Question

Navigating the DOM in a definition list

Asked by: brunobear

Hi folks,

I'm hoping someone can help me with this.  I know the basics of navigating through the DOM using parents, childs, siblings etc, but I'm having a bit of a brain fart with the current problem I'm facing.  

I have a definition list like this:


      <div id="my-project-programs-container" class="scrollBox-content-container">
            <dl>
                  <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star</dt>
                        <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                        <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                        <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
                  <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star</dt>
                        <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                        <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                        <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
                  <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star</dt>
                        <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                        <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                        <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
                  <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star</dt>
                        <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                        <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                        <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
            </dl>
      </div>


ANd I'm running a script that is dynamically inserting a link within the <dt> tags.  That link is supposed to run a function that will hide or show all the <dd> tags that belong to the specific <dt> tag.  Because the <dd> tags are not children of the <dt> tag I'm not sure how to do a loop to find the proper tags - it would need to find all the <dd> tags until the next <dt> tag or until the closing </dl> tag.

I really appreciate any guidance!


bruno

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Asked On
2006-05-01 at 05:53:04ID21833241
Tags

dom

,

definition

,

list

Topics

JavaScript

,

Dynamic HTML (DHTML)

Participating Experts
2
Points
0
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: radevoPosted on 2006-05-01 at 09:30:24ID: 16578380

This should be cross-browser workable (tested in Firefox).
For IE only audience, you could work with DOM node property .nextSibling instead of looping over childNodes.



<html>
<head>
<title>Toggler</title>
<script type='text/javascript'>
      function toggle(button) {
            for (var dt = button.parentNode; dt!=null && dt.nodeName!='DT'; dt=dt.parentNode) {}

            var parent = dt.parentNode

    var dt_siblings = parent.childNodes;

    var node;
    var do_toggle = false
    var mode = '?'
    var done = false

            for (var i=0; i<dt_siblings.length && !done; i++) {
                  var node = dt_siblings[i]
                  if (node == dt)
                    do_toggle = true
                  else
                  if (node.nodeName == 'DT')
                    do_toggle = false
                    done = (mode != '?')
                  else
                  if (do_toggle && node.nodeName == 'DD') {
                        if (mode == '?') {
                              if (node.style.display == 'none')
                                mode = 'block'
                              else
                                    mode = 'none'
                        }
                        node.style.display = mode
                  }
            }
      }
</script>
</head>
<body>

<div id="my-project-programs-container" class="scrollBox-content-container">
          <dl>
               <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star
                        <input type=button value="toggle" onclick="toggle(this)">
               </dt>
                    <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                    <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                    <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
               <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star
                        <input type=button value="toggle" onclick="toggle(this)">
               </dt>
                    <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                    <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                    <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
               <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star
                        <input type=button value="toggle" onclick="toggle(this)">
               </dt>
                    <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                    <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                    <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
               <dt><strong>Project Name:</strong> Star
                        <input type=button value="toggle" onclick="toggle(this)">
               </dt>
                    <dd><a href="">Latest Status Report</a></dd>
                    <dd><a href="">Technical Overview</a></dd>
                    <dd class="last"><a href="">Team QA Report</a></dd>
          </dl>
     </div>
</body>
</html>

 

by: brunobearPosted on 2006-05-01 at 11:15:38ID: 16579210

sorry i actually ended up finishing this before you posted:



findDDtags : function(obj) {
            pNode = obj.parentNode;  //the DT tag
            
            //find the existing DT tag
            for (i=0;i < pNode.parentNode.childNodes.length;i++) {
                  curTag = pNode.parentNode.childNodes[i];
                  if (curTag == pNode) {
                        var dtNum = i;
                  }
            }
            
            //find the number of the last DD child node from the existing DT tag
            for (j=dtNum;j < pNode.parentNode.childNodes.length;j++) {
                  curTag = pNode.parentNode.childNodes[j];
                  curSibling = pNode.parentNode.childNodes[j].nextSibling;
                  
                  //make sure the current tag has a sibling
                  if (curSibling != null) {
                        //make sure the sibling is an actual tag, not whitespace
                        if (curSibling.nodeType == 1) {            
                              if (curSibling.nodeName != "DD") {
                                    lastDD = j;
                                    break;
                              }
                        }
                  } else {  //there was no sibling - this is the last tag
                        lastDD = j;
                  }
            }
            
            //toggle them
            for (k=dtNum;k < lastDD;k++) {
                  curTag = pNode.parentNode.childNodes[k];
                  curSibling = pNode.parentNode.childNodes[k].nextSibling;
                  //make sure the current tag has a sibling
                  if (curSibling != null) {
                        //make sure the sibling is an actual tag, not whitespace
                        if (curSibling.nodeType == 1) {
                              if (curSibling.nodeName == "DD") {
                                    toggle(curSibling);
                              }
                        }
                  }
            }
            
      }


i don't have timeto test your solution but if someone else can confirm it looks good i can give you the points.


bruno

 

by: radevoPosted on 2006-05-26 at 12:23:46ID: 16771711

Bruno:

Could *you* confirm my answer (posted before your self-answer) works ?

I don't have a network of EE people to call upon to verify and respond to my code postings.  I don't post code unless it works for me.

 

by: GranModPosted on 2006-05-30 at 10:48:00ID: 16791952

PAQed with points refunded (500)

GranMod
Community Support Moderator

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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