Fetching current DOM using Java API

Question

Hi All,

I could see a clear difference between html page source and current DOM structure of the same html page. I need to fetch current DOM structure (mouse right click and inspect option in browser) of the page. Would like to know if there is any API in java or FE js?

I tried making http call but all those are giving html source of the page. Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pradeep

konstantyn_diachenko · Accepted Answer

Hi @pradeepdubey82 ,

If you need the rendered DOM (with JS executed), then run a headless browser (e.g., Puppeteer or Playwright) locally to load the page and extract DOM.

const puppeteer = require("puppeteer");

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto("https://www.example.com/content/en/aboutus.html", { waitUntil: "networkidle0" });

  const dom = await page.evaluate(() => document.documentElement.outerHTML);
  console.log(dom);

  await browser.close();
})();

konstantyn_diachenko · Answer

Hi @pradeepdubey82 ,

So, let me sum up difference between HTML page source and current DOM structure:

HTML Source (what you see with View Page Source): raw file fetched from the server.
Current DOM (what you see with Inspect Element): includes all runtime changes (JS modifications, injected elements, removed nodes, etc.).

I would recommend the following Java Script solution (inside a browser):

If you’re running code in the page itself (or in DevTools console):

// Get the entire live DOM structure as HTML
const domSnapshot = document.documentElement.outerHTML;
console.log(domSnapshot);

This will match what you see in Inspect Element.

You can also download it:

const blob = new Blob([document.documentElement.outerHTML], { type: "text/html" });
const link = document.createElement("a");
link.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download = "dom_snapshot.html";
link.click();

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