Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference

Common Object Properties, Methods, and Collections

The document object model implemented in Internet Explorer 4 and, to a lesser extent, the DOM working draft, exposes a wide range of properties, methods, and collections almost universally across objects that reflect HTML elements. Rather than repeat the descriptions of these items ad nauseam in the reference listing, I am listing their details here only once. Throughout the rest of the chapter, the property, method, and collection lists for each object point to these common items when the item name is in italic. When you see an item name listed in italic, it means you should look to this section for specific details about the item. If you recognize a term from the list of items in common, but it is not shown in italic, it means there is some object-specific information about the item, so the description is provided with the object.

In the following item descriptions, the example code uses the term elementID to refer to the identifier assigned to the ID attribute of the element. In your scripts, substitute the object’s true ID for the placeholder used here. Here is a list of the common items:

Properties

className	isTextEdit	offsetLeft	outerHTML	sourceIndex
document	lang	offsetParent	outerText	style
id	language	offsetTop	parentElement	tagName
innerHTML	offsetHeight	offsetWidth	parentTextEdit	title
innerText

Methods

click( )

insertAdjacentHTML( )

scrollIntoView( ...