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Append multiple items in JavaScript

I have the following function and I am trying to figure out a better way to append multiple items using appendChild().
When the user clicks on Add, each item should look like this:
<li>
<input type="checkbox">
<label>Content typed by the user</label>
<input type="text">
<button class="edit">Edit</button>
<button class="delete">Delete</button>
</li>
and I have this function to add these elements:
function addNewItem(listElement, itemInput) {
var listItem = document.createElement("li");
var listItemCheckbox = document.createElement("input");
var listItemLabel = document.createElement("label");
var editableInput = document.createElement("input");
var editButton = document.createElement("button");
var deleteButton = document.createElement("button");
// define types
listItemCheckbox.type = "checkbox";
editableInput.type = "text";
// define content and class for buttons
editButton.innerText = "Edit";
editButton.className = "edit";
deleteButton.innerText = "Delete";
deleteButton.className = "delete";
listItemLabel.innerText = itemText.value;
// appendChild() - append these items to the li
listElement.appendChild(listItem);
listItem.appendChild(listItemCheckbox);
listItem.appendChild(listItemLabel);
listItem.appendChild(editButton);
listItem.appendChild(deleteButton);
if (itemText.value.length > 0) {
itemText.value = "";
inputFocus(itemText);
}
}
But you can notice that I am repeating three times the appendChild() for listItem. Is it possible to add multiple items to the appendChild() ?

You can do it with DocumentFragment.
var documentFragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
documentFragment.appendChild(listItem);
listItem.appendChild(listItemCheckbox);
listItem.appendChild(listItemLabel);
listItem.appendChild(editButton);
listItem.appendChild(deleteButton);
listElement.appendChild(documentFragment);
DocumentFragments allow developers to place child elements onto an
arbitrary node-like parent, allowing for node-like interactions
without a true root node. Doing so allows developers to produce
structure without doing so within the visible DOM

You can use the append method in JavaScript.
This is similar to jQuery's append method but it doesnot support IE and Edge.
You can change this code
listElement.appendChild(listItem);
listItem.appendChild(listItemCheckbox);
listItem.appendChild(listItemLabel);
listItem.appendChild(editButton);
listItem.appendChild(deleteButton);
to
listElement.append(listItem,listItemCheckbox,listItemLabel,editButton,deleteButton);

Personally, I don't see why you would do this.
But if you really need to replace all the appendChild() with one statement, you can assign the outerHTML of the created elements to the innerHTML of the li element.
You just need to replace the following:
listElement.appendChild(listItem);
listItem.appendChild(listItemCheckbox);
listItem.appendChild(listItemLabel);
listItem.appendChild(editButton);
listItem.appendChild(deleteButton);
With the following:
listItem.innerHTML+= listItemCheckbox.outerHTML + listItemLabel.outerHTML + editButton.outerHTML + deleteButton.outerHTML;
listElement.appendChild(listItem);
Explanation:
The outerHTML attribute of the element DOM interface gets the serialized HTML fragment describing the element including its descendants. So assigning the outerHTML of the created elements to the innerHTML of the li element is similar to appending them to it.

Merging the answers by #Atrahasis and #Slavik:
if (Node.prototype.appendChildren === undefined) {
Node.prototype.appendChildren = function() {
let children = [...arguments];
if (
children.length == 1 &&
Object.prototype.toString.call(children[0]) === "[object Array]"
) {
children = children[0];
}
const documentFragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
children.forEach(c => documentFragment.appendChild(c));
this.appendChild(documentFragment);
};
}
This accepts children as multiple arguments, or as a single array argument:
foo.appendChildren(bar1, bar2, bar3);
bar.appendChildren([bar1, bar2, bar3]);
Update – June 2020
Most all current browsers support append and the "spread operator" now.
The calls above can be re-written as:
foo.append(bar1, bar2, bar3);
bar.append(...[bar1, bar2, bar3]);

Let's try this:
let parentNode = document.createElement('div');
parentNode.append(...[
document.createElement('div'),
document.createElement('div'),
document.createElement('div'),
document.createElement('div'),
document.createElement('div')
]);
console.log(parentNode);

You need to append several children ? Just make it plural with appendChildren !
First things first :
HTMLLIElement.prototype.appendChildren = function () {
for ( var i = 0 ; i < arguments.length ; i++ )
this.appendChild( arguments[ i ] );
};
Then for any list element :
listElement.appendChildren( a, b, c, ... );
//check :
listElement.childNodes;//a, b, c, ...
Works with every element that has the appendChild method of course ! Like HTMLDivElement.

You can use createContextualFragment, it return a documentFragment created from a string.
It is perfect if you have to build and append more than one Nodes to an existing Element all together, because you can add it all without the cons of innerHTML
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Range/createContextualFragment
// ...
var listItem = document.createElement("li");
var documentFragment = document.createRange().createContextualFragment(`
<input type="checkbox">
<label>Content typed by the user</label>
<input type="text">
<button class="edit">Edit</button>
<button class="delete">Delete</button>
`)
listItem.appendChild(documentFragment)
// ...

You could just group the elements into a single innerHTML group like this:
let node = document.createElement('li');
node.innerHTML = '<input type="checkbox"><label>Content typed by the user</label> <input type="text"><button class="edit">Edit</button><button class="delete">Delete</button>';
document.getElementById('orderedList').appendChild(node);
then appendChild() is only used once.

It's possible to write your own function if you use the built in arguments object
function appendMultipleNodes(){
var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
for (var x = 1; x < args.length; x++){
args[0].appendChild(args[x])
}
return args[0]
}
Then you would call the function as such:
appendMultipleNodes(parent, nodeOne, nodeTwo, nodeThree)

Why isn't anybody mentioning the element.append() function ?!
you can simply use it to append multiple items respectively as so:
listItem.append(listItemCheckbox, listItemLabel, editButton, deleteButton);

This is a quick fix
document.querySelector("#parentid .parenClass").insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', yourChildElement.outerHTML);

Guys I really recommend you to use this one.
[listItemCheckbox, listItemLabel, editButton, deleteButton]
.forEach((item) => listItem.appendChild(item));
Since you can't append multiple children at once. I think this one looks better.

Also here's a helper function that uses the fragment technique as introduced in the #Slavik's answer and merges it with DOMParser API:
function createHtmlFromString(stringHtml) {
const parser = new DOMParser();
const htmlFragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
const children = parser.parseFromString(stringHtml, "text/html").body
.children;
htmlFragment.replaceChildren(...children);
return htmlFragment;
}
Now to append multiple children with this, you can make the code much more readable and brief, e.g.:
const htmlFragment = createHtmlFromString(`<div class="info">
<span></span>
<h2></h2>
<p></p>
<button></button>
</div>
<div class="cover">
<img />
</div>
`);
Here's also a working example of these used in action: example link.
Note1: You could add text content in the above tags too and it works, but if it's data from user (or fetched from API), you'd better not trust it for better security. Instead, first make the fragment using the above function and then do something like this:
htmlFragment.querySelector(".info > span").textContent = game.name;
Note2: Don't use innerHTML to insert HTML, it is unsecure.

Great way to dynamically add elements to a webpage. This function takes 3 arguments, 1 is optional. The wrapper will wrap the parent element and it's elements inside another element. Useful when creating tables dynamically.
function append(parent, child, wrapper="") {
if (typeof child == 'object' && child.length > 1) {
child.forEach(c => {
parent.appendChild(c);
});
} else {
parent.appendChild(child);
}
if (typeof wrapper == 'object') {
wrapper.appendChild(parent);
}
}

I would like to add that if you want to add some variability to your html, you can also add variables like this:
let node = document.createElement('div');
node.classList.add("some-class");
node.innerHTML = `<div class="list">
<div class="title">${myObject.title}</div>
<div class="subtitle">${myObject.subtitle}
</div>`;

change HTML tag name using Pure JS

<div id="demo"></div>
document.getElementsById("demo").onclick = function() {
this.tagName = "p";
};
// and then the output should be:
<p id="demo"></p>
I want to use pure javascript to change the tag name, could anyone help please?

With some snazzy dom Manipulation you can do this easely.
You simply need to make a new element, move over all the elements so you keep onclick handlers and such, and then replace the original thing.
function addClickEventToSpan() {
document.getElementById('whoa').addEventListener("click",function(){alert('WHOA WORLD! HELLO!');});
}
function transform(id){
var that = document.getElementById(id);
var p = document.createElement('p');
p.setAttribute('id',that.getAttribute('id'));
// move all elements in the other container.
// remember to use firstchild so you take all the childrens with you and maintain order.
// unles you like reversed order things.
while(that.firstChild) {
p.appendChild(that.firstChild);
}
that.parentNode.replaceChild(p,that);
}
p { background-color:green;color:white; }
div { background-color:blue;color:white; }
<div id="demo">Hello fantastical<span id="whoa" style="color:red">WORLD</span>
<UL>
<LI>something</LI>
</UL>
</div>
<input type="button" onclick="addClickEventToSpan('demo')" value="bind event handler(click WORLD)">
<input type="button" onclick="transform('demo')" value="transform">

Method that gets an element's child text, regardless of whether in <p> tag

I'm building a scraper in Node.js and have come up against a slight problem. I'm trying to build a function which gets an element's text, regardless of whether it's embedded in a <p> tag, in a <span> or just a <div> with text inside.
The following currently works ONLY for text contained in <p> tags:
function getDescription(product){
var text =[];
$('.description *')
.each(function(i, elem) {
var dirty = $(this).text();
var clean = sanitize(dirty).trim();
if (clean.length){
text.push(clean);
}
});
text.join(',');
sanitize(text).trim();
return text;
}
This works for code like this:
<div class="description">
<p>Test test test</p>
</div>
But doesn't work for this:
<div class="description">
Test test test
</div>
For reference, the sanitize and trim functions are part of Node Validator, but that's not particularly relevant to my problem - they just take a string and remove whitespace from it.
Any ideas on what I can do to make the one function work for BOTH instances? To add insult to injury, I'm slightly more limited as node uses the cheerio library to replicate some functions of jQuery, but not all of them.

Use .contents() instead of *
function getDescription(product){
var text =[];
$('.description').contents()
.each(function(i, elem) {
var dirty = $(this).text();
var clean = sanitize(dirty).trim();
if (clean.length){
text.push(clean);
}
});
text.join(',');
sanitize(text).trim();
return text;
}

Use $(".description").contents() (docs).
The * only selects element nodes, but not text nodes.

You can use innerText:
var text =[];
$('.description').each(function(i, elem) {
var dirty = elem.innerText;
var clean = sanitize(dirty).trim();
if (clean.length){
text.push(clean);
}
});

Javascript get class text inside element

I have a bunch of span4 class elements in my html. they look something like this:
<div class="span4">
<div class="widget">
<div class="header">blablabla</div>
</div>
</div>
I want to sort the span4 by that text iside header class.
I do this to sort them
$(".span4").sort(sortAlpha)
but how do I select the text inside the header class?
I'm doing this but I guess there is a better way
function sortAlphaAsc(a,b){
var nomeA = $(a.childNodes[1].childNodes[1]).text();
var nomeB = $(b.childNodes[1].childNodes[1]).text();
return a.innerHTML.toLowerCase() > b.innerHTML.toLowerCase() ? 1 : -1;
};
there must be a better way than
$(a.childNodes[1].childNodes[1]).text()

var elems = $(".span4");
elems.sort(function(a, b) {
return $(a).find('.header').text().toUpperCase().localeCompare(
$(b).find('.header').text().toUpperCase()
);
});
$(".span4").parent().html(elems);​
FIDDLE

Try this:
function sortAlphaAsc(a,b){
var nomeA = $(a).find('div.header').text();
var nomeB = $(b).find('div.header').text();
return nomeA.toLowerCase() > nomeB.toLowerCase();
};

You could detach the spans, sort and append them.
That will be very fast too as changing elements in memory and only updating the DOM once in the end is very efficient.
var $spans = $(".span4").detach();
var sortedSpans = $spans.sort(function(spanA, spanB) {
var spanTextA = $("div.header", spanA).text();
var spanTextB = $("div.header", spanB).text();
return spanTextA > spanTextB;
});
$("body").append(sortedSpans);
Obviously instead of body you append it back to it's actual container element.
Or if the spans are in a common container store the parent in cache var $parent = $spans.parent() and in the end simply do $parent.html(sortedSpans).
I don't know your whole mark-up but that should get you started.
DEMO - Detach spans, sort them and append again

Do you mean something like this:
$('.span4').find('.header').text();
This will return the text inside the header div.

How to change text inside span with jQuery, leaving other span contained nodes intact?

I have the following HTML snippet:
<span class="target">Change me <a class="changeme" href="#">now</a></span>
I'd like to change the text node (i.e. "Change me ") inside the span from jQuery, while leaving the nested <a> tag with all attributes etc. intact. My initial huch was to use .text(...) on the span node, but as it turns out this will replace the whole inner part with the passed textual content.
I solved this with first cloning the <a> tag, then setting the new text content of <span> (which will remove the original <a> tag), and finally appending the cloned <a> tag to my <span>. This works, but feels such an overkill for a simple task like this. Btw. I can't guarantee that there will be an initial text node inside the span - it might be empty, just like:
<span class="target"><a class="changeme" href="#">now</a></span>
I did a jsfiddle too. So, what would be the neat way to do this?

Try something like:
$('a.changeme').on('click', function() {
$(this).closest('.target').contents().not(this).eq(0).replaceWith('Do it again ');
});
demo: http://jsfiddle.net/eEMGz/
ref: http://api.jquery.com/contents/
Update:
I guess I read your question wrong, and you're trying to replace the text if it's already there and inject it otherwise. For this, try:
$('a.changeme').on('click', function() {
var
$tmp = $(this).closest('.target').contents().not(this).eq(0),
dia = document.createTextNode('Do it again ');
$tmp.length > 0 ? $tmp.replaceWith(dia) : $(dia).insertBefore(this);
});
​Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/eEMGz/3/

You can use .contents():
//set the new text to replace the old text
var newText = 'New Text';
//bind `click` event handler to the `.changeme` elements
$('.changeme').on('click', function () {
//iterate over the nodes in this `<span>` element
$.each($(this).parent().contents(), function () {
//if the type of this node is undefined then it's a text node and we want to replace it
if (typeof this.tagName == 'undefined') {
//to replace the node we can use `.replaceWith()`
$(this).replaceWith(newText);
}
});
});​
Here is a demo: http://jsfiddle.net/jasper/PURHA/1/
Some docs for ya:
.contents(): http://api.jquery.com/contents
.replaceWith(): http://api.jquery.com/replacewith
typeof: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/typeof
Update
var newText = 'New Text';
$('a').on('click', function () {
$.each($(this).parent().contents(), function () {
if (typeof this.tagName == 'undefined') {
//instead of replacing this node with the replacement string, just replace it with a blank string
$(this).replaceWith('');
}
});
//then add the replacement string to the `<span>` element regardless of it's initial state
$(this).parent().prepend(newText);
});​
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/jasper/PURHA/2/

You can try this.
var $textNode, $parent;
$('.changeme').on('click', function(){
$parent = $(this).parent();
$textNode= $parent.contents().filter(function() {
return this.nodeType == 3;
});
if($textNode.length){
$textNode.replaceWith('Content changed')
}
else{
$parent.prepend('New content');
}
});
Working demo - http://jsfiddle.net/ShankarSangoli/yx5Ju/8/

You step out of jQuery because it doesn't help you to deal with text nodes. The following will remove the first child of every <span> element with class "target" if and only if it exists and is a text node.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/yx5Ju/11/
Code:
$('span.target').each(function() {
var firstChild = this.firstChild;
if (firstChild && firstChild.nodeType == 3) {
firstChild.data = "Do it again";
}
});

This is not a perfect example I guess, but you could use contents function.
console.log($("span.target").contents()[0].data);

You could wrap the text into a span ... but ...
try this.
http://jsfiddle.net/Y8tMk/
$(function(){
var txt = '';
$('.target').contents().each(function(){
if(this.nodeType==3){
this.textContent = 'done ';
}
});
});

You can change the native (non-jquery) data property of the object. Updated jsfiddle here: http://jsfiddle.net/elgreg/yx5Ju/2/
Something like:
$('a.changeme3').click(function(){
$('span.target3').contents().get(0).data = 'Do it again';
});
The contents() gets the innards and the get(0) gets us back to the original element and the .data is now a reference to the native js textnode. (I haven't tested this cross browser.)
This jsfiddle and answer are really just an expanded explanation of the answer to this question:
Change text-nodes text

$('a.changeme').click(function() {
var firstNode= $(this).parent().contents()[0];
if( firstNode.nodeType==3){
firstNode.nodeValue='New text';
}
})
EDIT: not sure what layout rules you need, update to test only first node, otherwise adapt as needed