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DOM:element

From MDC

« Gecko DOM Reference

This chapter provides a brief reference for the general methods, properties, and events available to most HTML and XML elements in the Gecko DOM.

Various W3C specifications apply to elements:

The articles listed here span the above and include links to the appropriate W3C DOM specification.

While these interfaces are generally shared by most HTML and XML elements, there are more specialized interfaces for particular objects listed in the DOM HTML Specification—for example the HTML Table Element and HTML Form Element interfaces.

Contents

[edit] Properties

Name Description Type Availability
attributes All attributes associated with an element. NamedNodeMap[1] All
baseURIObject New in Firefox 3 The read-only nsIURI object representing the base URI for the node. nsIURI All (with UniversalXPConnect privileges)
childNodes All child nodes of an element. NodeList[2] All
className Gets/sets the class of the element. String HTML, XUL
clientHeight The inner height of an element. Number HTML
clientLeft The width of the left border of an element. Number HTML
clientTop The width of the top border of an element. Number HTML
clientWidth The inner width of an element. Number HTML
dir Gets/sets the directionality of the element. String HTML, XUL
firstChild The first direct child node of an element, or null if this element has no child nodes. Node All
id Gets/sets the id of the element. String HTML, XUL
innerHTML Gets/sets the markup and content of the element. String HTML
lang Gets/sets the language of an element's attributes, text, and element contents. String HTML
lastChild The last direct child node of an element, or null if this element has no child nodes. Node All
localName The local part of the qualified name of an element. String All
Name Description Type Availability
name Gets/sets the name attribute of an element. String HTML
namespaceURI The namespace URI of this node, or null if it is unspecified. String All
nextSibling The node immediately following the given one in the tree, or null if there is no sibling node. Node All
nodeName The name of the node. String All
nodePrincipal New in Firefox 3 The node's principal. nsIPrincipal All (with UniversalXPConnect privileges)
nodeType A number representing the type of the node. Is always equal to 1 for DOM elements. Number All
nodeValue The value of the node. Is always equal to null for DOM elements. String All
offsetHeight The height of an element, relative to the layout. Number HTML
offsetLeft The distance from this element's left border to its offsetParent's left border. Number HTML
offsetParent The element from which all offset calculations are currently computed. Element HTML
offsetTop The distance from this element's top border to its offsetParent's top border. Number HTML
offsetWidth The width of an element, relative to the layout. Number HTML
ownerDocument The document that this node is in, or null if the node is not inside of one. Document All
Name Description Type Availability
parentNode The parent element of this node, or null if the node is not inside of a DOM Document. Node All
prefix The namespace prefix of the node, or null if no prefix is specified. String All
previousSibling The node immediately preceding the given one in the tree, or null if there is no sibling node. Node All
scrollHeight The scroll view height of an element. Number HTML
scrollLeft Gets/sets the left scroll offset of an element. Number HTML
scrollTop Gets/sets the top scroll offset of an element. Number HTML
scrollWidth The scroll view width of an element. Number HTML
style An object representing the declarations of an element's style attributes. CSSStyleDeclaration[3] HTML, XUL
tabIndex Gets/sets the position of the element in the tabbing order. Number HTML
tagName The name of the tag for the given element. String All
textContent Gets/sets the textual contents of an element and all its descendants. String All

[edit] Methods

Name & Description Return Availability
addEventListener( type, listener, useCapture )
Register an event handler to a specific event type on the element.		 - All
appendChild( appendedNode )
Insert a node as the last child node of this element.		 Node All
blur()
Removes keyboard focus from the current element.		 - HTML, XUL
click()
Simulates a click on the current element.		 - HTML, XUL
cloneNode( deep )
Clone a node, and optionally, all of its contents.		 Node All
dispatchEvent( event )
Dispatch an event to this node in the DOM.		 Boolean All
focus()
Gives keyboard focus to the current element.		 - HTML, XUL
getAttribute( name )
Retrieve the value of the named attribute from the current node.		 Object All
getAttributeNS( namespace, name )
Retrieve the value of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.		 Object All
getAttributeNode( name )
Retrieve the node representation of the named attribute from the current node.		 Attr All
getAttributeNodeNS( namespace, name )
Retrieve the node representation of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.		 Attr All
Name & Description Return Availability
getElementsByTagName( name )
Retrieve a set of all descendant elements, of a particular tag name, from the current element.		 NodeSet All
getElementsByTagNameNS( namespace, name )
Retrieve a set of all descendant elements, of a particular tag name and namespace, from the current element.		 NodeSet All
hasAttribute( name )
Check if the element has the specified attribute, or not.		 Boolean All
hasAttributeNS( namespace, name )
Check if the element has the specified attribute, in the specified namespace, or not.		 Boolean All
hasAttributes()
Check if the element has any attributes, or not.		 Boolean All
hasChildNodes()
Check if the element has any child nodes, or not.		 Boolean All
insertBefore( insertedNode, adjacentNode )
Inserts the first node before the second, child, Node in the DOM.		 Node All
normalize()
Clean up all the text nodes under this element (merge adjacent, remove empty).		 - All
removeAttribute( name )
Remove the named attribute from the current node.		 - All
removeAttributeNS( namespace, name )
Remove the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.		 - All
Name & Description Return Availability
removeAttributeNode( name )
Remove the node representation of the named attribute from the current node.		 - All
removeChild( removedNode )
Removes a child node from the current element.		 Node All
removeEventListener( type, handler, useCapture )
Removes an event listener from the element.		 - All
replaceChild( insertedNode, replacedNode )
Replaces one child node in the current element with another.		 Node All
scrollIntoView( alignWithTop )
Scrolls the page until the element gets into the view.		 - HTML
setAttribute( name, value )
Set the value of the named attribute from the current node.		 - All
setAttributeNS( namespace, name, value )
Set the value of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.		 - All
setAttributeNode( name, attrNode )
Set the node representation of the named attribute from the current node.		 - All
setAttributeNodeNS( namespace, name, attrNode )
Set the node representation of the attribute with the specified name and namespace, from the current node.		 - All

[edit] Event Handlers

These are properties that correspond to the HTML 'on' event attributes.

Unlike the corresponding attributes, the values of these properties are functions (or any other object implementing the EventListener interface) rather than a string. In fact, assigning an event attribute in HTML creates a wrapper function around the specified code. For example, given the following HTML: 

<div onclick="foo();">click me!</div>

If element is a reference to this div, the value of element.onclick is effectively: 

function onclick(event) {
   foo();
}

Note how the event object is passed as parameter event to this wrapper function.

oncopy New in Firefox 3
Returns the event handling code for the copy event.
oncut New in Firefox 3
Returns the event handling code for the cut event.
onpaste New in Firefox 3
Returns the event handling code for the paste event.
onblur
Returns the event handling code for the blur event.
onchange
Returns the event handling code for the change event.
onclick
Returns the event handling code for the click event.
oncontextmenu
Returns the event handling code for the contextmenu event.
ondblclick
Returns the event handling code for the dblclick event.
onfocus
Returns the event handling code for the focus event.
onkeydown
Returns the event handling code for the keydown event.
onkeypress
Returns the event handling code for the keypress event.
onkeyup
Returns the event handling code for the keyup event.
onmousedown
Returns the event handling code for the mousedown event.
onmousemove
Returns the event handling code for the mousemove event.
onmouseout
Returns the event handling code for the mouseout event.
onmouseover
Returns the event handling code for the mouseover event.
onmouseup
Returns the event handling code for the mouseup event.
onresize
Returns the event handling code for the resize event.
onscroll
Returns the event handling code for the scroll event.

[edit] Other Events

There are also other DOM Events like DOMSubtreeModified, DOMAttrModified etc. as well as Gecko-Specific DOM Events like DOMContentLoaded, DOMTitleChanged etc.

Retrieved from "http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/DOM:element"