How to skip failing part in Cypress test script

what is expected from the below code is get_plz_ChooseGroup will be skipped and not trigger a test failure if the element is not visible after 5000 seconds

Login_Page_POS.get_plz_ChooseGroup({ timeout: 5000 })
            .then(($element) => {
              if ($element.is(":visible")) {
                Login_Page_POS.chooseGroup(groupName)
              } else {
                cy.log("Element not visible after 5 seconds, skipping this part")
              }
            })
            .catch(() => {
              cy.log("Element not found after 5 seconds, skipping this part")
            })

and :

  this.plz_group_Label = "//span[contains(text(),'Please choose your group')]"
      get_plz_ChooseGroup() {
        return cy.xpath(this.plz_group_Label)
      }

fails at .catch(() => {:

_Login_Page_POS.default.get_plz_ChooseGroup(...).then(...).catch is not a function

If you search Cypress docs for .catch() you will find that there is no such command.

The cy.xpath(this.plz_group_Label) command fails if there is no such element in the DOM.

The way to do this is by polling for the element for 5 seconds using jQuery methods, which uses CSS selectors rather than xpath selectors.

To poll you will need a recursive function/method, for example:

const selector = 'span:contains("Please choose your group")'  // CSS selector

get_plz_ChooseGroup(try = 0) {

  if (try = 50) return cy.wrap(null);  // indicate failure to find with null return

  const element = Cypress.$(selector)
  if (element.length === 0) {
    cy.wait(100)
      .then(() => {
        get_plz_ChooseGroup(++try)
      })
  }
  return cy.wrap(element)
}

The invocation would be

get_plz_ChooseGroup().then($element => {

  // catch the element failure
  if (!$element) {
    cy.log("Element not found after 5 seconds, skipping this part")
    return
  }

  if ($element.is(":visible")) {
    Login_Page_POS.chooseGroup(groupName)
  } else {
    cy.log("Element not visible after 5 seconds, skipping this part")
  }
}) 

I have to say, this is not a very good way to test - what if the element isn't found? You will skip part of your test code, presumably it is important to run it every time you run the test.

I suggest taking a look at How to write a test which explains the Arrange-Act-Assert pattern.