StaleElementReferenceException when trying to click on the links in a loop

Question

Please click on the link below to see the link "BEAUTY" on which I am clicking 1. I am using this code to click on the "Beauty" link

driver = webdriver.Chrome("C:\\Users\\gaurav\\Desktop\\chromedriver_win32\\chromedriver.exe")
driver.maximize_window()
driver.get("http://shop.davidjones.com.au")
object = driver.find_elements_by_name('topCategory')
  for ea in object:
  print ea.text
    if ea.text == 'Beauty':
      ea.click()

2. I am getting the following exceptions after clickin on the link succesfully , can anybody tell me why I am getting it ?

       Traceback (most recent call last):
         File "C:/Users/gaurav/PycharmProjects/RIP_CURL/login_raw.py", line 10, in <module>  
       print ea.text  
         File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webelement.py", line 73, in text  
       return self._execute(Command.GET_ELEMENT_TEXT)['value']  
         File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webelement.py", line 493, in _execute  
       return self._parent.execute(command, params)  
         File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 252, in execute  
       self.error_handler.check_response(response)  
         File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\errorhandler.py", line 194, in check_response
       raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)  
       selenium.common.exceptions.StaleElementReferenceException: Message: stale element reference: element is not attached to the page document 
         (Session info: chrome=63.0.3239.132) 
         (Driver info: chromedriver=2.34.522940 (1a76f96f66e3ca7b8e57d503b4dd3bccfba87af1),platform=Windows NT 6.2.9200 x86_64)
   

Answer 1

Try this:

from selenium import webdriver

print("bot started")

#chromeOptions = webdriver.ChromeOptions()

#driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=chromeOptions)

def specific_text(text, ea):
    return str(text) == ea.text

driver = webdriver.Chrome("C:\\Users\\gaurav\\Desktop\\chromedriver_win32\\chromedriver.exe")
driver.maximize_window()
driver.get("http://shop.davidjones.com.au")
object_ = driver.find_elements_by_name('topCategory')
text_headers = [str(specific_text('Beauty', ea)) for ea in object_]
#print(text_headers)
index_text = text_headers.index("True")
#print(index_text)
object_[index_text].click()

Answer 2

You need to take care of certain factors as follows :

• You have tried to create a List by the name object. object is a reserved built-in symbol in most of the Programming Languages. So as per Best Programming Practices we shouldn't use the name object.
• The line print ea.text is badly indented. You need to add indentation.
• Once you invoke click() on the WebElement with text as Beauty you need to break out of the loop.

• Here is your own working code with some minor tweaks :

  from selenium import webdriver
  
  driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=r'C:\path\to\chromedriver.exe')
  driver.maximize_window()
  driver.get("http://shop.davidjones.com.au")
  object1 = driver.find_elements_by_name('topCategory')
  for ea in object1:
      print (ea.text)
      if ea.text == 'Beauty':
          ea.click()
          break
  

• Console Output :

  Sale
  Brands
  Women
  Men
  Shoes
  Bags & Accessories
  Beauty
  

Answer 3

There's an easier way to do this. You can use an XPath that will specify the category name you want to click. That way you don't have to loop, it will find the desired element in one search.

//span[@name='topCategory'][.='Beauty']

I'm assuming you will be reusing this code. In cases like this, I would create a function that takes a string parameter which would be the category name that you want to click. You feed that parameter into the XPath above and you can then click any category on the page.

I tested this and it's working.