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Evaluation Functions

Evaluation functions in Waterfall-Fetch allow you to execute custom JavaScript code in the context of the fetched web page when using the Puppeteer strategy.

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What are Evaluation Functions?

An evaluation function is a user-defined function that takes a page object as its parameter. This page object represents the current state of the web page being interacted with, allowing you to execute JavaScript within the context of that page.

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Syntax

type OnPageEvaluationFunction = (page: Page) => Promise<any>;

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Usage

You can pass an evaluation function as part of the options object when calling getHtml: 
import getHtml from "waterfall-fetch";

const url = "https://example.com";

const options = {
	set: "js",
	evalFunction: async (page) => {
		return await page.evaluate(() => {
			// This code runs in the context of the browser
			return {
				title: document.title,
				metaDescription: document.querySelector('meta[name="description"]')?.content,
			};
		});
	},
};

const { html, evaluation_result } = await getHtml(url, options);

console.log(evaluation_result); // { title: '...', metaDescription: '...' }

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Use Cases

Evaluation functions are particularly useful for:
  1. Extracting specific data from the page
  2. Interacting with the page (e.g., clicking buttons, filling forms)
  3. Waiting for dynamic content to load
  4. Bypassing client-side rendering issues

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Example: Infinite Scroll

Here’s an example of using an evaluation function to handle infinite scroll: 
const options = {
	set: "js",
	evalFunction: async (page) => {
		return await page.evaluate(async () => {
			const items = [];
			while (items.length < 100) {
				items.push(...document.querySelectorAll(".item"));
				window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);
				await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
			}
			return items.slice(0, 100).map((item) => item.textContent);
		});
	},
};

const { evaluation_result } = await getHtml("https://infinite-scroll-example.com", options);
console.log(evaluation_result); // Array of 100 items
By leveraging evaluation functions, you can extend Waterfall-Fetch’s capabilities to handle complex scraping scenarios and extract precisely the data you need.