Version: 1.8.0

Navigations

Playwright can navigate to URLs and handle navigations caused by page interactions. This guide covers common scenarios to wait for page navigations and loading to complete.

Navigation lifecycle#

Playwright splits the process of showing a new document in a page into navigation and loading.

Navigations can be initiated by changing the page URL or by interacting with the page (e.g., clicking a link). Navigation ends when response headers have been parsed and session history is updated. The navigation intent may be canceled, for example, on hitting an unresolved DNS address or transformed into a file download. Only after the navigation succeeds, page starts loading the document.

Loading covers getting the remaining response body over the network, parsing, executing the scripts and firing load events:

  • page.url() is set to the new url
  • document content is loaded over network and parsed
  • page.on('domcontentloaded') event is fired
  • page executes some scripts and loads resources like stylesheets and images
  • page.on('load') event is fired
  • page executes dynamically loaded scripts
  • networkidle is fired when no new network requests are made for 500 ms

Scenarios initiated by browser UI#

Navigations can be initiated by changing the URL bar, reloading the page or going back or forward in session history.

Auto-wait#

Navigating to a URL auto-waits for the page to fire the load event. If the page does a client-side redirect before load, page.goto will auto-wait for the redirected page to fire the load event.

// Navigate the page
await page.goto('https://example.com');

Custom wait#

Override the default behavior to wait until a specific event, like networkidle.

// Navigate and wait until network is idle
await page.goto('https://example.com', { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });

Wait for element#

In lazy-loaded pages, it can be useful to wait until an element is visible with page.waitForSelector(selector[, options]). Alternatively, page interactions like page.click(selector[, options]) auto-wait for elements.

// Navigate and wait for element
await page.goto('https://example.com');
await page.waitForSelector('text=Example Domain');
// Navigate and click element
// Click will auto-wait for the element
await page.goto('https://example.com');
await page.click('text=Example Domain');

API reference#

Scenarios initiated by page interaction#

In the scenarios below, page.click(selector[, options]) initiates a navigation and then waits for the navigation to complete.

Auto-wait#

By default, page.click(selector[, options]) will wait for the navigation step to complete. This can be combined with a page interaction on the navigated page which would auto-wait for an element.

// Click will auto-wait for navigation to complete
await page.click('text=Login');
// Fill will auto-wait for element on navigated page
await page.fill('#username', 'John Doe');

Custom wait#

page.click can be combined with page.waitForLoadState([state, options]) to wait for a loading event.

await page.click('button'); // Click triggers navigation
await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle'); // This resolves after 'networkidle'

Wait for element#

In lazy-loaded pages, it can be useful to wait until an element is visible with page.waitForSelector(selector[, options]). Alternatively, page interactions like page.click(selector[, options]) auto-wait for elements.

// Click triggers navigation
await page.click('text=Login');
// Click will auto-wait for the element
await page.waitForSelector('#username', 'John Doe');
// Click triggers navigation
await page.click('text=Login');
// Fill will auto-wait for element
await page.fill('#username', 'John Doe');

Asynchronous navigation#

Clicking an element could trigger asynchronous processing before initiating the navigation. In these cases, it is recommended to explicitly call page.waitForNavigation([options]). For example:

  • Navigation is triggered from a setTimeout
  • Page waits for network requests before navigation
// Note that Promise.all prevents a race condition
// between clicking and waiting for a navigation.
await Promise.all([
page.waitForNavigation(), // Waits for the next navigation
page.click('a'), // Triggers a navigation after a timeout
]);

Multiple navigations#

Clicking an element could trigger multiple navigations. In these cases, it is recommended to explicitly page.waitForNavigation([options]) to a specific url. For example:

  • Client-side redirects issued after the load event
  • Multiple pushes to history state
// Note that Promise.all prevents a race condition
// between clicking and waiting for a navigation.
await Promise.all([
page.waitForNavigation({ url: '**/login' }),
page.click('a'), // Triggers a navigation with a script redirect
]);

Loading a popup#

When popup is opened, explicitly calling page.waitForLoadState([state, options]) ensures that popup is loaded to the desired state.

const [ popup ] = await Promise.all([
page.waitForEvent('popup'),
page.click('a[target="_blank"]'), // Opens popup
]);
await popup.waitForLoadState('load');

API reference#

Advanced patterns#

For pages that have complicated loading patterns, page.waitForFunction(pageFunction[, arg, options]) is a powerful and extensible approach to define a custom wait criteria.

await page.goto('http://example.com');
await page.waitForFunction(() => window.amILoadedYet());
// Ready to take a screenshot, according to the page itself.
await page.screenshot();

API reference#