puppeteer/new-docs/puppeteer.page.evaluatehandle.md
Jack Franklin 8370ec88ae
feat(types): add (and fix) evaluateHandle types (#6130)
This change started as a small change to pull types from DefinitelyTyped over to
Puppeteer for the `evaluateHandle` function but instead ended up also fixing
what looks to be a long standing issue with our existing documentation.

`evaluateHandle` can in fact return an `ElementHandle` rather than a `JSHandle`.
Note that `ElementHandle` extends `JSHandle` so whilst the docs are technically
correct (all ElementHandles are JSHandles) it's confusing because JSHandles
don't have methods like `click` on them, but ElementHandles do.

if you return something that is an HTML element:

```
const button = page.evaluateHandle(() => document.querySelector('button'));
// this is an ElementHandle, not a JSHandle
```

Therefore I've updated the original docs and added a large explanation to the
TSDoc for `page.evaluateHandle`.

In TypeScript land we'll assume the function will return a `JSHandle` but you
can tell TS otherwise via the generic argument, which can only be `JSHandle`
(the default) or `ElementHandle`:

```
const button = page.evaluateHandle<ElementHandle>(() => document.querySelector('button'));
```
2020-07-01 12:44:08 +01:00

2.4 KiB

Home > puppeteer > Page > evaluateHandle

Page.evaluateHandle() method

Signature:

evaluateHandle<HandlerType extends JSHandle = JSHandle>(pageFunction: EvaluateHandleFn, ...args: SerializableOrJSHandle[]): Promise<HandlerType>;

Parameters

Parameter Type Description
pageFunction EvaluateHandleFn a function that is run within the page
args SerializableOrJSHandle[] arguments to be passed to the pageFunction

Returns:

Promise<HandlerType>

Remarks

The only difference between page.evaluate and page.evaluateHandle is that evaluateHandle will return the value wrapped in an in-page object.

If the function passed to page.evaluteHandle returns a Promise, the function will wait for the promise to resolve and return its value.

You can pass a string instead of a function (although functions are recommended as they are easier to debug and use with TypeScript):

Example 1

const aHandle = await page.evaluateHandle('document')

Example 2

JSHandle instances can be passed as arguments to the pageFunction:

const aHandle = await page.evaluateHandle(() => document.body);
const resultHandle = await page.evaluateHandle(body => body.innerHTML, aHandle);
console.log(await resultHandle.jsonValue());
await resultHandle.dispose();

Most of the time this function returns a JSHandle, but if pageFunction returns a reference to an element, you instead get an ElementHandle back:

Example 3

const button = await page.evaluateHandle(() => document.querySelector('button'));
// can call `click` because `button` is an `ElementHandle`
await button.click();

The TypeScript definitions assume that evaluateHandle returns a JSHandle, but if you know it's going to return an ElementHandle, pass it as the generic argument:

const button = await page.evaluateHandle<ElementHandle>(...);