Automating login with Puppeteer on a website with dynamic input IDs

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

I’m trying to automate the login process on a website using Puppeteer but I’m running into some issues. The main problem is that the input IDs change every time the page is reloaded. This makes it tricky to use them as selectors.

Here’s a sample of what I’ve tried so far:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

async function attemptLogin() {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: false });
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.setViewport({ width: 1280, height: 800 });
  await page.goto('login-page-url');
  await page.waitForSelector('input[type="email"]');
  await page.type('input[type="email"]', '[email protected]');
  await page.type('input[type="password"]', 'mypassword123');
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  await page.waitForNavigation();
  await browser.close();
}

attemptLogin();

This code doesn’t work as expected. Does anyone have suggestions on how to handle dynamic input IDs when automating logins with Puppeteer? Any help would be appreciated!

2

I’ve dealt with similar situations before, and there are a few approaches you can try. Instead of relying on IDs, you can use more stable selectors like element attributes or CSS classes. For example, you might target inputs by their type or name attributes:

await page.type('input[type="email"]', '[email protected]');
await page.type('input[type="password"]', 'mypassword123');

Another technique I’ve found useful is to use XPath selectors. They’re more flexible and can often target elements based on their text content or relative position:

await page.type('//input[@placeholder="Email"]', '[email protected]');
await page.type('//input[@placeholder="Password"]', 'mypassword123');

If the site’s structure is really unpredictable, you might need to implement a more robust solution. One approach is to analyze the page’s DOM structure programmatically to find the right elements. This requires more code but can be more reliable for tricky sites.

Remember to add proper error handling and timeouts to make your script more resilient. Good luck with your automation project!

3

I’ve encountered similar challenges with dynamic IDs. One effective approach is to use more reliable selectors based on element attributes or relationships. Consider utilizing aria-labels if available:

await page.type(‘[aria-label=“Email address”]’, ‘[email protected]’);
await page.type(‘[aria-label=“Password”]’, ‘mypassword123’);

Alternatively, you could target elements based on their position within the form structure:

await page.type(‘form input:nth-child(1)’, ‘[email protected]’);
await page.type(‘form input:nth-child(2)’, ‘mypassword123’);

If these methods don’t work, you might need to implement a more complex solution involving custom JavaScript execution within the page context to locate the correct elements. This approach requires more effort but can be highly effective for particularly challenging sites.

4

hey man, ive run into this before. one trick that worked for me was using data-testid attributes if the site has em. theyre usually more stable. like:

await page.type(‘[data-testid=“email-input”]’, ‘[email protected]’);

if not, maybe try waiting for specific text on the page before interacting. hope this helps!