Calling press() on control that was not found leads to follow up errors

[brunohaller]

Describe the bug
I am using the .press() method as mentioned in https://ui5-community.github.io/wdi5/#/usage?id=press
When the control was not found, the press() method keeps on looping (in native wdio until timeout?) and producing errors in the log not finding an "undefined" control:

To Reproduce

    const control = await browser
      .asControl({
        selector: {
          id: "controlThatDoesNotExist",
        },
      });
    await control.press();

Expected behavior
The press method should immediately fail, if the control could not be found instead of trying to look up an element with undefined id.

Logs/Console Output

[0-0] 2022-07-08T19:15:45.873Z INFO webdriver: COMMAND findElements("xpath", "//*[@id="undefined"]")
[0-0] 2022-07-08T19:15:45.874Z INFO webdriver: [POST] http://localhost:4444/wd/hub/session/efcd66f31c05c1ff148fe1fd10cf738f/elements
[0-0] 2022-07-08T19:15:45.874Z INFO webdriver: DATA { using: 'xpath', value: '//*[@id="undefined"]' }
[0-0] 2022-07-08T19:15:45.885Z INFO webdriver: RESULT []

Runtime Env (please complete the following information):

• wdi5/wdio-ui5-service-version: 0.9.9
• UI5 version: 1.102.0
• wdio-version (output of wdio --version): 7.20.5
• node-version (output of node --version): v14.19.3
• OS: Windows 10
• Browser + Version Chrome 103

[brunohaller]

Additional information: Basically this is a general issue with all methods that are called after a control has not been found / not been successfully initialized. In the case of a press event() it is special, as it causes the above error.

But generally, if for example calling a method like "getText()" on a control that was not found, you will get follow up errors like
getText() is not a function. Native WDIO seems to handles this situation slightly different and tells you in a generic way something like Can not call getText(), because element ... could not be found.

[vobu]

thanks for providing detailed insight into failed control localization 👍
and you're right, the retries on not-located controls is something wdio-native - i am not aware of an option to short-circuit this.
however we sure could improve the error message on non-existent and/or failed API-calls.
Source is here:

wdi5/client-side-js/executeControlMethod.js

Line 41 in 2f0f95b

result: `function ${methodName} does not exist on control ${metadata.getElementName()}!`,

want to give it a shot 🤗 ?

[brunohaller]

I think the error message is not the main problem.

In our environment for some weird reason we have a huge wdio timeout of 2 minutes, that means after a failed control location and invoking press(), we get 2 minutes long the above error message that no control with id undefined can be found. This is distracting a lot from the actual problem, which is correctly reported.

I think the code is here.

wdi5/src/lib/wdi5-control.ts

Lines 199 to 201 in 027300e

	const id = await Promise.resolve(this._domId)
	const webelement = await $(`//*[@id="${id}"]`)
	await webelement.click()

Could that be improved somehow to not even try finding an element if the control is not initialized? I am not sure how that should be done exactly and at which places, but I assume at least for `press()`` it would be helpful, as looking for an id 'undefined' never makes sense.

[vobu]

I think the code is here.

wdi5/src/lib/wdi5-control.ts

Lines 199 to 201 in 027300e

	const id = await Promise.resolve(this._domId)
	const webelement = await $(`//*[@id="${id}"]`)
	await webelement.click()

Could that be improved somehow to not even try finding an element if the control is not initialized? I am not sure how that should be done exactly and at which places, but I assume at least for `press()`` it would be helpful, as looking for an id 'undefined' never makes sense

good idea - makes absolute sense, we'll do that 👍
might take a couple of days though as almost all of the core contributors are on vacation 🏝😁