SAP — Wait for element

SAP — Wait for element

Type: sap-wait-for-element  ·  Package: SAP Activities v1.0.5

Waits until an element appears on the SAP screen: a field on the next screen, a grid that takes a while to load, a pop-up dialog. If the element does not appear within the time limit, the activity fails.

How it works

Checks every 200 milliseconds whether the element given by selector exists in the session. Before each check it waits for SAP to finish whatever it is processing, so an element from the previous screen doesn’t count as found. As soon as it does, the flow continues. If the timeout (in seconds) passes without it appearing, the activity fails with a timeout error.

It only checks that the element exists; it does not read or change anything.

Do you need to wait?

Activities that act on an element (type, press, select…) already wait for their element to appear, up to the elementTimeout of SAP — Attach or SAP — Log on (30 seconds by default) or each activity’s timeout. Use this activity when you want to make explicit in the flow the point where a screen is expected, or to wait for an element you are not going to interact with directly.

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	selector	—	Element to wait for. Captured selector or SAP id, for example wnd[1] for a pop-up dialog.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
session	ZoanSapSession	—	SAP session. Omit it inside the body of an SAP — Attach or SAP — Log on.
timeout	number	—	Seconds to wait. Empty: the scope’s elementTimeout (30 s unless changed). Decimals allowed, for example 2.5; with 0 it checks only once.

Output

This activity does not return a value.

Common errors

Message	Cause and fix
Component '…' did not appear within … s.	The element did not appear in time. Raise timeout if the screen is slow, or use SAP — Element exists if the element is optional.
'timeout' must be a number of seconds; got '…'.	timeout is not a number or is negative.
'selector' is required.	The selector arrived empty.

Plus the errors common to all activities.

Example

Wait for the result grid of a heavy report, with more margin than usual:

SAP — Run transaction   code = "ZREPORTE01"
SAP — Send key   key = F8
SAP — Wait for element   selector = "wnd[0]/usr/cntlGRID1/shellcont/shell"   timeout = 120
SAP — Read table   selector = "wnd[0]/usr/cntlGRID1/shellcont/shell"   → output: rows

Where the time limit comes from

If you leave timeout empty, it waits as long as the other activities of the session: the elementTimeout of SAP — Attach or SAP — Log on; if they don’t set one, the timeout in the project settings, and otherwise 30 seconds.

If the element may not appear

If the element is optional (for example, a dialog that sometimes shows up and sometimes does not), do not use this activity, because it fails when the time runs out. Use SAP — Element exists in a condition.

Related activities

• SAP — Element exists — check whether an element is there, without waiting or failing.
• SAP — Attach — where the general elementTimeout is set.
• SAP — Close modal — close a pop-up dialog that appeared.