fix: update waitForExist function to maintain elementIds for shadow e… #14836

b-kirby · Oct 31, 2025

Proposed changes

Adds a small change to the waitForExist function for and edge case that causes the switchFrame function to fail with an undefined elementId when passing in a shadow Element.

The impact of the problem occurs in this part of the switchFrame logic:

webdriverio/packages/webdriverio/src/commands/browser/switchFrame.ts

Line 296 in e86efcc

await element.waitForExist({

if (isPossiblyUnresolvedElement(context)) {
        const element = await context.getElement()
        await element.waitForExist({
            timeoutMsg: `Can't switch to frame with selector ${element.selector} because it doesn't exist`
        })
        return switchToFrameUsingElement(this, element)
    }

The issue is hard to detect as it has no impact in most cases due to the internal logic and the return type.

In this scenario the function correctly returns true but it also resets the global elementId to be undefined due to this line:

webdriverio/packages/webdriverio/src/commands/element/waitForExist.ts

Line 68 in e86efcc

this.elementId = await this.parent.$(this.selector).elementId

Because the element being passed into the function is a shadow element, the parent is unable to find the element based on the provided selector.

Inside the switchFrame function the elementId is now undefined prior to calling

return switchToFrameUsingElement(this, element)

which results in an error similar to the following:

WebDriver Bidi command "script.callFunction" failed with error: invalid argument - Expected "type" to be a string, got [object Undefined] undefined

The fix is intended to be the least invasive approach with minimal impact to the underlying functionality in most cases.

Types of changes

Polish (an improvement for an existing feature)
Bugfix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)
Documentation update (improvements to the project's docs)
Specification changes (updates to WebDriver command specifications)
Internal updates (everything related to internal scripts, governance documentation and CI files)

Checklist

I have read the CONTRIBUTING doc
I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
I have added the necessary documentation (if appropriate)
I have added proper type definitions for new commands (if appropriate)

Backport Request

//: # (The current main branch is the development branch for WebdriverIO v9. If your change should be released to the current major version of WebdriverIO (v8), please raise another PR with the same changes against the v8 branch.)

This change is solely for v9 and doesn't need to be back-ported
Back-ported PR at #XXXXX

Further comments

Reviewers: @webdriverio/project-committers

…lements

linux-foundation-easycla · Oct 31, 2025

The committers listed above are authorized under a signed CLA.

✅ login: b-kirby / name: b-kirby (f427a78)

christian-bromann

LGTM 👍

pkg-pr-new · Nov 14, 2025

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commit: 810d99c

wdio-bot · Nov 22, 2025

Hey b-kirby 👋

Thank you for your contribution to WebdriverIO! Your pull request has been marked as an "Expensable" contribution.

We've sent you an email with further instructions on how to claim your expenses from our development fund.
Please make sure to check your spam folder as well. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at expense@webdriver.io or in the contributing channel on Discord.

We are looking forward to more contributions from you in the future 🙌

Have a nice day,
The WebdriverIO Team 🤖

fix: update waitForExist function to maintain elementIds for shadow e…

8af44dd

…lements

Merge branch 'main' into main

810d99c

christian-bromann approved these changes Nov 14, 2025

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'main' into main

f427a78

christian-bromann merged commit 26b463f into webdriverio:main Nov 22, 2025
3 of 6 checks passed

christian-bromann added the PR: Bug Fix 🐛 PRs that contain bug fixes label Nov 22, 2025

wdio-bot added the Expensable $25 💸 label Nov 22, 2025

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fix: update waitForExist function to maintain elementIds for shadow e… #14836

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b-kirby commented Oct 31, 2025

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