["python","html","selenium","webdriver"]
Checking if an element exists with Python Selenium

I have a problem; I am using the Selenium (Firefox) web driver to open a webpage, click a few links, etc., and then capture a screenshot. My script runs fine from the CLI, but when run via a cron job it is not getting past the first find_element() test. I need to add some debug, or something to help me figure out why it is failing. Basically, I have to click a 'log in' anchor before going to the login page. The construct of the element is: <a class="lnk" rel="nofollow" href="/login.jsp?destination=/secure/Dash.jspa">log in</a> I am using the find_element By LINK_TEXT method: login = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "log in").click() A) How do I check that the link is actually being picked up by Python? Should I use try/catch block? B) Is there a better/more reliable way to locate the DOM element than by LINK_TEXT? E.g., in jQuery, you can use a more specific selector, $('a.lnk:contains(log in)').do_something(); I have solved the main problem and it was just finger trouble. I was calling the script with incorrect parameters - a simple mistake. I'd still like some pointers on how to check whether an element exists. Also, an example/explanation of implicit / explicit Waits instead of using a crappy time.sleep() call.
A) Yes. The easiest way to check if an element exists is to simply call find_element inside a try/catch. B) Yes, I always try to identify elements without using their text for two reasons: the text is more likely to change and; if it is important to you, you won't be able to run your tests against localized builds. The solution is either: You can use XPath to find a parent or ancestor element that has an ID or some other unique identifier and then find its child/descendant that matches or; you could request an ID or name or some other unique identifier for the link itself. For the follow-up questions, using try/catch is how you can tell if an element exists or not and good examples of waits can be found here: http://seleniumhq.org/docs/04_webdriver_advanced.html