How to wait until an element exists?

Question

I\'m working on an Extension in Chrome, and I\'m wondering: what\'s the best way to find out when an element comes into existence? Using plain javascript, with an interval t

Answer 1

Here is a core JavaScript function to wait for the display of an element (well, its insertion into the DOM to be more accurate).

// Call the below function
waitForElementToDisplay("#div1",function(){alert("Hi");},1000,9000);

function waitForElementToDisplay(selector, callback, checkFrequencyInMs, timeoutInMs) {
  var startTimeInMs = Date.now();
  (function loopSearch() {
    if (document.querySelector(selector) != null) {
      callback();
      return;
    }
    else {
      setTimeout(function () {
        if (timeoutInMs && Date.now() - startTimeInMs > timeoutInMs)
          return;
        loopSearch();
      }, checkFrequencyInMs);
    }
  })();
}

This call will look for the HTML tag whose id="div1" every 1000 milliseconds. If the element is found, it will display an alert message Hi. If no element is found after 9000 milliseconds, this function stops its execution.

Parameters:

1. selector: String : This function looks for the element ${selector}.
2. callback: Function : This is a function that will be called if the element is found.
3. checkFrequencyInMs: Number : This function checks whether this element exists every ${checkFrequencyInMs} milliseconds.
4. timeoutInMs : Number : Optional. This function stops looking for the element after ${timeoutInMs} milliseconds.

NB : Selectors are explained at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/querySelector

Answer 2

Here's a function that acts as a thin wrapper around MutationObserver. The only requirement is that the browser support MutationObserver; there is no dependency on JQuery. Run the snippet below to see a working example.

function waitForMutation(parentNode, isMatchFunc, handlerFunc, observeSubtree, disconnectAfterMatch) {
  var defaultIfUndefined = function(val, defaultVal) {
    return (typeof val === "undefined") ? defaultVal : val;
  };

  observeSubtree = defaultIfUndefined(observeSubtree, false);
  disconnectAfterMatch = defaultIfUndefined(disconnectAfterMatch, false);

  var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) {
    mutations.forEach(function(mutation) {
      if (mutation.addedNodes) {
        for (var i = 0; i < mutation.addedNodes.length; i++) {
          var node = mutation.addedNodes[i];
          if (isMatchFunc(node)) {
            handlerFunc(node);
            if (disconnectAfterMatch) observer.disconnect();
          };
        }
      }
    });
  });

  observer.observe(parentNode, {
    childList: true,
    attributes: false,
    characterData: false,
    subtree: observeSubtree
  });
}

// Example
waitForMutation(
  // parentNode: Root node to observe. If the mutation you're looking for
  // might not occur directly below parentNode, pass 'true' to the
  // observeSubtree parameter.
  document.getElementById("outerContent"),
  // isMatchFunc: Function to identify a match. If it returns true,
  // handlerFunc will run.
  // MutationObserver only fires once per mutation, not once for every node
  // inside the mutation. If the element we're looking for is a child of
  // the newly-added element, we need to use something like
  // node.querySelector() to find it.
  function(node) {
    return node.querySelector(".foo") !== null;
  },
  // handlerFunc: Handler.
  function(node) {
    var elem = document.createElement("div");
    elem.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Added node (" + node.innerText + ")"));
    document.getElementById("log").appendChild(elem);
  },
  // observeSubtree
  true,
  // disconnectAfterMatch: If this is true the hanlerFunc will only run on
  // the first time that isMatchFunc returns true. If it's false, the handler
  // will continue to fire on matches.
  false);

// Set up UI. Using JQuery here for convenience.

$outerContent = $("#outerContent");
$innerContent = $("#innerContent");

$("#addOuter").on("click", function() {
  var newNode = $("<div><span class='foo'>Outer</span></div>");
  $outerContent.append(newNode);
});
$("#addInner").on("click", function() {
  var newNode = $("<div><span class='foo'>Inner</span></div>");
  $innerContent.append(newNode);
});

.content {
  padding: 1em;
  border: solid 1px black;
  overflow-y: auto;
}
#innerContent {
  height: 100px;
}
#outerContent {
  height: 200px;
}
#log {
  font-family: Courier;
  font-size: 10pt;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<h2>Create some mutations</h2>
<div id="main">
  <button id="addOuter">Add outer node</button>
  <button id="addInner">Add inner node</button>
  <div class="content" id="outerContent">
    <div class="content" id="innerContent"></div>
  </div>
</div>
<h2>Log</h2>
<div id="log"></div>

Answer 3

I used this approach to wait for an element to appear so I can execute the other functions after that.

Let's say doTheRestOfTheStuff(parameters) function should only be called after the element with ID the_Element_ID appears or finished loading, we can use,

var existCondition = setInterval(function() {
 if ($('#the_Element_ID').length) {
    console.log("Exists!");
    clearInterval(existCondition);
    doTheRestOfTheStuff(parameters);
 }
}, 100); // check every 100ms

Answer 4

Simply add the selector you want. Once the element is found you can have access to in the callback function.

const waitUntilElementExists = (selector, callback) => {
const el = document.querySelector(selector);

if (el){
    return callback(el);
}

setTimeout(() => waitUntilElementExists(selector, callback), 500);
}

waitUntilElementExists('.wait-for-me', (el) => console.log(el));

Answer 5

Here's a pure Javascript function which allows you to wait for anything. Set the interval longer to take less CPU resource.

/**
 * @brief Wait for something to be ready before triggering a timeout
 * @param {callback} isready Function which returns true when the thing we're waiting for has happened
 * @param {callback} success Function to call when the thing is ready
 * @param {callback} error Function to call if we time out before the event becomes ready
 * @param {int} count Number of times to retry the timeout (default 300 or 6s)
 * @param {int} interval Number of milliseconds to wait between attempts (default 20ms)
 */
function waitUntil(isready, success, error, count, interval){
    if (count === undefined) {
        count = 300;
    }
    if (interval === undefined) {
        interval = 20;
    }
    if (isready()) {
        success();
        return;
    }
    // The call back isn't ready. We need to wait for it
    setTimeout(function(){
        if (!count) {
            // We have run out of retries
            if (error !== undefined) {
                error();
            }
        } else {
            // Try again
            waitUntil(isready, success, error, count -1, interval);
        }
    }, interval);
}

To call this, for example in jQuery, use something like:

waitUntil(function(){
    return $('#myelement').length > 0;
}, function(){
    alert("myelement now exists");
}, function(){
    alert("I'm bored. I give up.");
});

Answer 6

This is a simple solution for those who are used to promises and don't want to use any third party libs or timers.

I have been using it in my projects for a while

function waitForElm(selector) {
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        if (document.querySelector(selector)) {
            return resolve(document.querySelector(selector));
        }

        const observer = new MutationObserver(mutations => {
            if (document.querySelector(selector)) {
                resolve(document.querySelector(selector));
                observer.disconnect();
            }
        });

        observer.observe(document.body, {
            childList: true,
            subtree: true
        });
    });
}

To use it:

waitForElm('.some-class').then(elm => console.log(elm.textContent));

or with async/await

const elm = await waitForElm('.some-classs')