Handling timeout errors in Puppeteer's navigation wait

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

I’m working on a Puppeteer script that interacts with a web form. When I input a valid value, it works fine. But I’m struggling with error handling for invalid inputs.

Here’s a simplified version of my code:

await clickSubmitButton()
await waitForResultElement()
await extractAndLogResult()

The problem is when the input is invalid. No new page loads, so waitForResultElement() times out after 30 seconds. This crashes my script.

How can I catch this timeout error and run a different function instead of crashing? I want to handle invalid inputs gracefully.

I’ve tried wrapping it in a try-catch block, but I’m not sure if that’s the best approach. Any suggestions for dealing with this kind of scenario in Puppeteer?

2

hey there CharlieLion22! i’ve dealt with similar issues before. try using Promise.race() to set a custom timeout. something like:

const result = await Promise.race([
  waitForResultElement(),
  new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(() => resolve('timeout'), 5000))
]);

if (result === 'timeout') {
  // handle invalid input case
} else {
  // proceed with valid input
}

this way you can gracefully handle timeouts without crashing. hope this helps!

3

I’ve encountered this issue before in my Puppeteer projects. One effective approach is to use a custom timeout with waitForSelector. You can set a shorter timeout and catch the error:

try {
  await page.waitForSelector('#resultElement', {timeout: 5000});
  await extractAndLogResult();
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof TimeoutError) {
    console.log('Invalid input detected');
    // Handle invalid input case
  } else {
    throw error; // Re-throw if it's not a timeout error
  }
}

This method allows you to quickly detect invalid inputs without waiting for the full 30-second default timeout. It’s more efficient and gives you granular control over error handling.

4

As someone who’s worked extensively with Puppeteer, I can tell you that handling timeouts is crucial for robust scraping. Instead of relying on waitForResultElement(), you could use page.waitForNavigation() with a custom timeout. This approach catches both successful submissions and errors:

try {
  await Promise.all([
    page.waitForNavigation({ timeout: 5000 }),
    clickSubmitButton()
  ]);
  await extractAndLogResult();
} catch (error) {
  console.log('No navigation occurred. Likely an invalid input.');
  // Handle invalid input here
}

This method has served me well in production. It’s efficient and doesn’t leave your script hanging. Remember to adjust the timeout based on the typical response time of the site you’re working with.