Modifying the document in DOM

Basically DOM modification is the key to making pages dynamic.

  1. Creating elements

    • document.createElement(tag)

      Creates a new DOM element of type node:

      var div= document.createElement('div')

    • document.createTextNode(text)

      Creates a new DOM element of type text:

      var text = document.createTextNode('Abhijeet!!')

  2. Adding elements

    If we want to do something with an element then we need to call the corresponding method of its parent:

    • parentElem.appendChild(elem)

      Appends elem to the children of parentElem.

      <div>
      ...
      </div>
      <script>
      var abhi = document.body.children[0]
      var cam = document.createElement('cam')
      cam.innerHTML = 'hello world!'
      abhi.appendChild(cam)
      </script>

      The new node becomes a last child of the parentElem.

    • parentElem.insertBefore(elem, nextSibling)

      Inserts elem into the children of parentElem before the element nextSibling.

      Here is an example that inserts a new node before the first child:

      <div>
      ...
      </div>
      <script>
      var abhi = document.body.children[0]
      var cam = document.createElement('cam')
      cam.innerHTML = 'hello world!'
      abhi.insertBefore(cam, abhi.firstChild)
      </script>

  3. Removing nodes

    • parentElem.removeChild(elem)

      Remove elem from the children of parentElem.

    • parentElem.replaceChild(elem, currentElem)

      Replace the child element of parentElem, referenced by currentElem with the elem.

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