If I do this-
alert(anchor);
I get this-
"[object HTMLLIElement]"
... ok, yep, it is the element I want. So I want to get that elements ID.
So I test it like this:
alert(anchor.attr("id"));
... but I don't get any alert, nothing. I must not be selecting an element. What am I doing wrong, what don't I understand?
There are two problems:
.attr() is a function jQuery objects have, you have a DOM element (you would need $(anchor) to use jQuery methods against the element)..id property will work (and be much faster), like this: alert(anchor.id);
anchor.id. I get so tired of seeing people write inefficient code just because they don't understand the overhead of frameworks.That's because attr is not a defined method or property on anchor. anchor is a raw HTML element object. It's not a jQuery object (I'm assuming you're using jQuery because you used the attr method).
To get the id, all you have to do is anchor.id. If you really want to use attr, you can do jQuery(anchor).attr("id").
if you are using jquery, then you need this:
alert($(anchor).attr("id"));
The attr() function is part of jQuery, but you're trying to get it from a plain DOM object. You either want to use $(anchor) (to wrap the element in jQuery) or call anchor.getAttribute("id") instead.
console.loginstead ofalert()). Alerts are much harder. getfirebug.com or your built-in dev tools on your browser will really help.