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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Getting a Handle on the DOM Selection Review

tal Shnitzer
PLUS
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points
Posted by tal Shnitzer
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points

js DOM question - why is my answer is incorrect?

this is the question How would you select the body element using document.getElementsByTagName, and store it in the variable body?

(Hint: Don't forget that this method returns a collection, not a single element.)

this is my answer: const body = document.getElementsByTagName('body');

this answer did not pass the quiz check

2 Answers

Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points
Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points

Hi, document.getElementsByTagName is a method that returns a collection of elements, it acts like an array. Since there is only one body tag in the HTML, it is similar to a single array value, and you can grab the element by using square brackets like you do to array. So you could access the body element by using this code :

const body = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];
tal Shnitzer
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points
tal Shnitzer
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points

that may be a better way to select the body element, but is my answer is a mistake? will it not run properly?

Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points
Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points

Your code wasn't a mistake, but the variable itself contains html elements not the body element that the question wanted.

tal Shnitzer
PLUS
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points
tal Shnitzer
tal Shnitzer
Courses Plus Student 5,242 Points

do you mean that the "body" variable will contain empty elements + the HTML body element?

Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points
Frederic Ronaldi
Frederic Ronaldi
13,732 Points

yup. it's like an array with one value in it which is body element.