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While working myLookAgain (the second attempt), I’ve had to use a little bit more AJAX through JavaScript. One of the reasons was that I needed to allow users to add as many ‘pieces’ to each look and delete them if they want - preferably without reloading.

In JavaScript terms, I needed to be able to add (or create) and remove (or delete) elements, within another element, the form. After a little bit of research on the internet, I had what I needed to do just that. See a basic example of javascript dynamically adding and removing elements… Here’s how to do it:

To begin with, here’s the commented JavaScript code for adding an element using the DOM in JavaScript

function appendElement(containerId, newElementId, newElementContent) {
	//First, we need to create a new DIV element
	var newElement=document.createElement("div");
	//New we will give it the specified ID so we can manage it later if necessary
	newElement.setAttribute("id", newElementId);
	//Insert the HTML content into the new element
	newElement.innerHTML=newElementContent;

	//Get a reference to the element that will contain the new element
	var container = document.getElementById(containerId);
	//Now we just need to insert our new element into the containing element
	container.appendChild(newElement, container);
}

And here’s the commented JavaScript code for a function to remove elements:

	function removeElement(parentId, elementId) {
	//Get a reference to the element containgint the element we are removing
	var parentElement = document.getElementById(parentId);
	//Get a reference to the element we are removing
	var childElement = document.getElementById(elementId);
	//remove the
	parentElement.removeChild(childElement);
}

And that’s it. Of course, this by itself isn’t going to do much. Though with a little bit of imagination, these functions can help you improve the usability or usefulness of your website.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Javascript, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.