playwright/docs/src/actionability.md

id	title
actionability	Auto-waiting

Introduction

Playwright performs a range of actionability checks on the elements before making actions to ensure these actions behave as expected. It auto-waits for all the relevant checks to pass and only then performs the requested action. If the required checks do not pass within the given timeout, action fails with the TimeoutError.

For example, for [method: Locator.click], Playwright will ensure that:

• locator resolves to an exactly one element
• element is Visible
• element is Stable, as in not animating or completed animation
• element Receives Events, as in not obscured by other elements
• element is Enabled

Here is the complete list of actionability checks performed for each action:

Action	Visible	Stable	Receives Events	Enabled	Editable
[method: Locator.check]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.click]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.dblclick]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.setChecked]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.tap]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.uncheck]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-
[method: Locator.hover]	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
[method: Locator.dragTo]	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
[method: Locator.screenshot]	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
[method: Locator.fill]	Yes	-	-	Yes	Yes
[method: Locator.clear]	Yes	-	-	Yes	Yes
[method: Locator.selectOption]	Yes	-	-	Yes	-
[method: Locator.selectText]	Yes	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.scrollIntoViewIfNeeded]	-	Yes	-	-	-
[method: Locator.blur]	-	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.dispatchEvent]	-	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.focus]	-	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.press]	-	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.pressSequentially]	-	-	-	-	-
[method: Locator.setInputFiles]	-	-	-	-	-

Forcing actions

Some actions like [method: Locator.click] support force option that disables non-essential actionability checks, for example passing truthy force to [method: Locator.click] method will not check that the target element actually receives click events.

Assertions

Playwright includes auto-retrying assertions that remove flakiness by waiting until the condition is met, similarly to auto-waiting before actions.

Assertion	Description
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeAttached]	Element is attached
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeChecked]	Checkbox is checked
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeDisabled]	Element is disabled
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeEditable]	Element is editable
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeEmpty]	Container is empty
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeEnabled]	Element is enabled
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeFocused]	Element is focused
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeHidden]	Element is not visible
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeInViewport]	Element intersects viewport
[method: LocatorAssertions.toBeVisible]	Element is visible
[method: LocatorAssertions.toContainText]	Element contains text
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveAttribute]	Element has a DOM attribute
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveClass]	Element has a class property
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveCount]	List has exact number of children
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveCSS]	Element has CSS property
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveId]	Element has an ID
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveJSProperty]	Element has a JavaScript property
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveText]	Element matches text
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveValue]	Input has a value
[method: LocatorAssertions.toHaveValues]	Select has options selected
[method: PageAssertions.toHaveTitle]	Page has a title
[method: PageAssertions.toHaveURL]	Page has a URL
[method: APIResponseAssertions.toBeOK]	Response has an OK status

Learn more in the assertions guide.

Visible

Element is considered visible when it has non-empty bounding box and does not have visibility:hidden computed style.

Note that according to this definition:

• Elements of zero size are not considered visible.
• Elements with display:none are not considered visible.
• Elements with opacity:0 are considered visible.

Stable

Element is considered stable when it has maintained the same bounding box for at least two consecutive animation frames.

Enabled

Element is considered enabled unless it is a <button>, <select>, <input> or <textarea> with a disabled property.

Editable

Element is considered editable when it is enabled and does not have readonly property set.

Receives Events

Element is considered receiving pointer events when it is the hit target of the pointer event at the action point. For example, when clicking at the point (10;10), Playwright checks whether some other element (usually an overlay) will instead capture the click at (10;10).

For example, consider a scenario where Playwright will click Sign Up button regardless of when the [method: Locator.click] call was made:

• page is checking that user name is unique and Sign Up button is disabled;
• after checking with the server, the disabled Sign Up button is replaced with another one that is now enabled.