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

A solution returning a Promise and allowing to use a timeout (compatible IE 11+).

For a single element (type Element):

"use strict";

function waitUntilElementLoaded(selector) {
    var timeout = arguments.length > 1 && arguments[1] !== undefined ? arguments[1] : 0;

    var start = performance.now();
    var now = 0;

    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        var interval = setInterval(function () {
            var element = document.querySelector(selector);

            if (element instanceof Element) {
                clearInterval(interval);

                resolve();
            }

            now = performance.now();

            if (now - start >= timeout) {
                reject("Could not find the element " + selector + " within " + timeout + " ms");
            }
        }, 100);
    });
}

For multiple elements (type NodeList):

"use strict";

function waitUntilElementsLoaded(selector) {
    var timeout = arguments.length > 1 && arguments[1] !== undefined ? arguments[1] : 0;

    var start = performance.now();
    var now = 0;

    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        var interval = setInterval(function () {
            var elements = document.querySelectorAll(selector);

            if (elements instanceof NodeList) {
                clearInterval(interval);

                resolve(elements);
            }

            now = performance.now();

            if (now - start >= timeout) {
                reject("Could not find elements " + selector + " within " + timeout + " ms");
            }
        }, 100);
    });
}

Examples:

waitUntilElementLoaded('#message', 800).then(function(element) {
    // element found and available

    element.innerHTML = '...';
}).catch(function() {
    // element not found within 800 milliseconds
});

waitUntilElementsLoaded('.message', 10000).then(function(elements) {
    for(const element of elements) {
        // ....
    }
}).catch(function(error) {
    // elements not found withing 10 seconds
});

Works for both a list of elements and a single element.