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Tips: Waits and Synchronization

Use these patterns when an application state needs more than SHAFT's automatic element waits.

Explicit waits​

SHAFT retries normal element lookups with defaultElementIdentificationTimeout. For a specific condition, use the generic driver.element().waitUntil(...). Browser sessions also expose waitForLazyLoading() for page content that arrives after the initial load:

ExplicitWaits.java
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;

driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.textToBePresentInElementLocated(
    By.id("status"), "Complete"));
driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.attributeContains(
    By.id("progress"), "style", "width: 100%"));
driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.numberOfElementsToBeMoreThan(
    By.cssSelector(".result"), 0));
driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeSelected(By.id("checkbox")));
driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfAllElementsLocatedBy(
    By.cssSelector(".row")));

driver.browser().waitForLazyLoading();
info

Configure the default custom UI condition wait via SHAFT.Properties.timeouts.set().waitForUiStateTimeout(600). See Programmatic Configuration.

Custom condition waits (lambda)​

driver.element().waitUntil() accepts a Selenium condition or lambda. Without an explicit Duration, it uses waitForUiStateTimeout (default 600 seconds):

CustomConditionWait.java
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.ExpectedConditions;
import org.openqa.selenium.JavascriptExecutor;

// Lambda: wait until a specific element has a non-empty text value
driver.element().waitUntil(webDriver -> {
    String text = webDriver.findElement(By.id("priceLabel")).getText();
    return text != null && !text.isEmpty();
});

// Built-in ExpectedCondition
driver.element().waitUntil(ExpectedConditions.invisibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("spinner")));

// Wait until a JavaScript variable is set to true
driver.element().waitUntil(webDriver -> (Boolean) ((JavascriptExecutor) webDriver)
    .executeScript("return window.appReady === true;"));
tip

Prefer a built-in ExpectedConditions predicate when one expresses the state clearly. Use a lambda when the condition depends on application-specific state.

warning

Avoid combining excessive explicit waits with a high implicit timeout — this multiplies the worst-case wait time and slows down failure detection. Set the implicit timeout conservatively and rely on explicit waits for specific conditions.

Clipboard actions​

driver.element().clipboardActions(locator, ClipboardAction) performs copy/cut/paste/select-all operations on an element via the ClipboardAction enum (COPY, CUT, PASTE, SELECT_ALL) — no raw keyboard shortcuts required. Getting the order right matters: some browsers require the field to be focused and its content selected before a CUT/COPY will capture the right data, so treat clipboard actions as a small synchronization sequence rather than a single call.

ClipboardActions.java
import com.shaft.enums.internal.ClipboardAction;

// Copy from a read-only source field, then paste into the target
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("generatedToken"), ClipboardAction.COPY)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("tokenInput"), ClipboardAction.PASTE);

// Select all existing content before cutting/overwriting a field
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("commentBox"), ClipboardAction.SELECT_ALL)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("commentBox"), ClipboardAction.CUT);
tip

clipboardActions() returns the element actions builder, so operations chain fluently. Prefer it over typeAppend() for copy-from-read-only scenarios. Clipboard operations use the OS-level clipboard — running parallel tests on the same machine can race; prefer isolated environments (Docker/Grid) for clipboard-intensive parallel tests.