From http://updates.html5rocks.com/2012/02/Detect-DOM-changes-with-Mutation-Observers I got the following code:
var insertedNodes = [];
var observer = new WebKitMutationObserver(function(mutations) {
alert('run');
mutations.forEach(function(mutation) {
for (var i = 0; i < mutation.addedNodes.length; i++)
insertedNodes.push(mutation.addedNodes[i]);
})
});
observer.observe(document, { childList: true });
console.log(insertedNodes);
var divElement = document.createElement('div');
divElement.innerHTML = 'div element';
document.querySelector('body').appendChild(divElement);
jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/cUNH9
As you can see , we should see a alert because a div
element is inserted to the DOM. But it appears MutationObserver codes don't run. How can I successfully make the MutationObserver code run?
Add subTree
option as well, it should work, you want to monitor not just children of document ( head/body
) but it's descendants as well. (And that is the reason when set to document.body
it works).
observer.observe(document, {
attributes: true,
childList: true,
characterData: true,
subtree:true
});
Fiddle
From documentation
subtree: Set to true if mutations to not just target, but also target's descendants are to be observed.
So what you are adding is a descendant of the document
not its child (or direct descendant). It is a child of body
(and that is why just mentioning childList
and using document.body
works). You need to mention subTree
if you want to monitor the changes deep.
Also see the note as well:
NOTE: At the very least, childList, attributes, or characterData must be set to true. Otherwise, "An invalid or illegal string was specified" error is thrown.