Puppeteer fails to activate the anchor element

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

Using Puppeteer for web scraping, I successfully handled cookies but get a navigation error when triggering the sign in link. Below is an alternative code example:

const puppeteerLib = require('puppeteer');

(async function beginScraping() {
  const browserInstance = await puppeteerLib.launch({ headless: false });
  const pageHandle = await browserInstance.newPage();
  await pageHandle.goto('https://example.com');
  
  const cookieButton = await pageHandle.$x("//button[normalize-space()='Accept All']");
  await cookieButton[0].click();
  
  const loginLink = await pageHandle.$x("//a[contains(., 'Sign in')]");
  await loginLink[0].click();
  
  await browserInstance.close();
})();
2

hey, try adding await page.waitForNavigation() right after clicking the sign in link. sometimes the element takes a sec to load and become interactable. give it a shot and see if it fixes the issue

3

In my experience with Puppeteer, the issue might be resolved by ensuring the target element is fully interactable before executing the click. Consider using page.waitForSelector for the anchor element instead of waiting for navigation, which can sometimes be too generic for dynamically loaded content. Ensuring there are no overlapping elements or unexpected layout shifts when the click happens is critical. In previous projects, explicitly waiting for the element using waitForSelector, followed by a click operation, provided more reliable results, especially on pages that update unexpectedly.

4

In a similar scraping setup, I found that the issue wasn’t solely with the click event but with the state of the page during interaction. My experience taught me that sometimes waiting for specific conditions is more effective than a generic wait for navigation. I worked around this by ensuring the element was truly stable before clicking by checking its bounding rectangle properties via page.evaluate. This approach helps to handle dynamic layouts or delayed rendering, providing a more reliable trigger device even when the page undergoes multiple DOM updates.

5

hey, instead of waiting for navigation, i added a check using waitForSelector for the sign in link. sometimes the page renders slowly and a small delay helps. also, a short pause after the cookie click can help ensure everything is loaded properly

6

In my experience, a more reliable workaround has been to ensure the element is in a usable state by explicitly waiting for it to become visible and then scrolling it into view before clicking. I once encountered a similar navigation error which was resolved by using page.waitForSelector with the option {visible: true} and then executing page.evaluate to trigger the click event within the page’s context. This approach helps by confirming that the element is fully rendered and interactable, which can prevent timing issues with dynamically loaded content.