JScript / JavaScript Extension Feature

Returns a reference to the first object with the specified value of the ID attribute.

Syntax

oElement = document.getElementById(sIDValue)

Parameters

sIDValue Required. A String that specifies the value of an ID attribute.

Return Value

Returns the first object with the same ID attribute as the specified value.

Remarks

If the ID value belongs to a collection, the getElementById method returns the first object in the collection.

Example

This example uses the getElementById method to return the first occurrence of the ID attribute value, oDiv.

<SCRIPT>
function fnGetId(){
   // Returns the first DIV element in the collection.
   var oVDiv=document.getElementById("oDiv1");
}
</SCRIPT>
<DIV ID="oDiv1">Div #1</DIV>
<DIV ID="oDiv2">Div #2</DIV>
<DIV ID="oDiv3">Div #3</DIV>
<INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Get Names" onclick="fnGetId()">

Standards Information

This method is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .

Include the following to ensure getElementById is available even in a browser without native getElementById but with document.all (such as MSIE 4):

if (document.all && !document.getElementById) {
  document.getElementById = function(id) {
    return document.all[id] } }

See also:

• http://remysharp.com/2007/02/10/ie-7-breaks-getelementbyid/
  http://webbugtrack.blogspot.com/2007/08/bug-152-getelementbyid-returns.html
  It turns out that IE6 and IE7 both as well as Opra an element NAMED "X" when you were looking for an element with and ID of "X"

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