How to Handle the 'Stale Element Reference: Element Is Not Attached to the Page Document' Error in WebDriver?

"Stale Element Reference: Element Is Not Attached to the Page Document" Error in WebDriver

Encountering the "stale element reference: element is not attached to the page document" error in WebDriver is a common challenge while interacting with dynamic web pages. This issue arises when the element you are trying to access has been removed or changed in the DOM structure.

In the provided code, the error occurs when attempting to click the benefit status link within each section. The HTML structure suggests that there are multiple sections with links, including the benefit status link.

The issue is likely due to stale element reference. When the code finds the list of links ('#sliding-navigation//a'), it captures their references. However, when it later iterates through these links to find the benefit status link, the DOM structure might have changed since the initial capture. This can happen if additional elements are dynamically added or removed, causing the index and references to become outdated.

To resolve this issue, you can employ a try-catch block to handle the stale element reference exception. If the initial reference fails, you can attempt to find the element again and perform the necessary action.

Here's an example using a try-catch block:

<code class="java">try {
    WebElement benefitStatusLink = driver.findElement(By.xpath(String.format(BenefitStatLi, i)));
    benefitStatusLink.click();
} catch (StaleElementReferenceException e) {
    benefitStatusLink = driver.findElement(By.xpath(String.format(BenefitStatLi, i)));
    benefitStatusLink.click();
}</code>

This approach ensures that you have the latest reference to the element before performing the click action.

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