real_repro.js

#!/usr/bin/env node

/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */

var webdriver = require('wd');
browser = webdriver.remote();

browser.on('status', function(info){
  console.log('\x1b[36m%s\x1b[0m', info);
});

browser.on('command', function(meth, path){
  console.log(' > \x1b[33m%s\x1b[0m: %s', meth, path);
});

function check(err) {
  if (err) {
    console.log("FATAL ERROR:", err);
    process.exit(1);
  }
}

browser.init({}, function() {
  browser.setImplicitWaitTimeout(5000, function(err) {
    check(err);
    browser.get("http://people.mozilla.org/~lhilaiel/hang/", function(err) {
      check(err);
      // 1: open a dialog
      browser.elementById("theButton", function(err, elem) {
        check(err);
        browser.clickElement(elem, function(err) {
          check(err);
          browser.window("mypopup", function(err) {
            check(err);
            // 2: interact with it
            browser.elementById("#foo", function(err, elem) {
              check(err);
              // 3. window closes itself WHILE WE'RE LOOKING FOR AN ELEMENT WITH EXPLICIT WAIT SET
              // 4. try to find an element in the dialog
              browser.elementById("foo", console.log);
            });
          });
        });
      });
    });
  });
});


/* 

translated into json wire protocol: use curl to repro this manually at command line.
make the implicit wait really, really long so we can cut and paste json commands in time.

POST /session
POST /session/:sessionId/timeouts/async_script {"ms":10000}
POST /session/:sessionId/url {"url":"http://people.mozilla.org/~lhilaiel/hang/"}

// 1: open a dialog
POST /session/:sessionId/element {"using":"id", "value":"theButton"}
POST /session/:sessionId/element/:id/click
POST /session/:sessionId/window {"name":"mypopup"}

// 2: interact with it
POST /session/:sessionId/element {"using":"id", "value":"foo"}

// 3. window closes itself WHILE WE'RE LOOKING FOR AN ELEMENT WITH EXPLICIT WAIT SET
// 4. try to find an element in the dialog
POST /session/:sessionId/element {"using":"id", "value":"foo"}

*/

/* here's how the commands look as curls in practice:

curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"desiredCapabilities":{"browserName":"firefox"}}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session
// you need to set sessionID to whatever the session ID is in the response
export sessionID=1352745925723

// the rest should be cut-and-paste:

curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"ms":5000}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/timeouts/async_script  
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"url":"http://people.mozilla.org/~lhilaiel/hang/"}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/url
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"using":"id", "value":"theButton"}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/element
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/element/0/click
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"name":"mypopup"}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/window
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"using":"id", "value":"foo"}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/element
curl -i -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"using":"id", "value":"foo"}' http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/$sessionID/element

*/

I'm unable to ever find the #foo element. What I've been doing isntead to try to pin down the moment at which the thing disappears is to look for the html element in the popup, by passing the json '{"using":"tag name", "value":"html"}'. Even if I do this a hundred or so times, i.e. to extreme granularity, I never hit the timeout.

Either I'm not successfully setting the implicit waits at the start of the session, or the bug really isn't in webdriver.

Pretty interesting.