Checking for a Div

[booeyOH]

Hello,
I newer to Ajax and have been using xajax. One problem I am having is that I try to execute some sort of action on a div, only to find out that it hasn't been "built" yet. So I get code that works sometimes and not others. Since you can't put <SCRIPT>runcodeatend();</SCRIPT> (because all applicable script pieces have been written), I was wondering if there was some way to check to see if a div exists.

Specifically, when the "page" loads, I want to show the contents of a certain div.

Please tell me if this makes no sense. I have a hard time framing the question.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[monksnake]

On the return javascript function after the ajax call, you can test for the existance of a div (assuming you know the id of the div you are testing for) like this:

if (document.getElementById("divId")) {
   alert("This div exists.");
}
else {
   alert("This div doesn't exist.");
   //Build the div most likely using document.createElement
}

<.

 

[booeyOH]

So theoretically I could do this:

while(!document.getElementById("divId"))
{
wait....
}

runFunctionOnDiv();

So the function wouldn't run until the div existed?

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

No - that would not really work, as your browser would probably lock up, or come up with a message saying that a script is taking too long to execute (tight loops in JS just don't cut the mustard).

You could use setInterval to create a timer that checks for the presence of the div every so often (say, every half a second or whatever). Check out some examples using Google.

Hope this helps,
Dan



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