Explicit wait is not reliable with Selenium C#

Question

While creating test scripts in Selenium WebDriver using C#, I have used Explicit wait (after going through this link) and have also gone through SO and SQA links for the same. So, I implemented it like this:

Class1.cs

namespace SeleniumProject {
    public class WaitClass
    {
        public static void WaitForElementLoad(FirefoxDriver driver, By by, int timeoutInSeconds)
        {
            //string name = "TEST";
            if (timeoutInSeconds > 0)
            {
                WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(timeoutInSeconds));
                wait.Until(ExpectedConditions.ElementIsVisible(by));
            }
        }
    } }

and then used it in Class2.cs

namespace SeleniumProject
{
    [TestClass]
    public class StartTesting
    {
        public static FirefoxDriver driver;
        [TestMethod]
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            driver = new FirefoxDriver();
            driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.test.com/");
            driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();
            String title = driver.Title;
            int timeinterval = 10;
            driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Test Link")).Click();
            WaitClass.WaitForElementLoad(driver, By.LinkText("Child Test link 2"), timeinterval);
            driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Child Test link 2")).Click();
            //System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(3000);
            WaitClass.WaitForElementLoad(driver, By.Name("firstname"), timeinterval);
            driver.FindElement(By.Name("firstname")).SendKeys(Firstname);

but, using it this way I get an error message for the Class1, frequency of this error is like 2 out of 10 iterations, because of this I have a feeling that either this is not a good + reliable method for explicit wait or I am doing something wrong here. I was earlier using Timeinterval as 5 secs. but after this error I changed it to 10 seconds and still getting same error randomly.

Error which I get is:

Answer 1

Personally I used the explicit wait as outlined by SeleniumHQ. I found it quite stable in operation.

http://www.seleniumhq.org/docs/04_webdriver_advanced.jsp

IWebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver();
driver.Url = "http://somedomain/url_that_delays_loading";
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
IWebElement myDynamicElement = wait.Until<IWebElement>((d) =>
    {
        return d.FindElement(By.Id("someDynamicElement"));
    });

General caveat, I almost always recommend implicit waits if you have an element you are waiting for. That way if it loads quicker than 10 seconds you are not needlessly extending your test runs.

Answer 2

I also use Selenium C# for several years and I don't have any problem with Explicit Wait.

This issue may be

this is not a good + reliable method for explicit wait

or

maybe this comes from your site

We need more info to isolate the issue, I think you need to capture the screenshot and print out HTML when the test failed.

Sorry, I don't have enough reputation to comment.