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

DOMNodeInserted is being deprecated, along with the other DOM mutation events, because of performance issues - the recommended approach is to use a MutationObserver to watch the DOM. It's only supported in newer browsers though, so you should fall back onto DOMNodeInserted when MutationObserver isn't available.

let observer = new MutationObserver((mutations) => {
  mutations.forEach((mutation) => {
    if (!mutation.addedNodes) return

    for (let i = 0; i < mutation.addedNodes.length; i++) {
      // do things to your newly added nodes here
      let node = mutation.addedNodes[i]
    }
  })
})

observer.observe(document.body, {
    childList: true
  , subtree: true
  , attributes: false
  , characterData: false
})

// stop watching using:
observer.disconnect()