@CacheLookup Annotation in PageFactory

The @CacheLookup annotation is used in Selenium’s PageFactory model to cache WebElement references after they are first located. This means that instead of finding the element on the web page each time it’s accessed, the previously found reference is reused, which can improve performance if the page is static and the element doesn’t change.

Every time when a method is called on a WebElement, the driver will first find it on the current page and then simulate the action on the WebElement. There are cases where we will be working with a basic page, and we know that we will find the element on the page every time we look for it, In such cases we can use annotation ‘@CacheLookup‘ which is another annotation in page factory

<span class="hljs-annotation">@FindBy</span>(name=<span class="hljs-string">"username"</span>)
<span class="hljs-annotation">@CacheLookup</span>
<span class="hljs-keyword">private</span> WebElement userName;

@CacheLookup Annotation

In Selenium, the @CacheLookup annotation is used to mark a WebElement so that PageFactory stores it in memory after it is first found on the page. We will mark annotation @CacheLookup to WebElements to indicate that it never changes (that is, that the same instance in the DOM will always be used)

 

✅ When to Use @CacheLookup

CacheLookup attribute can be used to instruct the InitElements() method to cache the element once its located and so that it will not be searched over and over again – this is useful when the elements that are always going to be there
(For AJAX based applications, it may not work where the DOM changes based on user action on the page). Otherwise every time when we use a Web Element the WebDriver will go and search it again

• The element is static and does not reload or change during the test.

• You’re accessing the element multiple times, and want to avoid repeated DOM searches.

 

❌ When Not to Use @CacheLookup

But whenever we use @CacheLookup annotation, we will be losing one of the page factory benefit as it will find the element once and then keep a reference to it, hence, we are more likely to see StaleElementExceptions.

• The element is dynamic, e.g., changes on refresh, AJAX updates, or re-renders.

• You navigate to different pages or refresh the same page — the element reference becomes stale, leading to StaleElementReferenceException.

 

Table

	With @CacheLookup	Without @CacheLookup
DOM Lookup	Once (cached)	Every access
Performance	Faster	Slower
Risk of Stale Reference	High (if dynamic)	Low
Best for	Static elements	Dynamic/changing elements

 

 

https://www.selenium.dev/selenium/docs/api/java/org/openqa/selenium/support/CacheLookup.html

 

 

Selenium Tutorials on this website:

• https://www.testingdocs.com/selenium-webdriver-tutorial/