I have a javascript function which generates a ul list based on an array being passed in using a similar approach to this - Create a <ul> and fill it based on a passed array
However, when I do the following...
document.getElementById("list").innerHTML = generateListFromArray(array);
All that gets printed is
[object HTMLUListElement]
Can anyone tell me how to print the contents into the div as HTML?
You're creating a proper UL element (HTMLUListElement
), which is great. You can use that directly by simply appending it to your target:
document.getElementById("list").appendChild(generateListFromArray(array));
If the target already contains content you want to replace (rather than add to), you can clear the target element first:
var list = document.getElementById("list"); // Get the target element
list.innerHTML = ""; // Remove previous content
list.appendChild(generateListFromArray(array)); // Append your generated UL
There's simply no reason, at all, to convert the element you created to markup first (by using .innerHTML
or .outerHTML
on the return value of generateListFromArray
).
If list
is also a ul
and you want to replace it, you can do that with insertBefore
and removeChild
:
var list = document.getElementById("list"); // Get the target element
var parent = list.parentNode; // Get its parent
var newList = generateListFromArray(array); // Get the new one
parent.insertBefore(
newList, // Insert the new list...
list // ...before the old one
);
parent.removeChild(list); // Remove the old
newList.id = "list"; // Give the new list the ID the
// old one had
Either use innerHTML
or outerHTML
:
document.getElementById("list").innerHTML = generateListFromArray(array).innerHTML;
Use the innerHTML
if you already have the list
as <ul>
.
You might like to use appendChild()
method:
document.getElementById("list").appendChild(generateListFromArray(array)));
generateListFromArray
returns HTMLUListElement. The simplest solution is to write its outerHTML:
document.getElementById("list").innerHTML = generateListFromArray(array).outerHTML;
However, if #list
element in HTML is already a UL
then you don't want to have extra <ul></ul>
(markup will be invalid). In this case you would need to use innerHTML:
document.getElementById("list").innerHTML = generateListFromArray(array).innerHTML;