Code example from book - getElementsById

**cothebadger** · Oct 10, 2007, 21:11

Hey. I'm reading "Simply Javascript", and I've been trying to code an example using the getElementsById method.

First, the HTML in the body:

Code:

<p id="uniqueElement">Here's a link to the <a id="dogs" href="http://www.hsus.org/">Humane Society of the United States</a> for you.</p>

Then the CSS:

Code:

#uniqueElement{
	font-size: 24px;
}

And the script (verbatim, I believe) from the book:

Code:

var target = document.getElementById("uniqueElement");

alert(target.nodeName);

The script and style are linked from separate files. The content appears formatted in my browser (Firefox 2), but I get no alert... period. Any help?

NOTE: I tried deleting the code and simply placing in

Code:

alert("Why are there problems!?!?!");

The alert worked. There must not be a problem with linking the file from the HTML doc. I'm now having the same problem with the getElementsByTagName property.

**BurakUeda** · Oct 10, 2007, 22:11

If you're using FireFox, you can open error console and see what's going on.

And be sure you're getting the element with getElementById, not getElementsById.

**felgall** · Oct 10, 2007, 23:59

Where is the code called from? If you try to access the element before it loads then it can't get the information.

**siteguru** · Oct 11, 2007, 02:46

That's probably it. I suspect this code is above the </head> tag but is not contained within a window.onload function block.

**cothebadger** · Oct 11, 2007, 11:24

Ok. I suspected something like that, as they warn about manipulating HTML that has not yet loaded. Now, they mention that there is a script in the "Core" library. How can I run that script first? Do I need to place the entire core before the script I want to run?

Also, how can I use onLoad? Is that easier?

Thanks for the help, guys.

**jimfraser** · Oct 11, 2007, 11:37

Code:

<head>
...
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function () {
  // put all your javascript that is to run when the window has completed loading HERE
  alert("window has loaded");
}

</script>
...
</head>

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