Capturing Entire Page Screenshots in a Node.js SPA with Puppeteer

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

I’ve developed a single-page application that employs extensive scrolling, and I’m encountering an issue with capturing the complete page as a screenshot using Puppeteer in Node.js. Currently, the process only records the visible section of the page rather than the entire content. I need guidance on how to adjust my configuration or code so that the screenshot encompasses all scrollable areas.

Below is a revised sample code snippet that you could consider using:

const puppeteerModule = require('puppeteer');

(async function captureFullScreen() {
  const browserInstance = await puppeteerModule.launch({ headless: true });
  const pageInstance = await browserInstance.newPage();
  await pageInstance.goto('http://example.com', { waitUntil: 'networkidle0' });
  await pageInstance.screenshot({ path: 'complete_view.png', fullPage: true });
  await browserInstance.close();
})();

Any insights or suggestions to improve this approach would be greatly appreciated.

2

I faced a similar issue when trying to capture a completely scrolling page on one of my projects. I eventually discovered that including the fullPage flag usually works smoothly, as long as the page has finished rendering. However, for pages with dynamic loading, you might need to wait for the content to load completely by adjusting the waitUntil option or even adding a periodic delay using a loop. It’s also important to ensure that CSS transitions or lazy-loaded elements are handled properly, otherwise some content might still be missing in the screenshot.

3

In my experience, addressing full-page capture issues requires additional checks beyond device viewport settings. I encountered similar challenges when dealing with dynamic content loading in a SPA. After ensuring that network requests settle, I introduced a slight wait to account for any post-load rendering or CSS transitions that might still be in progress. This ensures that lazy-loaded elements appear completely. Adjusting the wait time based on your specific content and using the fullPage flag together have proven effective in reliably creating complete screenshots.