowSize.getHeight()) {

Update WebDriver

Sometimes, bugs in the WebDriver can cause such exceptions. To deal with this, ensure that you are using the latest version of the WebDriver that is compatible with your browser.

Use Action Class for complex interactions

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.get("http://example.com/abc-xyz");

// Locate the source element (element to drag)
WebElement sourceElement = driver.findElement(By.id("sourceElementId"));

// Locate the target element (where to drop the element)
WebElement targetElement = driver.findElement(By.id("targetElementId"));

// Create an instance of Actions class
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

// Perform the drag-and-drop action
actions.dragAndDrop(sourceElement, targetElement).perform();

Handle iFrames

If the element is inside an iframe, switch to that iframe first using driver.switchTo().frame() before trying to interact with the element.

Handle dynamic elements properly

For dynamically loaded elements (e.g., via AJAX), you can use explicit waits and check the visibility of elements before interacting with them.

Along with the above suggestions, you can further improve the quality of your test code by using debugging and logging to understand the state of the web application when the exception is thrown. Implement try-catch blocks in your code so as to handle exceptions as and when they occur.

testRigor to overcome InvalidCoordinatesException

As popular as Selenium is, it tends to give rise to various issues during the stages of test case creation, execution, and maintenance. You might not want to waste your precious effort and time in resolving Selenium exceptions and errors. Instead of Selenium, you can opt for intelligent tools like testRigor that use AI to make automated testing easy for everyone on the team.

Writing test cases in testRigor is ultra easy as the tool allows you to do so using plain English language. This applies even to identifying elements on the screen. This means that you can forgo the woe of identifying UI elements on the screen through CSS or XPaths.

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