Selenium Webdriver Can't Find Element Sometimes

I'm trying to find the search box on tripadvisor but sometimes it is not able to find it. (I get timeout error). I have added WebDriverWait and time.sleep but to no avail. I am sti

Solution 1:

To find the search box on Tripadvisor instead of presence_of_element_located() you have to induce WebDriverWait for the element_to_be_clickable() and you can use either of the following Locator Strategies:

• Using CSS_SELECTOR:

  searchbox = WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[name='q'][title='Search']")))
  

• Using XPATH:

  searchbox = WebDriverWait(driver, 20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//input[@name='q' and @title='Search']")))
  

• Note: You have to add the following imports :

  from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
  from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
  from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
  

Solution 2:

To entered value in search input box

Use WebDriverWait() and wait for element_to_be_clickable() and following xpath.

searchbox = WebDriverWait(driver,20).until(EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.XPATH, "//input[@aria-label='Search']")))