Trouble capturing screenshot with Puppeteer for specific website

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

Having issues with Puppeteer screenshot

I’m trying to capture an image of a specific website using Puppeteer, but it doesn’t work as expected. Below is my modified code:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

async function captureImage() {
  try {
    const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ args: ['--no-sandbox'], headless: 'new' });
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.goto('the-website-url', { waitUntil: 'networkidle0' });
    await page.screenshot({ path: 'output.png' });
    await browser.close();
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Screenshot failed:', error);
  }
}

captureImage();

This code snippet works well for most websites, but it throws an error for this one specific site. The error mentions an issue with extracting a value when an object identifier is provided. I’m confused about whether the error stems from the site itself or from something in my code. Any advice or experiences with similar issues would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

2

I’ve had my fair share of headaches with Puppeteer, especially when it comes to tricky websites. One thing that’s worked wonders for me is playing around with the page’s content loading state. Instead of relying on ‘networkidle0’, try using ‘domcontentloaded’ in your goto options. It might help bypass some of those pesky loading issues.

Another trick I’ve found useful is to implement a custom waiting function. Something like this:

const waitTillHTMLRendered = async (page, timeout = 30000) => {
  const checkDurationMsecs = 1000;
  const maxChecks = timeout / checkDurationMsecs;
  let lastHTMLSize = 0;
  let checkCounts = 1;
  let countStableSizeIterations = 0;
  const minStableSizeIterations = 3;

  while(checkCounts++ <= maxChecks){
    let html = await page.content();
    let currentHTMLSize = html.length; 

    if(lastHTMLSize != 0 && currentHTMLSize == lastHTMLSize) 
      countStableSizeIterations++;
    else 
      countStableSizeIterations = 0;

    if(countStableSizeIterations >= minStableSizeIterations) {
      break;
    }

    lastHTMLSize = currentHTMLSize;
    await page.waitForTimeout(checkDurationMsecs);
  }  
};

This function waits until the page’s HTML content stabilizes, which can be more reliable than built-in waiting methods for some websites. Give it a shot and see if it helps with your specific case. Good luck!

3

hey there! i’ve run into similar issues before. have u tried using a different browser version or tweaking the viewport size? sometimes that helps. also, make sure the site’s fully loaded before taking the screenshot. if nothing works, try an older puppeteer version. good luck!

4

I’ve encountered similar issues with Puppeteer before. One thing that often helps is adding a delay before taking the screenshot. Try inserting await page.waitForTimeout(5000); before the screenshot line. This gives the page more time to load completely.

Another approach is to wait for a specific element on the page to be visible before capturing the screenshot. You can use await page.waitForSelector('.some-class'); to ensure a particular element is present.

If these don’t work, you might want to check if the website uses any anti-bot measures. Some sites detect and block automated browsers. In such cases, you might need to use additional options when launching the browser, like --disable-web-security or a custom user agent.

Lastly, make sure you’re using a compatible Chrome version with your Puppeteer installation. Mismatched versions can sometimes cause unexpected errors.