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JavaScript JavaScript and the DOM (Retiring) Making Changes to the DOM Changing Element Attributes

Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
Treehouse Project Reviewer
Posted by Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
Treehouse Project Reviewer

Why does input.class not return "description"?

If typing input.type in the console returns the value, "text", why does typing input.class not return "description", since that is the value of that attribute, and the attribute is just a property of the input object?

3 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points

If one was to look up the spec here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/className there is a note that states,

The name className is used for this property instead of class because of conflicts with the "class" keyword in many languages which are used to manipulate the DOM.

ywang04
ywang04
6,762 Points
ywang04
ywang04
6,762 Points

You can use getAttribute function to get the class name, which is mentioned in this video as well.

input.getAttribute('class');    //the result is "description".
Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
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Jason Welsh
Treehouse Project Reviewer

Thanks for the reply. That is interesting. What other languages are typically used to manipulate the DOM? Are any a viable option for replacing JS in the future?