JavaScript Examples Bible - UserWorks Technologies

78 JavaScript Examples Bible: The Essential Companion to JavaScript Bible
item(index | “index” [, subIndex])
NN2 NN3 NN4 NN6 IE3/J1 IE3/J2 IE4 IE5 IE5.5
Compatibility ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Example
Use The Evaluator (Chapter 13 in the JavaScript Bible) to experiment with the
item() method. Type the following statements into the topmost text box and view
the results for each:
NN6 and IE5
document.getElementById(“myP”).childNodes.length
document.getElementById(“myP”).childNodes.item(0).data
document.getElementById(“myP”).childNodes.item(1).nodeName
NN6, IE4, and IE5
document.forms[1].elements.item(0).type
IE4 and IE5
document.all.item(“myP”).outerHTML
myP.outerHTML
In the last two examples, both statements return the same string. The first example
is helpful when your script is working with a string version of an object’s name.
If your script already knows the object reference, then the second approach is more
efficient and compact.
mergeAttributes(“sourceObject”)
NN2 NN3 NN4 NN6 IE3/J1 IE3/J2 IE4 IE5 IE5.5
Compatibility ✓ ✓
Example
Listing 15-29 demonstrates the usage of mergeAttributes() in the process of
replicating the same form input field while assigning a unique ID to each new field.
So you can see the results as you go, I display the HTML for each input field in the
field.
The doMerge() function begins by generating two new elements: a P and an
INPUT element. Because these newly created elements have no properties associated
with them, a unique ID is assigned to the INPUT element via the uniqueID
property. Attributes from the field in the source code (field1) are merged into the
new INPUT element. Thus, all attributes except name and id are copied to the new
element. The INPUT element is inserted into the P element, and the P element is
elementObject.mergeAttributes()