diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/interpreter/lib/ui/executor/DropDownExecutor.java b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/interpreter/lib/ui/executor/DropDownExecutor.java
index 79b7f49e5..8642a2ba5 100644
--- a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/interpreter/lib/ui/executor/DropDownExecutor.java
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/interpreter/lib/ui/executor/DropDownExecutor.java
@@ -94,12 +94,14 @@ private void logOneValueDropDownData(final TypeForOneValue type, final OneValue
 
     private void selectSearchableOptionForCustomDropDown(final List<WebElement> dropDownParentElements,
                                                          final String value) {
+        By searchableOptionLocator = By.xpath(format(CONTAINS_TEXT_PATTERN, value));
+        uiUtil.waitForElementPresence(dependencies, searchableOptionLocator);
         Collections.reverse(dropDownParentElements);
 
         for (int i = 0; i < dropDownParentElements.size(); i++) {
             WebElement element = dropDownParentElements.get(i);
             try {
-                WebElement searchableOption = element.findElement(By.xpath(format(CONTAINS_TEXT_PATTERN, value)));
+                WebElement searchableOption = element.findElement(searchableOptionLocator);
                 searchableOption.click();
                 break;
             } catch (NoSuchElementException e) {
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/scenario/ScenarioRunner.java b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/scenario/ScenarioRunner.java
index bf42fb530..9e8c52c12 100644
--- a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/scenario/ScenarioRunner.java
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/scenario/ScenarioRunner.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public ScenarioRunner(final ScenarioArguments scenarioArguments,
         this.interpreterScanner = ctx.getBean(InterpreterScanner.class);
         this.webDownloadUtil = ctx.getBean(WebDownloadUtil.class);
         this.stopScenarioOnFailure = ctx.getBean(GlobalTestConfiguration.class).isStopScenarioOnFailure();
-
+        this.scenarioDir = webDownloadUtil.resolveScenarioDir(scenarioArguments.getFile());
         this.dependencies = createDependencies();
         this.cmdToInterpreterMap = createClassToInterpreterMap(dependencies);
     }
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ public ScenarioResult run() {
 
     private void takeFileNamesSnapshot() {
         this.executionStartTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-        this.scenarioDir = webDownloadUtil.resolveScenarioDir(scenarioArguments.getFile());
         if (nonNull(scenarioDir)) {
             try {
                 java.nio.file.Files.createDirectories(scenarioDir);
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/UiUtil.java b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/UiUtil.java
index 3f9c24392..2527af741 100644
--- a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/UiUtil.java
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/UiUtil.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import lombok.SneakyThrows;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.openqa.selenium.By;
 import org.openqa.selenium.Dimension;
 import org.openqa.selenium.OutputType;
 import org.openqa.selenium.Point;
@@ -276,6 +277,12 @@ public void waitForMatSelectToOpen(final ExecutorDependencies dependencies, fina
         getWebDriverWait(dependencies).until(d -> "true".equalsIgnoreCase(matSelect.getAttribute("aria-expanded")));
     }
 
+    public void waitForElementPresence(final ExecutorDependencies dependencies, final By locator) {
+        WebDriverWait wait = getWebDriverWait(dependencies);
+        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.presenceOfElementLocated(locator));
+    }
+
+
     public String getBasePageURL(final String currentPageURL) {
         try {
             URL url = new URL(currentPageURL);
diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/VariableHelperImpl.java b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/VariableHelperImpl.java
index bd0b716d9..b7323fb07 100644
--- a/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/VariableHelperImpl.java
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/com/knubisoft/testlum/testing/framework/util/VariableHelperImpl.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 import java.time.*;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatterBuilder;
+import java.time.format.ResolverStyle;
 import java.time.temporal.ChronoField;
 import java.time.temporal.TemporalAccessor;
 import java.time.temporal.TemporalQueries;
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ public class VariableHelperImpl implements VariableHelper {
     private static final String VAR_CONTEXT_LOG = LogFormat.table("Created from");
     private static final String DEFAULT_ALIAS_VALUE = "DEFAULT";
     private static final String JAVA_COMPATIBLE_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
+    private static final String ALLOWED_DATE_LETTERS = "yMdHmsSnuEaZzXx";
 
     private final Map<RandomPredicate, RandomFunction> randomGenerateMethodMap;
 
@@ -291,6 +293,7 @@ private String formatAndRegisterResult(final ZonedDateTime dateTime, final DateT
     }
 
     private DateTimeFormatter createDateTimeFormatter(final String dateFormatPattern) {
+        validateDateFormatPattern(dateFormatPattern);
         try {
             return new DateTimeFormatterBuilder().appendPattern(dateFormatPattern)
                     .parseDefaulting(ChronoField.YEAR_OF_ERA, ZonedDateTime.now().getYear())
@@ -341,6 +344,39 @@ private TemporalAccessor parseToTemporalAccessor(final String valueToParse, fina
         }
     }
 
+    private void validateDateFormatPattern(final String dateFormatPattern) {
+        if (hasUnquotedInvalidChars(dateFormatPattern)) {
+            throw new DefaultFrameworkException(ExceptionMessage.INVALID_DATE_FORMAT_PATTERN,
+                    dateFormatPattern, "Pattern contains unsupported letters or unquoted digits");
+        }
+        verifyPatternFunctionality(dateFormatPattern);
+    }
+
+    private void verifyPatternFunctionality(final String dateFormatPattern) {
+        try {
+            DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(dateFormatPattern)
+                    .withResolverStyle(ResolverStyle.STRICT);
+            ZonedDateTime now = ZonedDateTime.now();
+            String formatted = formatter.format(now);
+            formatter.parse(formatted);
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            throw new DefaultFrameworkException(ExceptionMessage.INVALID_DATE_FORMAT_PATTERN,
+                    dateFormatPattern, "Invalid pattern syntax: " + e.getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private boolean hasUnquotedInvalidChars(String pattern) {
+        String cleaned = pattern.replaceAll("'[^']*'", "");
+        return cleaned.chars().anyMatch(this::isInvalidChar);
+    }
+
+    private boolean isInvalidChar(int c) {
+        if (Character.isLetter(c)) {
+            return ALLOWED_DATE_LETTERS.indexOf(c) == -1;
+        }
+        return Character.isDigit(c);
+    }
+
     private ZonedDateTime convertToZonedDateTime(final TemporalAccessor temporalAccessor, final ZoneId zoneId,
                                                  final String originalValue, final String pattern) {
         LocalDate localDate = temporalAccessor.query(TemporalQueries.localDate());