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JavaScript DOM Scripting By Example Improving the Application Code Next Steps

karan Badhwar
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karan Badhwar
Web Development Techdegree Graduate 18,135 Points
Posted by karan Badhwar
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karan Badhwar
Web Development Techdegree Graduate 18,135 Points

accessing Text Nodes

Why this one is not working 

  const checkbox = e.target;
  let labelText = checkbox.parentNode.textContent;
      if (checkbox.checked){
             labelText = 'Confirmed';
  } else {
      labelText = 'Confirm';
      console.log(labelText);
    }
 });

But this code is working 

if (checked){
 checkbox.parentNode.parentNode.className = 'responded';
    console.log(labelText);
    labelText.textContent = 'Confirmed';
  } else {
    checkbox.parentNode.parentNode.className = '';
      labelText.textContent = 'Confirm'

Can somebody please explain me this having hard time understanding and how do we actually access and manipulate Text Nodes when they have sibling Element Nodes with them?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

DOM traversal allows you to isolate and manipulate specific nodes, so it won't matter if they have any sibling nodes or not.

As to the code examples, you didn't say but I assume that by "working" you mean "able to make changes to the DOM". If so, the problem with the first example is that it only assigns a variable, it doesn't address anything in the DOM:

  let labelText = checkbox.parentNode.textContent;  // this COPIES the text into "labelText"
//...
             labelText = 'Confirmed';               // this only reassigns the variable

But the second example modifies the DOM:

let labelText = checkbox.parentNode;      // this wasn't shown, but I'm assuming that this
//...                                        time "labelText" refers to the element node
    labelText.textContent = 'Confirmed';  // so this changes the text in the DOM