[🐛 Bug]: IWebElement.Displayed throws 'HTMLFormElement' is undefined error in Selenium 4.25

[mannaci]

What happened?

After upgrading from Selenium 4.23 to 4.25, the IWebElement.Displayed property is throwing a JavaScriptException with the message "'HTMLFormElement' is undefined" when used on certain elements. This behavior was not observed in the previous version. The element in question is not located within a

tag.

How can we reproduce the issue?

using OpenQA.Selenium;

string driverPath = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RPA_DRIVER", EnvironmentVariableTarget.User);

var ieOptions = new InternetExplorerOptions()
{
    EdgeExecutablePath = @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe",
    AttachToEdgeChrome = true,
    IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true,
    IgnoreZoomLevel = true,
};

InternetExplorerDriverService ieDriver = InternetExplorerDriverService.CreateDefaultService(driverPath);


ieDriver.LogFile = Path.Combine(@"C:\log\", "logs", "driver.log");

ieDriver.LoggingLevel = InternetExplorerDriverLogLevel.Trace;

ieDriver.SuppressInitialDiagnosticInformation = true;

var driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(ieDriver, ieOptions);
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("xxxxxxx");
IWebElement d = driver.FindElement(By.XPath("/html/body/div[2]/div/div/div/div/div/div[2]/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div[4]/div/div/div[2]/div/div/div/div/div/div/div[2]/div[2]/span[4]/div/span[2]"));
Console.WriteLine(d.Displayed);

Relevant log output

KO
D 2024-09-26 14:15:53:972 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Script.cpp(285) 067C559C
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:977 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(734) Entering IECommandExecutor::OnScriptWait
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:977 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1315) Entering IECommandExecutor::GetCurrentBrowser
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:977 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1321) Entering IECommandExecutor::GetManagedBrowser
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1210) Entering IECommandExecutor::IsAlertActive
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Browser.cpp(868) Entering Browser::GetActiveDialogWindowHandle
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Browser.cpp(315) Entering Browser::GetContentWindowHandle
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Script.cpp(132) Entering Script::ResultIsString
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Script.cpp(582) Entering Script::ConvertResultToJsonValue
D 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1227) No alert handle is found
T 2024-09-26 14:15:53:978 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(901) Entering IECommandExecutor::ScriptWaitThreadProc
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(734) Entering IECommandExecutor::OnScriptWait
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1315) Entering IECommandExecutor::GetCurrentBrowser
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1321) Entering IECommandExecutor::GetManagedBrowser
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1210) Entering IECommandExecutor::IsAlertActive
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Browser.cpp(868) Entering Browser::GetActiveDialogWindowHandle
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\Browser.cpp(315) Entering Browser::GetContentWindowHandle
D 2024-09-26 14:15:54:004 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(1227) No alert handle is found
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\AsyncScriptExecutor.cpp(230) Entering AsyncScriptExecutor::OnDetachListener
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\AsyncScriptExecutor.cpp(246) Entering AsyncScriptExecutor::OnGetResult
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\response.cc(100) Entering Response::SetErrorResponse
W 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\response.cc(101) Error response has status code 17 and message 'Error from JavaScript: 'HTMLFormElement' is undefined' message
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\response.cc(94) Entering Response::SetErrorResponse
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\response.cc(87) Entering Response::SetResponse
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\AsyncScriptExecutor.cpp(88) Entering AsyncScriptExecutor::OnClose
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\AsyncScriptExecutor.cpp(97) Entering AsyncAtomExecutor::OnDestroy
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:005 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\response.cc(60) Entering Response::Serialize
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:020 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IESession.cpp(235) Found non-zero response length
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:020 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(201) Entering IECommandExecutor::OnGetResponse
T 2024-09-26 14:15:54:020 C:\code\selenium\cpp\iedriver\IECommandExecutor.cpp(641) Entering IECommandExecutor::OnIsSessionValid
D 2024-09-26 14:15:54:020 C:\code\selenium\cpp\webdriver-server\server.cc(426) Response: {
	"value" : 
	{
		"error" : "javascript error",
		"message" : "Error from JavaScript: 'HTMLFormElement' is undefined",
		"stacktrace" : ""
	}

Operating System

Windows10

Selenium version

4.25 in c# net8.0

What are the browser(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

EDGE in ieMode

What are the browser driver(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

IEDriverServer.exe 4.14.0.0 (32-bit), Microsoft Edge WebDriver 129.0.2792.52

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No response

[github-actions[bot]]

@mannaci, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

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Thank you!

[mannaci]

hi, is there an update?

[shbenzer]

Unfortunately, as of June 2022 Selenium no longer supports Internet Explorer.

[ankitwits]

Since IE is deprecated, you may encounter issues with compatibility specially in newer framework like .NET8

[Delta456]

Can we have a deprecation warning for this then?

[diemol]

IE is deprecated but I see the code example is using IE mode in Edge. Is the issue related to that?

[mannaci]

Hi diemol, yes of course I'm using edge in iemode. unfortunately I still have interactions with systems that don't work otherwise. The same code with new version (also 4.24) don’t work with error in preview post.

[diemol]

The same code with new version (also 4.24) don’t work with error in preview post.

What does this mean? When did it stop working? Was it a specific MS Edge version or an specific Selenium version?

[mannaci]

We wrote a program with version 4.23 and it works perfectly. If I try to upgrade to version 4.24 or 4.25, the 'displayed' property launches the exception "Error from JavaScript: 'HTMLFormElement' is undefined"

Driver version IEDriverServer.exe 4.14.0.0 (32-bit) Microsoft Edge WebDriver 129.0.2792.59 The edge version is the same of the driver

[bhecquet]

Is it due to https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/pull/14389 ? I see a new reference to "HTMLFormElement" in atoms/domcore.js

[shbenzer]

Is it due to #14389 ? I see a new reference to "HTMLFormElement" in atoms/domcore.js

It’s possible, I’m not sure why only IE Mode would be having difficulties though

[bhecquet]

Hello,

I found an explanation about the problem I've had about "'HTMLFormElement' is undefined" The website I'm testing is forced in "IE5 compatibility mode". In that mode, HTMLFormElement does not exist

That said, I think there are 2 solutions

• consider that no one should ever test so old applications, so Selenium should not care about this error
• consider it's a regression and test if HtmlFormElement exist before using it

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 280 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 14 days.

[kemielis3456]

Is this fixable? I still need to test on legacy systems.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 180 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 14 days.