Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling in Selenium WebDriver with Examples Best 2025

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🏹Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling

What is an Exception?

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: An exception is an unexpected event that occurs during the execution of a program. It disrupts the normal flow of the application. In Selenium automation, exceptions occur due to interaction failures, browser issues, element unavailability, etc.

Proper handling of exceptions ensures your test script doesn’t crash abruptly and improves the stability of your automation suite.

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Table of Contents:

1. What is an Exception?
   
2. Types of Exceptions in Selenium
   
3. Exception Handling Techniques in Selenium
   
4. Exception Display Methods
   
5. Summary
   

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🏹 Types of Exceptions in Selenium WebDriver

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Below is a list of the most commonly encountered exceptions in Selenium:

Exception Name	Description
1. ElementNotVisibleException	The element exists in the DOM but is hidden
2. ElementNotSelectableException	The element is present but not selectable
3. NoSuchElementException	The element could not be found in the DOM
4. NoSuchFrameException	The target frame does not exist
5. NoAlertPresentException	No alert is present to switch to
6. NoSuchWindowException	The target window does not exist
7. StaleElementReferenceException	The element is detached from the current DOM
8. SessionNotFoundException	WebDriver is still acting after the session was quit
9. TimeoutException	Command did not finish in the expected time
10. WebDriverException	Generic WebDriver error after closing the browser
11. ConnectionClosedException	Driver disconnection occurred
12. ElementClickInterceptedException	Another element is blocking the clickable one
13. ElementNotInteractableException	Element cannot be interacted with
14. ErrorInResponseException	Issue while communicating with Firefox extension
15. UnknownServerException	Server returns an error without a stack trace
16. ImeActivationFailedException	IME engine activation failed
17. ImeNotAvailableException	IME support not available
18. InsecureCertificateException	Certificate issue like expired or invalid SSL
19. InvalidArgumentException	Argument type is not as expected
20. InvalidCookieDomainException	Cookie set for an invalid domain
21. InvalidCoordinatesException	Invalid coordinates provided for interaction
22. InvalidElementStateException	Element is in a state that cannot be interacted with
23. InvalidSessionIdException	Session ID is invalid or inactive
24. InvalidSwitchToTargetException	Target window/frame does not exist
25. JavascriptException	JavaScript execution failed
26. JsonException	Session not created or returned invalid JSON
27. NoSuchAttributeException	Attribute not found in the element
28. MoveTargetOutOfBoundsException	Target is out of screen/document bounds
29. NoSuchContextException	Used in mobile testing contexts
30. NoSuchCookieException	Cookie with the given path does not exist
31. NotFoundException	Element not found on the DOM
32. RemoteDriverServerException	Server fails due to improper capability definitions
33. ScreenshotException	Unable to take screenshot
34. SessionNotCreatedException	Session could not be created
35. UnableToSetCookieException	Failed to set cookie in driver
36. UnexpectedTagNameException	Incorrect tag name used for element
37. UnhandledAlertException	Alert appears but not handled properly
38. UnexpectedAlertPresentException	Unexpected alert appeared
39. UnknownMethodException	Method does not match with defined endpoint
40. UnreachableBrowserException	Browser crashed or couldn’t be opened
41. UnsupportedCommandException	Driver received an invalid or unsupported command

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🏹How to Handle Exceptions in Selenium WebDriver

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Handling exceptions properly can prevent unexpected test failures. Selenium supports Java-style exception handling techniques.

✅ 1. Try-Catch Block

Use this to handle known exceptions safely.

java

try {

    WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id(“login”));

    element.click();

} catch (NoSuchElementException e) {

    System.out.println(“Element not found: ” + e.getMessage());

}

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✅ 2. Multiple Catch Blocks

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Use this when multiple exception types might occur in the same block.

java

try {

    // code

} catch (NoSuchElementException e) {

    // handle element not found

} catch (TimeoutException e) {

    // handle timeout

}

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✅ 3. Throw Keyword

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Throw custom exceptions or propagate an existing one.

java

public void validateElement(WebElement element) throws ElementNotVisibleException {

    if (!element.isDisplayed()) {

        throw new ElementNotVisibleException(“Element not visible”);

    }

}

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✅ 4. Throws Clause

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Declare exceptions in method signature.

java

public void findElement() throws NoSuchElementException {

    WebElement el = driver.findElement(By.id(“test”));

}

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✅ 5. Finally Block

Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling: Code in finally block executes no matter what — ideal for cleanup tasks.

java

try {

    driver.get(“https://example.com”);

} finally {

    driver.quit();

}

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🏹 Methods for Displaying Exception Info

• printStackTrace() – Prints stack trace and detailed error info
  
• toString() – Prints a string with the exception type and message
  
• getMessage() – Returns only the exception message
  

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Example:

java

try {

    WebElement btn = driver.findElement(By.id(“submit”));

    btn.click();

} catch (NoSuchElementException e) {

    e.printStackTrace();          // Stack trace

    System.out.println(e);        // toString()

    System.out.println(e.getMessage()); // getMessage()

}

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🏹 Summary

• An exception is a runtime error that disrupts test execution.
  
• Selenium throws various types of exceptions depending on the context.
  
• You can handle exceptions using try-catch, multiple catches, throw, and finally blocks.
  
• Display exception details using printStackTrace, toString, and getMessage methods.
  

✅ Pro Tip: Always log your exceptions to help in debugging Selenium scripts more efficiently.

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